CBD signals likely lawsuit over secondary NAAQS plan

EPA’s plan to leave “secondary” national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) largely unchanged, without requirements for emissions reductions, appears headed for likely litigation should the agency finalize the rule as proposed, with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) criticizing the plan’s lack of endangered species analysis. “The EPA is required to assess harms to endangered species when it sets pollution standards,” said Ryan Maher, a staff attorney for CBD, in an April 15 statement. “Air pollution standards must protect endangered...