EPA would get until December 2025 to belatedly complete an update to air toxics standards for part of the petrochemical industry under a tentative deal to end a lawsuit brought last year by three environmental groups.
That deadline is more than a year beyond what EPA air chief Joe Goffman had previously said would be needed, according to his 2022 response to an earlier inspector general’s report.
Apart from acknowledging receipt of an email, an EPA spokesperson had no immediate comment Monday on why the added time is required for a review that is already running well behind a Clean Air Act schedule.
The laxer timetable is embedded in a proposed consent decree to resolve the suit brought last September by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) and two other advocacy organizations.
