I mean how do you have flexible laws? You comply to a standard or don't. You may be given temporary waivers as you show proof of coming to compliance with a plan, but this sounds askew.
The "Flexible" term is made up by the media. The dispute is the emissions should be an overall refinery total permit rather than a permit per individual exhaust stack in the refinery.
When it is overall, emission savings are done more efficiently by tackling the ones that have the most to reduce per dollar invested.
That’s one reason the EPA is trying to stop them—so they comply with the law, not just arbitrary approvals.
The state’s flexible air-permit program, launched 16 years ago, caps emissions of air pollutants from an entire facility, but the EPA wants to scrutinize and restrict emissions from every polluting unit of a plant. Stricter rules are expected to add costs for companies holding flex permits and limit operational flexibility.