The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)  For over 25 years, the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401, et seq.) has required major new and modified sources of air pollution to be subject to a new source review program for nonattainment areas and for the prevention of significant deterioration, in order to ensure that those sources use the requisite level of emission control, offset any new emissions, and comply with other requirements, as a means of ensuring that those new and modified sources do not adversely affect air quality.

(b)  Requiring controls and emission offsets for new and modified sources ensures that industrial growth does not result in unacceptable levels of air pollution and that existing sources operate more cleanly over time by applying emission controls when those sources are overhauled or upgraded. Without these limits, air quality would degrade over time, and industrial growth, critical to the economic health of the state, would be foreclosed.

(c)  The new source review program has been a cornerstone of the state’s efforts to reduce pollution from new and existing industrial sources by requiring those sources to use the requisite level of emission controls based on the attainment status of the area where the source is located.

(d)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. E.P.A.) initially promulgated, and subsequently has revised, the new source review program to carry out the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act for preconstruction review of new and modified sources of air pollutants by the states.

(e)  On December 31, 2002, the U.S. E.P.A., under the direction of the President of the United States, promulgated regulations that substantially weaken the basic federal new source review program (67 Fed.Reg. 80186-80289 (Dec. 31, 2002)). In promulgating the regulatory amendments, the U.S. E.P.A. claims that the new source review program has impeded or resulted in the cancellation of projects that would maintain or improve reliability, efficiency, and safety. This claim is contradicted by California’s experience under the new source review programs of the air pollution control and air quality management districts.

(f)  The amendments promulgated December 31, 2002, will drastically reduce the circumstances under which modifications at an existing source would be subject to federal new source review. The U.S. E.P.A. has also proposed a rule that will change the definition of “routine maintenance, repair and replacement.” If that rule is finalized, it will significantly worsen the situation.

(g)  The newly revised and proposed federal new source review reneges on the promise of clean air embodied in the federal Clean Air Act, and threatens to undermine the air quality of the State of California and thereby threaten the health and safety of the people of the State of California.

(h)  Section 107 of the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7407) provides that the state has primary responsibility for meeting ambient air quality standards in all areas of the state, and that the means to achieve the standards shall be set out in the state implementation plan, or SIP.

(i)  Section 116 of the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7416) preserves the right of states to adopt air pollution control requirements that are more stringent than comparable federal requirements. Moreover, the recent revisions to the federal new source review regulations provide that the states may adopt permitting programs that are “at least as stringent” as the new federal “revised base program,” and that the federal regulations “certainly do not have the goal of ’preempting’ State creativity or innovation.” (67 Fed.Reg. 80241 (Dec. 31, 2002)).

(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 476, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)