Press Mention Asheville Citizen-Times May 30, 2002
SACE Referenced
Groups from states in Southeast to sue EPA
In this mention
Health and environmental groups from eight Southeastern states, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, announced plans to sue the EPA for failing to enforce air pollution standards set five years prior. The lawsuit aims to force the agency to implement stricter ozone pollution standards, with 59 cities or counties in the Southeast currently failing to meet the tougher standards and over 23 million people exposed to unhealthy ozone levels.
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Groups from states in Southeast to sue EPA
By Colin Fly
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Health and environmental groups from eight Southeastern states announced Thursday 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, and more than 23 million people in an eight-state region from North Carolina to Mississippi are exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone pollution, a component of smog, according to the American Lung Association.
Pam Lewis, executive director of the ALA 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."
The EPA had delayed designating the areas that aren't in compliance because of industry lawsuits challenging the tougher standards. But the last legal challenge was struck down in March.