An Arizona-based Indian tribe is contesting recently updated EPA air toxics regulations for two copper smelters near its reservation.
In the lawsuit filed late last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the San Carlos Apache Tribe does not spell out the grounds. But in joint comments filed with two environmental groups last year on a draft version of the regulations, the tribe voiced unease that copper production — and pollution — could increase to meet expanded demand for electric vehicle production and other needs.
While EPA predicts that the final update will eventually halve the industry’s releases of toxic metals, the three organizations had urged the agency to go further.
“Needless to say, if copper smelters’ production increases in the next years as expected, their emissions of lead, arsenic and other toxics will be even higher,” they wrote in their comments.
