Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is urging the Trump administration to delay nationwide compliance decisions for a stricter annual soot exposure standard put in place last year, a step that would effectively slow implementation of a regulatory measure predicted to eventually save thousands of lives.
In a letter earlier this month to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Abbott called the agency’s adoption of the tighter limit under then-President Joe Biden “arbitrary and unlawful.” He also asked Zeldin to “defer” the attainment designations that are currently due about a year from now.
All states were supposed to have made their recommendations by Feb 7. Any time EPA strengthens an ambient air quality standard for a specific pollutant, the initial round of attainment decisions is a crucial part of the follow-through. States with areas deemed in “nonattainment” must then come up with cleanup plans to bring them into compliance.
Because EPA has not yet posted all of the state recommendations in a central location, it is unclear whether any other governors are similarly calling for a delay.
