PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin has joined seven other attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seeking to force the agency to protect upwind states from downwind state's pollution, in accordance with the Clean Air Act.
Kilmartin joined the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont in filling the suit which challenges the EPA's denial of a 2013 petition asking to add nine states to the "Ozone Transport Region." The Ozone Transport Region includes a group of states established under the Clean Air Act that are required to work together to reduce smog pollution in the region. The nine states are Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
"It's been long established that Rhode Island and the other Northeast states are negatively impacted by pollution from upwind states, and this latest decision by the EPA flouts sound environmental science and puts many Rhode Islanders – especially young children and older people – at serious risk of health issues," Kilmartin said in a news release.
The suit, which was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenges the EPA's denial of the 2013 petition and asks the court to review EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's denial.