Accelerating air permit review with AI

Faced with a tight deadline and a 1,500-page draft permit from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), the environmental team at Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend Refinery needed support reviewing and interpreting proposed changes. They turned to Barr for help identifying key revisions and understanding their implications for upcoming state permitting negotiations. Traditionally, reviewing a permit of this scale would have required weeks of manual work by experienced staff.

To meet this challenge, our team leveraged a custom AI-assisted workflow that combined advanced document processing with our regulatory expertise and deep knowledge of the Pine Bend refinery. Using targeted prompts, the AI tool conducted a line-by-line comparison of the draft and existing permits, flagging state-specific nuances and identifying substantive changes. 

Key steps in our approach:

• Line-by-line comparison: The AI-assisted workflow systematically reviewed permit documents, classified each change, and assigned confidence scores to guide further review.
• Expert review: Barr’s environmental engineers use these results to focus on the most impactful revisions, using the AI’s output as a guide for targeted, high-value analysis.
• Prioritization: Changes were clearly categorized, helping the client focus on items needing deeper review and resources.

By integrating AI tools with our technical expertise, Barr delivered:

• A detailed comparison and initial interpretation of permit changes
• A prioritized, easy-to-navigate summary of revisions
• Significant savings in staff hours 
• Increased confidence for the Pine Bend Refinery to meet the MPCA’s aggressive deadline

This project illustrates how thoughtfully deployed AI can enhance our technical expertise, accelerating delivery without compromising quality, and allowing our team to focus on the analysis and strategy that matter most to our clients.