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05/29/2008 07:06 AM
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EPA Sued Over Smog Standards
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A law suit has been filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by New York and 13 other states, who claim the agency violated the Clean Air Act in a March revision of ozone pollution regulations.
The EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee recommended the new standard should be tightened from it's previous level of 80 parts per billion to between 60 and 70 parts per billion. Ozone is a key component in smog.
EPA administrator Stephen Johnson set the standard at 75 parts per billion, a level many researchers say will not help people who suffer from breathing problems triggered by air pollution.
"The EPA is charged with protecting the environment, yet the Bush administration has repeatedly used it as a tool for facilitating pollution instead of combating it," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a release.
The suit, filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeks to overturn the smog standards, Cuomo said. US clean air laws require the EPA to regularly review and update pollution standards. Besides New York, the states or state agencies in the suit are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and Rhode Island.
