The Trump administration unveiled its first step Wednesday towards unraveling a national smog control plan with a proposal that would modestly shrink its geographic scope.
Under the newly released draft rule, Alabama and four other states no longer would need to be covered by the 2023 federal blueprint put in place under then-President Joe Biden and predicted to save thousands of lives in the long term.
In an about-face, EPA would instead approve the five states’ previously submitted plans for meeting “good neighbor” requirements, thereby potentially skirting new pollution control requirements for various industries during the summertime ozone season.
“Today, we are taking an important step to undo a Biden administration rule that treated our state partners unfairly,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news release. If those state plans are eventually approved, Zeldin said, they “will be able to advance cleaner air now for their communities, instead of waiting for overly burdensome federal requirements years from now.”
