The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it is giving states another year to meet strict rules for smog-forming ozone emissions set by the Obama administration, citing states’ confusion over regulatory requirements and the need for the EPA to review the regulations.
“We are committed to working with states and local officials to effectively implement the ozone standard in a manner that is supportive of air quality improvement efforts without interfering with local decisions or impeding economic growth,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Pruitt sent letters Tuesday to each governor, informing them that the agency is extending the deadline by one year for states to determine the areas that have acute smog pollution under the 2015 rule.
“Although the new ozone standard was set on October 1, 2015, there remains a host of complex issues that could undermine associated compliance efforts by states and localities,” the EPA said Tuesday. The agency is evaluating those issues, including separating U.S. pollution from that caused by other countries.
“States have made tremendous progress and significant investment cleaning up the air. We will continue to work with states to ensure they are on a path to compliance,” Pruitt said.
The Obama-era ozone regulations lowered the level of ozone allowed in a particular area from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion. Many areas of the country had not complied with the first 75 ppb standard before the Obama administration decided to make the standard even more strict, critics said.
Under the ozone rules, states must ascertain which areas can comply and which cannot, called areas of “nonattainment.” Designating an area as being in “nonattainment” of the ozone rules come with “consequences,” the EPA said, including “increased regulatory burdens, restrictions on infrastructure investment, and increased costs to businesses.”
That is why EPA has decided to give states “more time to develop air quality plans and EPA is looking at providing greater flexibility to states as they develop their plans,” the agency said.
Pruitt also announced that he is establishing the Ozone Cooperative Compliance Task Force to develop the “additional flexibilities for states to comply with the ozone standard,” the agency said. Congress gave EPA the authority to create the task force under the recently passed fiscal 2017 spending bill.
