New York Just Sued The Trump EPA For Reversing Obama-Era Air Pollution Rule

New York and five other states are suing the Trump administration in a bid to force the Environmental Protection Agency to take stronger steps to curb air pollution that blows across state lines. The so-called “good neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to police air pollution in certain states to ensure that it doesn’t blight downwind states. Under President Barack Obama, the EPA determined the existing standards for limiting smog-forming ozone pollution fell short and needed to be toughened.Last June, the EPA proposed a rule reversing that determination, a move undercutting more aggressive enforcement of the Clean Air Act. The EPA finalized the rule last month. The newly elected New York Attorney General Letitia James cried foul, filing a lawsuit arguing the EPA is violating the Clean Air Act by “failing to require any further control of power plants and other sources of smog pollution in states upwind” of her state.The attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey joined the suit, as did New York City.