Press Releases
12/21/2023
Attorney General Tong Joins Multistate Coalition to Combat Air Pollution
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong this week joined a coalition of attorneys general and localities in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in the case of Kentucky v. EPA to defend the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Air Act to ensure that each state does its fair share to reduce the air pollution that travels into other states. The coalition supports the EPA’s disapproval of Kentucky’s state implementation plan (SIP) for failing to satisfy the Clean Air Act’s Good Neighbor Provision, which requires each state to prohibit its in-state emissions that will significantly impede other states’ ability to achieve healthy air.“Connecticut sits at the end of the nation’s tailpipe. Without strong federal action, our air quality and public health are at the mercy of heavy-polluting upwind states. We have consistently pushed EPA to take stronger action to protect air quality in downwind states like Connecticut, and we are defending their authority to do so here against meritless challenges by states unwilling to address their air pollution obligations,” said Attorney General Tong.
Congress included the Good Neighbor Provision in the Clean Air Act to address the problem of interstate pollution and help ensure that states fulfill their obligations to other states. In 2015, the EPA strengthened the federal air quality standards for ozone nationwide. Ozone is the main ingredient in smog, and can cause or exacerbate respiratory illness in children, the elderly, and people who work or spend time outdoors.
In 2015, the EPA found that emissions from power plants and other industries in Kentucky, along with 20 other states, would significantly affect many of the coalition states’ ability to achieve safe levels of ozone. In response, rather than provide a plan to reduce emissions, Kentucky and several other states simply downplayed the harm to downwind states and their air quality and minimized the role that their emissions played. When the EPA disapproved Kentucky’s SIP, Kentucky sued the EPA in the Sixth Circuit, and several other states with similarly inadequate plans sued the EPA in six other federal circuit courts across the country.
The coalition emphasizes three key points in their brief. First, the coalition urges the Sixth Circuit to transfer the proceedings to the D.C. Circuit, where the Clean Air Act requires such legal challenges to be heard. The coalition explains that Connecticut and other amici states have been unfairly burdened by having to litigate in multiple federal circuit courts across the country to protect their residents from upwind air pollution. Furthermore, inconsistent rulings from these courts might allow some upwind states to escape their responsibilities to reduce pollution. Second, the coalition defends EPA’s rejection of Kentucky’s proposal to classify its interstate pollution as de minimis. Kentucky’s proposal would have allowed the state to evade its responsibilities under the Clean Air Act, by deeming insignificant the pollution it sends into downwind states like Connecticut, when such pollution does, in fact, make a meaningful difference in air quality in those downwind states. Finally, the coalition defends the EPA’s authority to review state implementation plans for substantive compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Joining Attorney General Tong in submitting today’s amicus brief are the attorneys general of Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. The City of New York and Harris County, Texas also joined the amicus brief.
Assistant Attorney General Jill Lacedonia and Deputy Associate Attorney General Matthew Levine, Chief of the Environment Section, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
- Twitter: @AGWilliamTong
- Facebook: CT Attorney General
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov
Consumer Inquiries:
860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov