By Daniel Stefanski |
An environmental watchdog organization is suing the Biden Administration to increase regulatory oversight of Arizona and other states.
Earlier this month, the Sierra Club filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Michael S. Regan, “has failed to perform his nondiscretionary duty under the Clean Air Act to issue a finding of failure by thirteen states…to submit complete revised nonattainment area state implementation plans and publish notice of that action in the Federal Register no later than six months after the January 1, 2023 deadline by which each of these states was required to submit a nonattainment SIP for the 2015 primary ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS).”
The states targeted in the complaint by the Sierra Club were Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.”
Sari Amiel, an Associate Attorney for the Sierra Club, released the following statement in conjunction with the legal filing: “More than 100 million people reside in counties receiving failing grades for smog pollution, with Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans disproportionately exposed to all forms of air pollution. States’ refusal to comply with common-sense air pollution standards is already harmful, but EPA’s failure to hold them accountable adds insult to injury. EPA must fulfill its obligations under the Clean Air Act and take swift action to protect communities from the harmful effects of smog pollution.”
Scot Mussi, the President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, also weighed in on the challenge, telling AZ Free News, “This lawsuit is an attempt by the Sierra Club to force Arizona to adopt their radical environmental agenda. They know that ozone levels in Maricopa County are lower today than twenty years ago and that most of the ozone in the region is either naturally occurring or coming from China. But since they couldn’t convince us to ban gas cars and gas stoves, they hope the EPA or a friendly liberal judge will do it for them.”
The 2015 rule has been the focus of many lawsuits since it was initiated under the Obama-Biden Administration. In October 2015, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich led a small coalition of states (Arkansas, the Environmental Department on behalf of New Mexico, North Dakota, and Oklahoma) in filing a lawsuit to challenge the Final Rule. At the time, Brnovich said, “We all want clean air, however, reducing the ozone standards to 70 parts per billion will be nearly impossible for Arizona to attain. The new Rule completely ignores Congress’ intent that the EPA set ozone levels for the states that are actually attainable. The financial stakes for this state are enormous if we are unable to comply and I am going to do everything within my power as attorney general to protect Arizona.”
During the Trump Administration, the EPA was not empowered to raise the standards set under the Obama-Biden Administration. After the decision in 2020, then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler explained the reasoning, saying, “The EPA under the Trump Administration has continued America’s leadership in clean air, lowering our particulate matter levels to well below those of many of our global competitors. Maintaining these important standards will ensure Americans can continue to breathe some of the cleanest air on the planet.”
A change in administrations, however, had drastic consequences for this policy. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021, ordering the environmental agency to review a number of actions initiated under the previous administration, including the NAAQS Decision in 2020. Not long after the executive order was signed, the EPA announced its intent to “reconsider the December 2020 decision because available scientific evidence and technical information indicate that the current standards may not be adequate to protect public health and welfare, as required by the Clean Air Act.” At the beginning of this year, the EPA released its proposed revision to the NAAQS, which increased standards from the Obama-Biden administration, prompting various reactions from a number of states around the country.
In March of this year, a group of Democrat attorneys general, led by the State of California, submitted a comment letter to the EPA, urging the Biden Administration to “adopt stringent standards under the Clean Air Act that protect public health against particulate matter pollution.” Attorney General Bonta stated, “High particulate matter pollution levels are a serious threat to public health, particularly for underserved and vulnerable populations. Today’s comment letter urges the EPA to set adequate standards to ensure that all Californians can breathe clean air. The adoption of stronger standards will aid all of California’s communities, but especially communities experiencing environmental injustices, that are disproportionately affected by air pollution. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue advocating for stronger pollution control measures for the wellbeing of all Californians.”
California was joined by the States of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia and the City of New York, in the letter.
On the other side of the political aisle, Republican attorneys general have pushed back this year against the EPA’s attempt to cement and expand the NAAQS. In March, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron spearheaded a 19-state coalition with a letter to the EPA to oppose its updated rule. Cameron said, “As Americans face record-high inflation, the Biden Administration is pushing extreme policies that would harm the economies of energy states like Kentucky. The United States has some of the cleanest air in the industrialized world, and this regulation prioritizes President Biden’s radical climate agenda ahead of the livelihoods of hard-working Americans.”
Joining Kentucky on this letter to the EPA were the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
