Environmental Integrity Project / Facebook
Several environmental groups are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review and update its regulations governing industrial flares in a case that could have repercussions for Louisiana’s energy industry.
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, contends that the EPA has failed to update two groups of air pollution standards for such flares, which are mechanisms that destroy pollutants in waste gases, including compounds that result in smog, through combustion. Such flares are used in petrochemical facilities, gas-processing plants and large landfills.
The EPA has not updated some of the standards governing industrial flares for 34 years, according to the complaint. The agency is mandated by statute to review and update such regulations every eight years, the lawsuit states.