EPA sued for failing to protect NC citizens from other states' pollution

Chapel Hill- In response to its denial of North Carolina's request to clean up pollution from 13 neighboring states, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and the Clean Air Task Force have filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of the NC Sierra Club and Environment North Carolina. This pollution is contributing to unhealthy levels of soot and smog in areas across the state. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has filed a similar suit.

"Thirty-two counties in North Carolina have unhealthy levels of soot or smog, due largely to power plant pollution crossing the borders into our state. The federal Clean Air Act says that EPA has a duty to protect citizens of these counties by requiring the offending polluters to clean up. Instead, EPA chose to delay and deny its responsibility, sacrificing public health in the process," said Marily Nixon, Senior Attorney and Director of SELC's Healthy Air Project.

The suit was filed with a federal court of appeals in Washington, D.C.

"North Carolina really is the leader in the Southeast on clean air-we have shown that states can take action where the federal government is falling behind," said Bill Fisk, Conservation Chair of the North Carolina Sierra Club. "Now it's time for other states and EPA to do their fair share to clean up the air."

In March the EPA denied the "Section 126 Petition" following years of delay. SELC and the State of North Carolina sued the agency for its inaction, which prompted EPA to finally issue its decision. EPA's ultimately denied the petition two years after the state's original request. It is that denial that is being challenged in today's action.

Rather than requiring actual emissions reductions at specific upwind plants, EPA denied North Carolina's petition and issued a plan that will illegally substitute implementation of the weaker federal Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to remedy the state's air pollution problems. However, CAIR does not require dirty plants to cut their pollution quickly enough and offers no guarantee that the specific plants that are polluting North Carolina's air will even reduce their emissions.

"Instead of taking strong action against those plants contributing to our state's dirty air, EPA has given us a weak and ineffective plan," said Elizabeth Ouzts, state director of Environment North Carolina. "Too many people in our state are forced to breathe unhealthy air. These people do not care where this pollution comes from, they only want to see it reduced."

Even though North Carolina passed the Clean Smokestacks Act in 2002 - at the time, one of the most aggressive air pollution laws in the country - over one third of the state's counties have air that fails to meet federal health standards. All or part of thirty-two counties violate the federal smog standard, in part because of pollution generated in 13 upwind states. Three counties in the state - Davidson, Guilford and Catawba- were designated as not attaining federal soot standards, and new information shows that the Charlotte area now also violates federal standards for this dangerous pollutant.