States from the mid-Atlantic to New England will have much more difficulty meeting the national ozone standard because of the Trump administration’s rollbacks of vehicle emissions rules, officials warned Wednesday.
Speaking at a meeting of the Ozone Transport Commission, a coalition of states stretching from Virginia to Maine, several state officials noted that states have limited ability to curb smog-forming pollution from mobile sources compared to EPA.
That’s especially true now that the Trump administration has revoked waivers issued to California approving more stringent standards. Because many of the OTC states adopted California’s rules, undoing them affected around 40 percent of new vehicle sales.
“The significance of that can’t be understated,” said Paul Farrell, director of the Planning and Standards Division at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, at the meeting in New Haven.
