Two years after the Environmental Protection Agency rejected the Flexible Permits program in Texas, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the Clean Air Act did not support that decision.
Under the Flexible Permits program, in place since 1994, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality placed a cap on allowed emissions from oil refineries and other industrial plants by facility, the Texas Tribune reports.
In 2010, the EPA said it disapproved of the program because it could allow major polluters to exceed federal standards. In addition, record keeping was inadequate and the methodology for calculating the emissions cap was unclear, the report said.
