New Source Review Permitting Improvement Act

This bill amends the Clean Air Act (CAA) to narrow and clarify when physical or operational changes at industrial facilities (stationary sources of air pollution) require federal preconstruction permits. It updates the legal definitions of "modification" and "construction" under the EPA’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program and nonattainment area permitting rules.

* **Operators and owners of stationary pollution sources:** Industrial facilities, factories, or plants subject to Clean Air Act preconstruction permitting requirements. * **Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):** The federal agency responsible for implementing these rules and evaluating whether certain emissions increases impact public health or the environment.

* **New standard for an "emissions increase":** A physical or operational change at a facility is classified as an emissions increase only if the maximum achievable hourly emission rate after the change exceeds the highest hourly rate achieved during any hour in the preceding 10 years. * **Exclusions from "modification":** Changes made to a facility are excluded from being defined as a modification if they are designed to: * Reduce air pollutant emissions per unit of production; or * Restore, maintain, or improve operational reliability or safety. * **Narrows permit requirements for construction:** Preconstruction permit rules under both PSD and nonattainment area programs will apply strictly to the physical construction of discrete parts of an "emissions unit" (the specific component that emits or could emit pollutants). Permits are not required for other general on-site physical activities, regardless of how costly, permanent, or significant the site alterations are. * **Annual emissions thresholds:** Facility changes in PSD and nonattainment areas are not treated as modifications unless they cause a "significant emissions increase" or a "significant net emissions increase" in annual actual emissions. * **Protection against stricter reclassification:** The bill includes a rule of construction prohibiting any provision from being interpreted to classify a change as a modification if it would not have been considered one before the bill was enacted.

The summary text does not mention any appropriations, spending, taxes, fees, or federal funding provisions.

* **Health and environmental exception:** An efficiency, safety, or reliability project that would normally be excluded from the "modification" definition will still be treated as a modification if two conditions are met: 1. The change increases the maximum achievable hourly emission rate; and 2. The EPA Administrator determines that the increase would adversely affect human health or the environment.

This bill raises the threshold for when industrial plant updates trigger Clean Air Act preconstruction permits by focusing rules specifically on changes to emitting machinery that significantly increase emissions, while excluding general site work and projects meant to improve safety, reliability, or efficiency.