New York AG Filed Lawsuit against EPA Over Failure to Regulate Cross-State Ozone Pollution

APRIL 12, 2019

New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the agency’s failure to respond to a petition for additional controls on sources of ozone pollution in neighboring states. New York filed a petition in March 2018 pursuant to the “Good Neighbor” provisions under Section 126(b) of Clean Air Act identifying power plants in nine states whose nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions prevented the New York Metropolitan Area from attaining 2008 and 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. In the lawsuit, AG James noted that the state’s persistently unsafe levels of ozone pollution regularly compromises the health and welfare of more than 12 million New Yorkers living in the New York Metropolitan Area, and on particularly bad days can affect as many as 16 million residents of her state.