EPA retracts delay of ozone designations
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday that it would withdraw its year-long delay of ozone designations required under the Clean Air Act following a lawsuit by 15 states and the
District of Columbia.
“We believe in dialogue with, and being responsive to, our state partners,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. “Today’s action reinforces our commitment to working with the states through the complex designation process.”
The designations involve measuring smog pollutants to determine areas where levels must be reduced to
meet new air quality standards. The EPA’s delay would have stalled implementation until October 2018.
When ordering the delay in June, the EPA cited a part of the Clean Air Act that allows it to delay implementation if it does not have sufficient information. The lawsuit claimed that this was an overreach of the agency’s authority under the act.
“Under previous Administrations, EPA would often fail to meet designation deadlines, and then wait to be sued by activist groups and others, agreeing in a settlement to set schedules for designation,” Pruitt said. “We do not believe in regulation through litigation, and we take deadlines seriously. We also take the statute and the authority it gives us seriously.”
