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NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Five states and New York City are suing the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming they have struggled to meet air quality standards because of upwind pollution.
New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey joined NYC in a case brought through the citizen suit provision of the Clean Air Act on Jan. 12 in New York federal court.
They say other states are causing their ozone and smog levels to rise because the EPA has failed to act in a timely manner on a number of plans submitted to it by upwind states.
Those states are Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia.
“Plaintiff states as the court to order EPA to carry out the agency’s mandatory statutory duty to approve or disapprove state implementation plans… under (the ‘Good Neighbor Provision,’ for the 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards,” the complaint says.
“EPA has not made the required determinations approving or disapproving these Good Neighbor SIPs within 12 months of their being determined or deemed complete.”