Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont joined in a petition filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The petition requests that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals order the EPA to issue revised its primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter -- or soot -- as mandated under a successful court challenge to the current standards by the 12 states in 2009.
The petition is an extension of American Farm Bureau Federation, et al, v. EPA from 2009. The Farm Bureau is therefore listed as a plaintiff in the present petition, as it was a plaintiff when three lawsuits were consolidated during the 2009 case, but the Farm Bureau is not an active participant in the petition. The petition is signed by the attorneys general from the 10 states, who were one of the three cohorts in the original lawsuit.
The petition asks the court to require the EPA to propose new rules within 45 days of the court's order and finalize them within seven months. The EPA "has not yet compiled with this court's 2009 order and has not committed to a future date by which it will comply," the states claim in asking for the court's mandate.
Schneiderman also notified the EPA Wednesday that he plans to file a lawsuit if the rules aren't changed within 60 days. Eleven states -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- co-signed that statement alongside New York.
A previous lawsuit, also filed in the D.C. court in 2009, alleged the present standards fail to adequately prevent harm for vulnerable and at-risk populations, such as children or the elderly, according to the new filing. The EPA itself has estimated 10,000 deaths could occur annually because of exposure to fine particles under the current rules, the petition alleges. Exposure can result in "cardiovascular disease and decreased lung function," the filing says.
According to the petition, when the EPA reviewed those air quality standards in October 2006, the agency kept its primary annual standard at 15 micrograms per cubic meter, despite a recommendation from its scientific review committee that the agency lower the standard to 13 to 14 micrograms per cubic meter. That discrepancy spurred the lawsuit by the states in 2009. The court found that the EPA had not satisfactorily explained how the standards would protect the public from long-term and short-team exposure and ordered the agency to reconsider its standards, according to the petition.
The EPA has failed to act in a timely manner in response to the 2009 court order, according to the petition. The Clean Air Act requires the agency to issue standards for potential pollutants that could be a danger to public health, the states allege, and review those standards every five years. As the last review occurred in October 2006, the EPA has missed that deadline, the petition notes.
The EPA declined to comment to Governing on the specifics of the petition, saying only that it "has made progress gathering and considering the latest and best health science as part of its review," according to a spokesperson.
