Bubble Concept in the United States

Bubble Concept in Environmental Law

When federal air pollution permits were first issued, it was not uncommon for a single facility to have numerous permits because each piece of equipment was viewed as an isolated pollution source. The idea of regulating the emissions of the facility as a whole as if there were a dome or bubble over it was attractive to industry. It allowed a company to vary its processes and still stay beneath the allowable total, even if one or more of the individual pieces of equipment exceeded the permitted limits. The concept was resisted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the beginning, but it has gradually won acceptance. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 authorize emission allowances and emission trading, and permit a facility to shift allowances from one source to another.

In some locations, a new facility may be able to begin operations by purchasing emissions that are not being used by an existing source. But in nonattainment areas that is, areas that have not achieved the standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for specific pollutants a new source will probably not be permitted to use all of the allowances it purchases. So if a source wishes to emit only 100 tons of a particular pollutant, it may have to buy an allowance of 150 tons. This is a way of retiring some of the allowances so the area can attain compliance. If it wants to emit more than 100 tons, the new source will have to obtain credits from another facility within the same air control region. This is an extension of the bubble concept as it was originally conceived, because the entire area is within the bubble. For that reason, the emissions for a given air control region are frozen. See also air permits; air quality control regions; Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; emission trading.
Based on “Environment and the Law. A Dictionary”.