New York state leaders filed a notice of intent last week to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for ignoring the federal Clean Air Act, which promised the EPA would curb pollution that blows into New York from upwind states.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed the notice “for the sake of public health” and to call on the EPA “to act,” Cuomo said in a press release.

“Pollution doesn’t recognize state borders, and without the EPA requiring states upwind states to limit pollution, we are left to further limit pollution from New York sources,” Cuomo said.

New York City is the ninth most smog-polluted area in the United States, according to a 2017 American Lung Association report. Considering the city’s high population density, this ranking is not too drastic, but rather a testament to the state’s dedication to ensuring clean air for its residents. New York has some of the strictest air quality standards in the country.

Unfortunately, state efforts were thwarted by other states’ less stringent standards. Pollutants can travel hundreds of miles from where they were first emitted, resulting in upstream states like Pennsylvania and Illinois influencing the air quality of downstream states like New York.

New York state leaders want the EPA to limit the pollution of upwind states. It’s unfair for other states to affect the air quality for New York residents. The EPA should hold upstream states accountable, as this is what they’d promised to do in the Clean Air Act.

The Clean Air Act was signed in August 2015 and resulted in 24 states, including several states upwind of New York, promising to reduce pollution emissions. A provision in the act requires the EPA to adopt plans to reduce interstate smog pollution when the actions of upwind states are not sufficient. The purpose of this clause was to ensure federal smog health standards could be met in New York.

The EPA had a two-year deadline to adopt plans for these states. But despite the deadline being Aug. 12, the EPA has failed to put those plans in action.

Schneiderman told EPA head Scott Pruitt that unless the EPA fulfills its duty to protect New Yorkers from smog pollution within 60 days, he will sue the EPA to compel Pruitt to fulfill that duty.

“With this action, New York makes it clear that we will not stand idly by as other states shun their responsibility to keep our nation’s air quality safe,” Cuomo said in the release.

The EPA is meant to protect U.S. residents from harm caused by pollutants. The agency has dropped the ball on developing plans to curtail the pollutants compromising the state’s air quality. The EPA should, like it promised, hold polluting states accountable and help create policy to protect neighboring states from their suffering air qualities.

Allison Weis is a freshman newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at alweis@syr.edu.

Published on October 29, 2017 at 10:30 pm