EPA has reinstated an Ohio rule that makes it easier to take industrial air polluters to federal court, undoing a Trump-era rollback covertly undertaken at a lobbyist’s behest.
In an eleventh-hour decision set for publication in Tuesday’s Federal Register, outgoing EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore labeled the 2020 rollback a mistake and said the agency is restoring the “Air Nuisance Rule” to Ohio’s federally approved plan for meeting a key set of pollution standards.
EPA had proposed the reinstatement almost a year ago after the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to the Biden administration’s request for a do-over. That move came in response to a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club and other challengers.
In a Friday email, Sierra Club attorney Megan Wachspress said the group was “pleased and relieved” that EPA had followed through. “Most of all,” Wachspress added, “we are glad that after five years Ohioans will once again have this important tool to protect themselves from harmful air pollution, particularly at a time when there may be pressure on EPA offices to take fewer enforcement actions.”
