NEW YORK — The states of New York and New Jersey, along with New York City, have filed a "motion for leave to intervene" in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) relating to upwind smog pollution.
According to the New York State Attorney General's Office, the three-state coalition seeks to join Maryland, Delaware and several public health and environmental organizations in lawsuits that ask the courts to require the EPA to cut upwind pollution affecting their states. The states argue that the EPA's turning down of a petition filed by the states asking for a reduction in emissions due to smog pollution, is a violation of the Clean Air Act.
“The Trump administration has flouted even their most basic legal obligations to protect public health and our environment,” New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood said in a statement. “The health of an alarming 9.4 million New Yorkers – one in two of our residents – is jeopardized by smog pollution.
"Yet the Trump EPA continues to ignore the Clean Air Act and refuses to require reductions in the pollution largely responsible for this serious health risk – pollution that blows into New York from upwind states. My office is committed to protecting New Yorkers’ legal right to clean, healthy air by forcing the Trump administration to follow the law."
The coalition also seeks to increase the "Ozone Transport Region" established under the Clean Air Act through its litigation, according to the New York State Attorney General's Office.