A group of 14 environmentalist groups is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after the Trump administration declined to raise air-quality standards.
"The Trump administration corrupted and rushed the scientific review process of this rule as it walked out the door, just so industrial polluters can sit and do nothing for the harm they cause," Earthjustice attorney Seth Johnson wrote in a statement, The Hill reported.
"These outdated ozone standards must be corrected not just for children's safety and public health, but also because they are critical to addressing the climate crisis."
It was not that the Trump administration's EPA changed the standards from the Obama administration, but because it kept it at 70 parts per billion, per the report.
"This decision fulfills the Trump administration's promise to streamline the [National Ambient Air Quality Standards] review process," former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in December before giving way to the Biden administration.
Among the groups suing are the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund after 15 states have sued.
The lawsuit puts pressure on President Joe Biden's EPA to carry through on its hints that it might improve air-quality standards.
"The agency’s new leadership is committed to moving forward to fulfill the Biden-Harris administration's priorities of protecting public health and the environment, tackling the climate crisis and air pollution, advancing environmental justice, restoring science, and building back better. Because this is potential litigation, EPA has no additional information to share," an EPA spokesperson emailed The Hill.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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