Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Attorney General TJDonovan announced today that he has joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general urging Congress to reject the rollback of critical protective ozone air quality standards. In letters sent tothe chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the attorneys general detailed their opposition to the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017. This legislation would substantially delay the ozone standards promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 and mark a major step backwards in efforts to combat pollution and its negative impact on public health.
Exposure to elevated levels of ozone may cause lung tissue damage, as well as aggravation of health conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, heart disease and emphysema. Children and seniors are particularly susceptible to ozone’s harmful effects.
The letters to Congress continue the commitment of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office to fight for clean air. Vermont is one of seven states who are currently defending a challenge to the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone – the same standards at issue in the proposed federal legislation. Vermont is active in two other cases seeking or defending measures to address ozone pollution: a multi-state petition seeking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action under the Clean Air Act to add additional states to the Ozone Transport Region, and another in which Vermont and others are defending EPA’s Cross State Air Pollution Update Rule.
Along with Attorney General Donovan, the letters to Congress were signed by the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Acting Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Vermont AG: April 27, 2017