Pruitt reverses course on smog rule delay after 16 states sue
One day after getting sued by 15 states, the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday reversed course on its plans to delay implementation of Obama-era rules intended to reduce emissions of smog-causing air pollutants.
The 15 states and the District of Columbia sued the EPA, saying that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s proposed one-year delay in compliance deadlines for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards violate the requirements of the Clean Air Act. The Obama-era regulation lowered the allowable concentration of ozone to 70 parts per billion, from the previous 75.
In June, the EPA announced it was delaying identifying the areas that must clean up their air because they violate the 2015 smog standard. This would mean polluters would escape the effective pollution controls the Clean Air Act requires. Public health and environmental organizations filed their own lawsuit against the EPA on July 12, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to immediately strike down or block the delay.
The EPA’s reversal on the ozone role is the latest setback for the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback agenda. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the EPA’s attempt to suspend methane restrictions for the sector, formally vacating the agency’s 90-day stay of key provisions of New Source Performance Standards.
https://thinkprogress.org/scott-pruitt-ditches-plan-to-delay-obama-smog-rule/
