EPA sued over air pollution claims
ALBUQUERQUE -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is being sued by an environmental group that claims the agency has failed to safeguard public health in the West by not limiting the transmission of air pollution across state lines.
The EPA requires states to have plans aimed at addressing the interstate transport of ozone pollution, the primary component of smog, and fine particles or soot, but WildEarth Guardians claims New Mexico, California and a handful of other Western states do not have such plans.
"EPA is two years late in fulfilling its mandatory duty to prepare federal good neighbor plans protecting the public from interstate soot and smog," according to the lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco.
EPA regional spokeswoman Wendy Chavez said the agency has not had a chance to review the lawsuit and she would not be able to comment further on the pending litigation.
WildEarth Guardians warned in March it would take the agency to court if it failed to enforce the interstate transport requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. The group is concerned because the state plans were due in May 2007, but New Mexico, California, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Oregon still lack approved plans.
The lawsuit claims the EPA has neither approved the plans for the states nor implemented a federal plan. If a state fails to submit a plan, federal law requires the agency to prepare one for that state.
New Mexico environment officials have said they turned in their plan in 2007 but EPA has yet to approve it.
WildEarth Guardians argues that pollution problems in the West are on the rise. The group said Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix and other cities have violated clean air standards limiting ozone, and the problem is popping up in rural areas such as the Four Corners — where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah meet.
The Four Corners region is home to two coal-fired power plants and the San Juan Basin, one of the largest natural gas fields in the nation.
