Several attorneys general are threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for missing a deadline to decide which states do not meet President Barack Obama’s administration’s ozone standards.
A group of 14 state attorneys general — including New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat and one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent opponents – notified the agency in a letter Thursday of its intention to sue for missing the Oct. 1 deadline.
Department of Justice attorneys asked the Court of Appeals earlier this year for the District of Columbia to reschedule arguments in a lawsuit against the Obama-era rule while the EPA reviews the law. The Trump administration was forced to end the delay on the ozone rule in August after attorneys general sued to prevent EPA Chief Scott Pruitt from extending the deadline.
Republicans believe the rule — which reduces the allowable concentration of ozone to 70 parts per billion from the previous 75 — would hurt the economy and become a millstone around the energy industry’s neck.
Lowering allowable ambient ozone concentrations would cost $2 billion, including California’s compliance costs,the EPA estimated. The benefits of the ozone rule range from $3.1 billion to $8 billion, most of which come from reducing fine particulate matter, not lower ozone levels, agency officials said.
Schneiderman has made pursuing Trump his core mission as New York’s attorney general. He initiated another lawsuit against the president in August for delaying a rule forcing automakers to meet or exceed fuel efficiency standards.
“Fuel efficiency standards are common sense, protecting Americans pocketbooks and reducing the emissions that undermine public health and drive climate change,” he wrote in a press statement in September announcing his decision to target Trump’s emission standard rollback.
Trump “again and again” sides against “New Yorkers and our environment,” Schneiderman noted at the time, adding that he and his fellow attorney generals will act against the president when “those we serve are put at risk.”
The Trump administration took the initial steps in August toward rolling back former Obama’s vehicle emission standards. The auto industry celebrated the decision to reopen the emission standards rules.
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