Two recent appeals to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board raise difficult issues concerning aggregation of air emission sources for purposes of regulating them under the federal Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act. Of course, those appeals arise from natural gas development activity associated with the Marcellus Shale.
Both Group Against Smog and Pollution v. Department of Environmental Protection, filed May 2, and Clean Air Council v. Department of Environmental Protection, filed May 13, challenge permits granted by the DEP on the ground that the equipment being permitted should have been viewed as part of a larger, aggregated, air pollution source and subjected to more rigorous permitting procedures and more stringent emission standards.
