Environment

EPA Backs Down After State Lawsuit

Written by SK Ashby

That was fast.

Attorneys General from 16 states led by New York and California filed a lawsuit earlier this week challenge EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's decision to delay enforcement of Obama-era regulations on smog, but the EPA has now backed down.

The Environmental Protection Agency decision came a day after 16 state attorneys general, all Democrats, filed a lawsuit challenging the delay with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. It reversed a decision that Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, made in June to put off an Oct. 1 deadline for designating which areas of the country met new ozone standards.

Scott Pruitt could still make a move to delay the regulations later this year, but if he's backing down now at the mere mention of a sweeping lawsuit, it's hard to see this happening again.