As has been the case during the last seven years, the real activity on environmental issues is coming from the states.
The latest salvo in this battle is a lawsuit filed today by 12 states — including New Jersey — the District of Columbia and New York City. The suit, according to the Associated Press, alleges that federal ozone standards are weak and will not “protect the elderly, children and people with respiratory problems.”
A bevy of environmental and health groups — Earthjustice, American Lung Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, National Parks and Conservation Association and the Appalachian Mountain Club — are also suing.
The suit claims that the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s new ozone standards, issued in March, “disregard(ed) the overwhelming evidence and the advice of respected experts,” according to Bernadette Toomey, president of the American Lung Association.
The new standards now require
that airborne concentrations be lowered from a maximum 84 parts per billion to 75 parts per billion.
But, as with every environmental decision under President George W. Bush, there is more to this than the setting of a tougher standard.
(A)n EPA science advisory board — and most health experts — had recommended a limit of 60 to 70 parts per billion to adequately protect the elderly, people with respiratory problems and children.
The EPA also did not go as far as the science panel had recommended in setting a separate standard to protect the environment, especially plants, forests and wildlife, from smog. The EPA lowered the standard equal to the primary standard safeguarding public health, but it rejected a more beneficial “seasonal standard” urged by conservationists.
EPA and White House officials have acknowledged that the seasonal standard had been opposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which oversees government regulation. The issue was settled after President Bush intervened directly on behalf of the White House staff only hours before the rule was announced.
Hence, the lawsuit:
David Baron, an attorney for Earthjustice, said the Clean Air Act “requires EPA to adopt standards strong enough to protect our lungs and our environment” and that the EPA standard fails to do so.
Toomey of the Lung Association said it “is a decision that we cannot allow go unchallenged.”
Hank Kalet 