NEW YORK — A coalition of six states and the city of New York has filed a lawsuit against the federal government alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is violating The Clean Air Act by not regulating interstate smog pollution.
According to the New York State Attorney General's Office, which is leading the coalition, the Trump administration has failed to control "on ground-level ozone pollution" in upwind states. The coalition says the EPA's "close-out" of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule last year, despite the serious "interstate transport of smog pollution," has put residents' health in danger.
“Over two-thirds of New Yorkers regularly breathe unhealthy air due to smog pollution,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Yet, Trump’s EPA is ignoring the Clean Air Act and refuses to require reductions in the pollution largely responsible for this serious public health risk. My office will stand firm for the quality of air in our state by forcing Trump’s EPA to follow the law and to ensure New Yorkers’ legal right to clean air.”
The American Lung Association notes that more than 300,000 children and more than 1 million adults with asthma living in New York face a serious risk by living in smog-polluted sections of the state, the Attorney General's Office said.