Re: Adequate time for public review

[Keri Powell <kpowell@nypirg.org>]

There is a simple regulatory change that EPA could make that would tremendously improve the ability of the public to participate effectively in permitting decisions.  Generally, permitting authorities are only required to provide the public with notice of a proposed action at the time that a draft permit is ready for public review.  By this time, both the permitting authority and the permittee tend to feel that negotiations are over, and that the public comment period is just a final administrative hurdle.  EPA could change this by requiring that the public be notified when a permit application is complete, not just when a draft permit has been prepared.

Also:
When commenting on Title V air permits here in New York, I encounter another, more intractable problem. New York's policy is that when a state permit writer drafts a Title V permit, the permit writer may easily incorporate terms and conditions that are either already in the agency's electronic "library" of permit conditions, or are proposed by the permittee.  If the permit writer wishes to incorporate a change that is proposed by a member ot the public, however, the permit writer must jump through several bureaucratic hoops to get permission to make the change.  As a result, changes proposed by the permittee are usually made, but suggestions made by the public are generally rejected.  Since EPA has responsibility for overseeing the state's implementation of the Title V program, EPA must bear part of the blame for this system that explicitly discounts the input provided by concerned members of the public.  As part of its oversight responsibility, EPA needs to look deeper at state permit programs to identify impediments to public participation that are not apparent from a detached review of state regulations.