State of Maryland Sues EPA for Refusing to Control Upwind NOx Emissions

BALTIMORE, MD - Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh today announced that the State of Maryland has sought judicial review, in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, of the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to deny Maryland’s petition for relief under Section 126 of the Clean Air Act. The petition had asked EPA to impose additional controls on upwind emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are a precursor to the ozone that plagues Maryland when the weather is warm.

“EPA’s decision to deny our petition gives a green light to out-of-state power plants to continue sending their pollution downwind to Maryland. Maryland strictly controls NOx emissions within its own boundaries, but other states need to do their part to keep ozone levels down,” said Attorney General Frosh. “Requiring power plants to implement common sense standards to reduce harmful emissions is the responsibility of EPA. Today, with the Maryland Department of the Environment, we are appealing EPA’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to protect Marylanders from the negative health consequences of other states’ pollution.”

Read more in the full press release:http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/press/2018/101518.pdf