Fourteen AGs Filed Comments Urging EPA to Strengthen Ozone Air Pollution Standards

OCTOBER 1, 2020

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing comments in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to retain the existing National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone, which were set in 2015 at 70 parts per billion. In their comments, the AGs highlighted extensive problems with the process by which the EPA reached its decision, which they warned “fails, given the existing and growing body of scientific evidence, to protect public health of all groups with an adequate margin of safety.” The comments noted that since 2015, “ample new data and scientific research has emerged on the negative impacts of ozone,” which include “adverse cardiovascular effects, reproductive and developmental effects, and nervous system effects.” The comments also emphasized that the EPA “failed to provide any reasoned explanation — or any explanation at all — for the changes to the review process” under the Trump administration, which sidelined independent scientific experts, curtailed public input, and collectively rendered the agency’s proposal to retain the existing standards arbitrary and capricious.