Washington, D.C. – American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final action on project aggregation under the New Source Review (NSR) air permitting program. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the action today (11/7).

“Paper and wood products manufacturers welcome the administration’s action to bring common sense to project aggregation policies under the NSR air permitting program.

“Currently, companies working in good faith to comply with this component of NSR must rely on interpretations of project aggregation that are contrary to historical approaches. As a result, new manufacturing investments can be forced to be grouped together for permitting when they are economically and technically very different projects that should be considered separately - a costly process that hampers strategic business planning.

“Our manufacturers work diligently to comply with hundreds of federal guidelines aimed at protecting the environment and the public. Clear public policy that will support their ability to continuously invest in their facilities is helping to grow the economy and create American manufacturing jobs.”