By ATTORNEY GENERAL
Credits: TAPinto.net File Photo
January 15, 2021 at 12:50 PM
TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today announced that New Jersey has joined New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and the City of New York in a lawsuit alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has abdicated its duty to act on harmful ozone pollution flowing from upwind states. The EPA’s failure to act threatens the health of residents in the downwind states and makes it harder for them to meet federal air quality standards.
Ozone pollution caused largely by nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions can damage the lining of the lungs and lung tissue, and can aggravate asthma. Children and individuals with respiratory conditions are particularly susceptible. People of color and those living below the federal poverty standard disproportionately bear the consequences of ozone pollution. Even though New Jersey has some of the strictest limits on NOx in the United States,
effective immediately, epa program and regional offices shall report all regulatory actions in the agency s regulatory management system. regulatory actions to be reported include but not limited to those relating to any statutory or deadlines, pesticide tolerances, significant new use rules, delistings, permits, federal implementation plans, state implementation plans. they should air on the side of including actions in the system. basically that means that if any action is taken anywhere by any epa office, any epa personnel anywhere in the country, a statement on how much pesticide it s safe to leave on a crop or response to a petition or response to a court, anything has to be reported to headquarters in d.c. everything, everywhere in the country goes through d.c. now. everything. so that s memo one. that s the first thing that we obtained. that s new.
from e. scott pruitt. then it looks to be his signature off to the side on the right. this first memo calls for epa regulators to start reporting any action they take, any regulatory action anywhere in the country. needs to now be reported in a central database. effective immediately, epa program and regional offices shall report all regulatory actions in the agency s regulatory management system. regulatory actions to be reported include but not limited to those relating to any statutory or deadlines, pesticide tolerances, significant new use rules, delistings, permits, federal implementation plans, state implementation plans. they should air on the side of including actions in the system. basically that means that if any action is taken anywhere by any epa office, any epa personnel anywhere in the country, a statement on how much pesticide
statutory or deadlines, pesticide tolerances, significant new use rules, delistings, permits, federal implementation plans, state implementation plans. they should air on the side of including actions in the system. basically that means that if any action is taken anywhere by any epa office, any epa personnel anywhere in the country, a statement on how much pesticide it s safe to leave on a crop or response to a petition or response to a court, anything has to be reported to headquarters in d.c. everything, everywhere in the country goes through d.c. now. everything. so that s memo one. that s the first thing that we obtained. that s new. then there s the second memo we obtained. it specifically cites that, here s your pen andrew executive order. and then it says this. by may 15th, the offices of air and radiation, land and emergency management, chemical safety and pollution prevention, water, environmental information, congressional and intergovernmental relations and small and disadv
in fact, more than 40% of our greenhouse gas comes from coal-burning fired power power plants. moving ahead between now and 2014, you re going to have epa putting together a set of rules, but it s going to involve the states. and so these state implementation plans hopefully will take the common sense approach to be able to move forward and show the world that, yes, the united states can get something done. it would be better if congress were to act, but the reality of it is, it s going to happen in congress, and so it s going to happen through epa and executive authority of the united states. and through the states. while these are positive steps in the right direction, let s be very clear. these are baby steps compared to the scale of the problem. here s the thing. i want to invert that around. what ends up happening is, what is so incidious about this new kind of rhetoric about futility we have seen in the american domestic political context, it s precisely your argument, righ