Advocacy News – July 11, 2024
The MI Chamber is joining with several national industry groups to push back on a lawsuit filed by Sierra Club alleging that the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) improperly approved of a plan that would allow Southeast Michigan to maintain the status of ‘attainment’ for ozone air quality standards.
Why it matters: When a region is found in ‘non-attainment,’ federal law requires special rules and regulations to be put into place to meet the air quality standard, resulting in signficant burdens and costs to manufacturers and businesses. Sierra Club is also making the legal argument that EGLE should not be allowed to use an ‘exceptional event’ rationale when it discounted air quality data on certain days, even though we know that it was caused by Canadian wildfires, not Southeast Michigan businesses.
What we’re saying: The Court should deny Sierra Club’s petitions based on several arguments:
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s acceptance of EGLE’s demonstration that an exceptional event – a Canadian wildfire – caused the elevated level of ozone measured on two occasions.
- EPA’s resulting Clean Data Determination for the Detroit area and redesignation of the area to attainment for that standard. Contrary to Sierra Club’s assertions, EPA’s actions are consistent with both the terms and purpose and with EPA’s implementing regulations.
- Congress enacted the exceptional events provision in recognition of the futility of requiring states and sources to redress pollution that results from certain activities beyond their control.
- Measures required in nonattainment areas can have staggering costs. For example, when it promulgated the 2015 ozone NAAQS, the EPA estimated the present value of meeting that standard in most of the country as $2.2 billion. Because ozone is not directly emitted from industrial sources, but forms in the air as a result of emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), this estimate reflected the EPA’s recognition that identified controls for NOx emissions cost as much as $19,000 per ton and those for VOC emissions as much as $33,000 per ton.
Dig deeper: Check out the court filing or contact Mike Alaimo for more information or questions.