WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it is pulling the plug on its reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, commonly referred to as smog and starting a lengthy, slow full review. As a result of today’s decision, if the EPA doesn’t pick up the pace, the agency would likely complete its review in the late 2020s, denying communities any chance of stronger ozone standards until implementation began sometime in the early 2030s. The EPA’s decision comes despite mounting evidence of the adverse health impacts and environmental damage caused by ozone pollution. Environmental advocacy groups condemn the decision as scientifically, legally and morally insupportable.

Just two short years ago, the EPA won praise for its announcement that it would start and, by end of 2023, finish a reconsideration of a December 2020 decision to retain outdated standards.

As part of that process, this past June, 18 independent experts on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) reviewed the existing ozone NAAQS, and all, except one, concluded that “the scientific […]