Five AGs Filed Lawsuit Challenging EPA’s Continued Inaction on Upwind Air Pollution

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal led a coalition of five attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the agency’s continued failure to address ozone pollution from upwind states. In their lawsuit, the AGs asked the court “to order EPA to carry out the agency’s mandatory duty” to protect their states from harmful air pollution emitted by sources in upwind states. In October 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the EPA’s plan for addressing upwind air pollution based on “the seriousness of its deficiencies,” and the following month ordered the EPA to issue replacement rules to address the problem. The lawsuit noted that despite the D.C. Circuit’s mandate, the EPA “has not announced any action to promulgate replacement Federal Plans.”