Ozone Rule Challenged

Industry groups and environmental organizations are separately asking a federal appeals court to review EPA’s recently tightened air quality standard for ground-level ozone, or smog. In October 2015, EPA ratcheted down its ozone standard to 70 ppb from 75 ppb. The agency says the revision will better protect children, the elderly, and people afflicted with respiratory ailments such as asthma. An industry coalition that includes the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) wants EPA to retain the 75-ppb standard. “This rule is just one of the Administration’s many high-cost regulations that continue to place undue hardship on not only the fuel and petrochemical manufacturers, but on American workers, businesses, and communities,” says AFPM President Chet Thompson. However, environmental advocates have pushed for a standard as low as 60 ppb. “EPA’s updated ozone standard falls well short of the Clean Air Act’s requirements to protect the health of vulnerable populations,” says Terry McGuire, the Sierra Club’s Washington representative on smog pollution. “Every American deserves clean and healthy air.”