EPA Downplays Civil Rights As Factor In Disapproval Of State Air Plans

EPA is pushing back on environmental justice (EJ) advocates’ claims that the agency had disapproved of a California air quality plan for violating civil rights requirements, denying that its decision was based on such failings, and declining requests to force greater consideration of civil rights in other states’ plans. The agency’s stance, spelled out in a May 9 decision to partially disapprove Colorado’s state implementation plan (SIP) that seeks to bring the Denver area into attainment with its 2008 federal...