AG Announces Alabama Joins 13 Other States in Challenging the EPA’s Proposed Tighter Ozone Standard

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
March 18, 2015
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Claire Haynes (334) 242-7351
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AG ANNOUNCES ALABAMA JOINS 13 OTHER STATES IN CHALLENGING
THE EPA’s PROPOSED TIGHTER OZONE STANDARD
(Montgomery) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced that Alabama has joined
thirteen other States in submitting comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) critical of the agency’s recent proposal to tighten the ozone air quality standard to a
costly and unachievable level.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on March 17, 2015, Alabama and 13
other states expressed concern that the EPA’s proposed new National Ambient Air Quality
Standard (NAAQS) for ground level ozone is “unlawful and unachievable.”
“Once again, the EPA is engaged in a practice of overreach that appears to be
ideologically driven rather than based upon ensuring adequate projection of public health,”
Attorney General Strange said. “The new rule will unnecessarily add to the costs of states’
compliance with a standard that cannot be met.”
Under the EPA’s proposed new rule, the NAAQS for ground level ozone would be
limited to .065-.070 parts-per-million (ppm), rather than the present level of .075 ppm.
Alabama and the other states argued the new lower ozone limit is not supported by scientific
evidence and is therefore arbitrary and capricious.
The EPA has failed to demonstrate that their decision to establish a lower national
ozone standard is necessary to provide adequate protection of the public health, as required
by the Clean Air Act.
In addition to the protections provided by the current national air quality standard for
ozone, the EPA has recently established a host of other regulations under the Clean Air Act
that will ultimately result in a reduction of the levels of ozone in the air. Without properly
accounting for the impacts of these other air quality regulations that have been imposed in
recent years, it is impossible for the EPA to determine that the proposed reduction in the
national standard is necessary.
States joining Alabama in the letter to the EPA were Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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