Pruitt's Focus On Costs In Shortened NAAQS Process Raises Legal Doubts

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in a new memo is dramatically shortening the process through which the agency reviews its six national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), but his order for consideration of economic impacts as part of the review process raises legal doubts given a Supreme Court bar on weighing costs in NAAQS reviews. The accelerated process, detailed in a May 9 Pruitt memo to the agency's assistant administrators, puts the ongoing reviews of the ozone and particulate matter (PM)...