Four environmental organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging it has failed to properly enforce the Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule.
The EPA amended the rule in 2017, extending the window in which states could submit air pollution reduction plans through July 2021. However, as of April 2022, 34 states have not submitted their plans, according to the lawsuit.
Under the rule, all states are required to develop regional haze plans to prevent air pollution that affects visibility in national parks, wildlife refuges and other wilderness areas. Under the text of the rule, the EPA is required to issue a determination of failure to submit to states within six months of the deadline, which would have been Jan. 31 of this year.
The suit calls on EPA Administrator Michael Regan to immediately enforce the rule for the 34 states. Earlier this month, the agency announced its intent to find failure to submit for certain states by Aug. 31. However, this announcement “effectively extend[ed] the deadline” and was not legally binding, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Fund, National Parks Conservation Association and Sierra Club.
“Coal burning power plants are the primary culprit for soot and smog pollution leading to hazy skies, and the thirty-four states that failed to submit pollution reduction plans at issue in this lawsuit are home to some of the biggest, most dangerous polluters in the country,” Holly Bender, Senior Director for Energy Campaigns at Sierra Club, said in a statement.
“Administrator Regan must act to ensure the failure by these states to regulate pollution is not a windfall to utilities at the expense of public health and the necessary achievement of clean air on our public lands. Justice for communities impacted by soot and smog starts with the EPA enforcing the law.”
An EPA spokesperson declined to comment to The Hill.