Ozone Implementation Plan Shows Major Divisions Among Stakeholders

摘要

EPA's proposal for how to implement its latest ozone ambient air standard is highlighting major divisions among stakeholders, with several states and industry groups faulting the agency's approach to weighing international emissions in states' compliance plans and environmentalists attacking parts of the rule as too weak to reduce ozone. Various groups weighed in ahead of a Feb. 13 deadline for input on the Obama EPA's proposal that outlines how to craft state implementation plans (SIPs) in which states detail their ozone reduction measures to meet the ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) of 70 parts per billion (ppb) issued in October 2015. The Trump EPA under new Administrator Scott Pruitt will now review and respond to the comments as it crafts the final version of the rule. The NAAQS - which the previous administration tightened from the 2008 limit of 75 ppb - is currently being litigated in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the stark divisions among the groups that commented on the implementation rule suggest the final rule could also be contested.