29 



Mr. Synar. Thank you, Professor White. That was excellent testi- 

 mony. 



Let's begin with you, Ms. Steinhardt, if we could. We are going 

 to talk about a lot of acronyms and technical terms here. Why don't 

 we start with prevention of significant deterioration, what we will 

 call PSD. 



Where does PSD apply? 



Ms. Steinhardt. It applies to those parts of the country that 

 have already clean air areas, and it sets up a special class of pro- 

 tection for the 158 national parks and wilderness areas, the class 

 I areas. 



Mr. Synar. What is meant by best available control technology 

 or BACT? 



Ms. Steinhardt. This means that sources have to install the 

 best control technology available, taking costs and energy use and 

 a number of other factors into account. 



Mr. Synar. Now, under section 165 of the Clean Air Act, isn't 

 EPA supposed to notify Federal officials in charge of the 158 class 

 I areas of potential air pollution sources that may affect them? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, they are. 



Mr. SYNAR. Now, that is an affirmative responsibility of Federal 

 officials who manage those parks. What are the air quality related 

 values? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Visibility is one of them, but it also includes 

 aquatic resources and vegetation, wildlife and so on, other natural 

 resources. 



Mr. Synar. What happens once that notice is given to land man- 

 agers? 



Ms. Steinhardt. They have to make comments on a permit ap- 

 plication to the State that will issue the permit. 



Mr. Synar. Now, I understand that if the Federal land manager 

 demonstrates to the State that the proposed new facility would 

 have an adverse impact on air quality values, including visibility, 

 or would cause a violation of the pollution increment, the permit 

 shall not be issued; is that correct? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, it is. 



Mr. Synar. So receiving the notice on a timely basis is the key 

 first step to ensuring that Federal land managers have the oppor- 

 tunity to comment on the proposed permit, right? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, that is right. 



Mr. Synar. Now, GAO's 1990 report to this subcommittee, "Air 

 Pollution: Protecting Parks and Wilderness From Nearby Sources 

 of Pollution," identified some serious breakdowns in the PSD pro- 

 gram. For example, you cite EPA's failure to forward new source 

 permit applications to Federal land managers in the Departments 

 of Interior and Agriculture so that the permits could be reviewed 

 for the impact on these class I areas. Have those notice problems 

 been corrected? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, we understand they have, but we also un- 

 derstand that the Park Service still has some concerns about the 

 fact that they are receiving or under EPA guidelines are required 

 to receive only those applications from within a 60-mile radius of 

 the class I area, and they would like at times to see some applica- 

 tions for facilities from further away. 



