State joins ozone suit against EPA

Cites failure to control Midwest pollution

In a companion piece to a lawsuit filed last month against the Environmental Protection Agency, Connecticut has joined New York in suing the EPA over its alleged failure to control ozone pollution from the Midwest, Attorney General George Jepsen announced on Wednesday.

The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims the EPA and Scott Pruitt, its controversial administrator, ignored the requirements of the nineyear-old Good Neighbor Provision of the federal Clean Air Act for upwind states to enforce ozone limits for downwind neighbors.

While the EPA determined in 2015 that pollution from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia failed to provide ozone-reduction plans, the agency failed to force them to comply, the lawsuit alleges.

“Connecticut has robust regulations in place to protect clean air, but as a downwind state, Connecticut suffers from poor air quality as pollutants from other states enter our atmosphere,” said Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen. “The EPA has a responsibility to regulate these out-of-state pollutants, like ozone, yet the EPA has failed to do so. Today, we are partnering with New York in litigation seeking to compel EPA to do its job and protect Connecticut’s air quality from out-of-state ozone sources.”

“Connecticut has some of the strictest air pollution regulations of any state in the nation, unfortunately the air our residents breathe is some of the worst in the Northeast due to pollution blown in from upwind states,” said Rob Klee, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Ozone, also called smog, is the gas created when pollutants, including volatile organics and oxides of nitrogen react to sunlight. It has been linked to ailments including asthma, heart disease, emphysema and bronchitis.

Last month, Connecticut joined New York and six other Northeastern states in suing the EPA over the enforcement of pollution from Midwestern power plants. The Trump administration has allowed nine states to exceed pollution limits.

Associated Press / File photo Connecticut and New York have filed a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency, over the Trump administration’s alleged failure to enforce ozone-pollution requirements from Midwestern power plants.