Groups announce intent to sue EPA

Groups announce intent to sue EPA

Associated Press

Health and environmental groups from eight Southeastern states announced Thursday that they intend to take the Environmental Protection Agency to court for failing to enforce air pollution health standards set five years ago.

The groups, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the American Lung Association and the Sierra Club, plan to sue the EPA in federal court within 60 days to force the agency to begin implementing stricter standards for ozone pollution, the main component of smog.

In the Southeast, 59 cities or counties that monitor ozone aren't meeting the tougher standards, according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

"We've got an excessive amount of cities and counties violating the eight-hour ozone standards," said alliance spokeswoman Ulla Reeves. "We very clearly have a problem in the Southeast."

More than 23 million people in an eight-state region from North Carolina to Mississippi, including Tennessee, are exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone pollution, a component of smog, according to the American Lung Association.

Pam Lewis, executive director of the Alabama chapter, said Thursday's action is the first step in cleaning up the region's air quality by forcing the EPA to designate which areas fail to comply so the states "can start making plans to get the air clean."