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Massachusetts DEP to finalize first‑in‑the‑nation cumulative‑impact rules for air permits
Summary
The Department of Environmental Protection outlined final cumulative impact analysis regulations that will require applicants for new or expanding air‑permitted facilities in or near environmental justice areas to submit pre‑application outreach, assess 33 community indicators, and meet cumulative air toxic risk limits before a permit is filed.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection told the Environmental Justice Council in Worcester that it will soon publish final regulations requiring cumulative impact analyses for air permits affecting environmental justice communities.
Commissioner Bonnie Heiple said the rules — launched from the state’s 2021 Climate Roadmap Law work — are meant to ensure permits are evaluated in the context of ‘‘past, present, and future actions’’ affecting a community. ‘‘We are about to become, I should say, the first state to require analysis of cumulative impacts for air quality permits in or near environmental justice populations,’’ Heiple said during the Nov. 1 briefing.
Under the rules described by DEP staff, applicants for new or expanded facilities that emit air pollutants and are ‘‘in or near’’ an environmental justice (EJ) population must complete a cumulative impact analysis (CIA) before submitting an air permit…
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