DE AG Jennings Joins Lawsuit to Force Trump EPA to Comply with Federal Laws on Smog Pollution

Attorney General Kathy Jennings joined a multi-state coalition of six states and the City of New York in filing a lawsuit aimed at forcing the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to comply with federal law by requiring further controls on smog pollution that blows into neighboring states.

The coalition is challenging the Trump EPA’s 2018 Cross-State Air Pollution Rule “Close-Out” for failing to require any further control of smog pollution in northeastern states, despite smog’s serious, ongoing health threat in Delaware, which is largely due to the interstate transport of smog pollution.

“The EPA isn’t doing its job, and Delaware is paying the price,” said Attorney General Jennings. “Our families and children routinely breathe polluted air that blows in from other states, but the EPA refuses to uphold federal law by requiring reductions in upwind smog. Their failure to carry out their most basic mission jeopardizes our health and environment, and sends a clear signal about whose side the Trump Administration is on. If the President won’t hold himself accountable to the law, we’ll do it for him.”

On Delaware’s worst air quality days, Delawareans breathe unhealthy air due to smog pollution. According to the American Lung Association, over 127,000 Delawareans have lung diseases including 16,454 children with asthma and 63,100 adults with asthma are placed at special risk due to the smog pollution. Most of Delaware’s smog pollution is caused by pollution from other states that is transported into Delaware by wind.

Delaware joins a coalition led by New York and the Attorneys General of Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, and the City of New York. The suit can be viewed here.