Trump tells EPA to ease compliance with smog statutes

WASHINGTON — President Trump has taken aim at federal air quality standards, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to relax restrictions on state governments and businesses that have been key to cutting smog.

In a memo Thursday, the president instructed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to more quickly review states’ smog reduction plans, make it easier for businesses to get air quality-related permits and to evaluate health-based smog and soot standards to determine whether they “should be revised or rescinded,” among other directives.

Trump’s mandates came at the request of industry, which has long complained that federal air pollution rules are too strict and have sought the reversal of tougher Obama administration policies.

The actions will reduce “unnecessary impediments to new manufacturing and business expansion essential for a growing economy,” according to the memo signed by Trump.

Environmentalists warned the president’s directives would allow for increased air pollution, more cases of asthma and other respiratory diseases. They also questioned the legality of those actions, saying some are in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.

“It is a polluter’s dream,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the nonprofit Clean Air Watch.

The president’s move has the potential to slow progress battling smog, particularly in California, where millions in the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley breathe the nation’s worst-polluted air.

The California Air Resources Board is reviewing the document, a spokesman said.