Connecticut and its five fellow New England states have filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its leader to force action on a previously filed petition that sought to apply more stringent air pollution controls to nine states.
The New England states want EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy – a former commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection – to add Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina to the EPA’s so-called Ozone Transport Region (OTR).
Such a move would mean lower mandated limits for those states regarding smog, which can travel across state lines and worsen air quality.
The suit, which was filed last week in the federal court in New York’s Southern District, says that while the EPA lowered smog limits in 2008 and 2015, many states are still above the 2008 levels.
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