The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) ruled on July 26 that 29 areas in 16 states, including Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, violate the 2010 air quality standard for sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that can cause respiratory issues. The 29 nonattainment areas will have to reduce emissions from power plants, industrial facilities, and other pollution sources in order to attain its goal of meeting the sulfur dioxide standard in five years. In addition, companies located in the nonattainment areas requiring modification to their existing facilities, or new companies that desire to do business in the nonattainment areas, will be required to… Read more
Tag: sulfur dioxide
EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule
A three judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington has scrapped the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule which was issued on July 2011. The rule was the EPA’s attempt to address the problem of legally permitted emissions crossing state lines causing the downwind state to be out of compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Two of the judges on the panel sided with more than three dozen challengers to the EPA’s rule which imposed caps on emissions for 27 states. The rule imposed a cap on sulfur dioxide which can lead to acid rain harmful… Read more