There s clearly bipartisan support to reduce air pollution from the oil and methane gas industry, but what s been missing is the political will to get it done, said Robert Ukeiley, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. We re calling on the Biden administration to take the common-sense steps that will protect people and wildlife alike from dangerous pollution from the fossil fuel industry, he said. ``Ultimately, the key to safeguarding the air we breathe is to move quickly away from drilling and fracking.
The groups say the areas outlined in their letter are home to more than 48.7 million people, or about 15% of the U.S. population.
For Immediate Release, February 11, 2021
Contact:
Kaya Sugerman, Center for Environmental Health, (510) 740-9384, kaya@ceh.org
Lawsuit Launched to Fight EPA’s Delay in Reducing Air Pollution From Oil, Methane Gas Industries in Six States
Areas Include California, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia
WASHINGTON Two conservation groups filed a formal notice today of their intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to ensure that adequate plans are in place to control air pollution from the oil and methane gas industry in six states.
Six areas of California and the New York City metropolitan area have failed to meet basic air-quality standards for ozone. The state of New York and four other eastern states have also not met requirements for what Congress has designated as the “ozone transport region,” across which states must work together to effectively reduce ozone and its precursors.
Two conservation groups have launched a lawsuit to fight the EPA’s “failure to require adequate pollution controls for the oil and methane gas industry” in Chicago and areas of California. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health point out that two Canadian provinces require that the oil and methane gas industry install zero emission pneumatic controllers. “There is no reason the EPA cannot adopt this readily available technology,” says Kaya Sugerman with the Center for Environmental Health.
The EPA’s guidelines for oil and methane gas production recommend pneumatic controllers that emit volatile organic compounds, when pneumatic controllers that do not emit any of these compounds are in widespread use at production sites and compressor stations in both the US and Canada, the groups argue.