A controversial program to give local refineries and major manufacturers more flexibility in reducing air pollution has been ruled illegal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials disclosed late Wednesday. The federal agency said the program fails to meet national clean air standards.
The failure involves South Coast Air Quality Management District’s cap-and-trade pollution credits program, known as Reclaim, that targets local refineries, power plants, cement plants and other major industrial facilities. The program sets an overall cap for smog-forming pollutants, such as nitrogen oxide, and gives the facilities the option to install pollution control equipment or buy pollution reduction credits on the open market.
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