The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Manhattan on Thursday, asking the court to compel President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency to protect states that are downwind from other states with excessive air pollution. “More than two-thirds of New Yorkers regularly breathe unhealthy air, yet the Trump administration continues to ignore the smog caused by upwind air pollution,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “We will not allow the federal government to trivialize the law, and minimalize the importance of clean air for millions of New Yorkers,” she added. That happens in part because pollution from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia is worsening the air quality in New York, the lawsuit claims. The “Good Neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to intervene when upwind states fail to protect health standards in downwind states, New York said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 17, 2020 03:56 UTC