WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — Two states have filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency claiming the agency has failed to require the submissions of state implementation plans (SIPs) in compliance with the "Good Neighbor" provision of the Clean Air Act.
The state of New Jersey and state of Connecticut filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief Oct. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Administrator Andrew Wheeler alleging violation of the Clean Air Act.
The plaintiffs claim in their suit that the EPA is required to determine if states have submitted SIPs for the 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) to comply with the Good Neighbor portion of the Clean Air Act.
"EPA air pollution models show that transported pollution from Pennsylvania and Virginia contributes significantly to state plaintiffs’ non-attainment of the 2015 ozone NAAQS," the plaintiffs allege in their suit.
The plaintiffs allege Pennsylvania and Virginia have not submitted Good Neighbor SIPs and the deadline to do so was April 1. They allege the EPA's delay is "prejudicial."
"The longer EPA waits to issue these findings, the longer the (federal implementation plan) is delayed, and the longer state plaintiffs will suffer from high ozone levels caused in part by upwind air pollution," the suit states.
The plaintiffs seek to enjoin the EPA to make findings of failure to submit for Pennsylvania and Virginia and all other just relief. They are represented by Robert Kinney and Aaron Love, deputy attorneys general in Trenton, New Jersey; and Matthew Levine and Jill Lacedonia, assistant attorneys general in Hartford, Connecticut.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia case number 1:19-CV-03247-ABJ