We have great news about our fight to restore Ohio’s Air Nuisance Rule (ANR) to protect communities from dangerous air pollution.
On Thursday, February 22, US EPA announced it intends to put the ANR back into Ohio’s State Implementation Plan (SIP). If that proposed action is finalized after a 30-day public comment period, Ohio citizens will once again be able to directly protect their health and property by using the ANR.
In announcing its proposed action, US EPA cited the facts and the law we urged the federal government to use to reject the illegal removal of the ANR from the SIP. That illegal removal four years ago has deprived Ohio people of their best tool to fight air pollution.
Your help is needed now to ensure that the proposed reinstatement stands, beginning with the public comment period on the proposed rule that ends on March 25.
How we got here
Sierra Club, other environmental organizations and individuals, petitioned the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to review the 2020 decision removing the ANR. In our petition, we documented how the removal of this critical tool, on the books since 1974, prevented individuals, local governments and fenceline communities from holding polluters accountable when the state and federal government failed to protect people, especially people who live close to polluters.
In 2021, petitioners learned that US EPA’s decision was made five months after an intense lobbying effort initiated in 2019 by a law firm working furiously behind the scenes on behalf of company that had an ANR citizen suit claim pending against them. Attorneys for the State of Ohio and US EPA argued for keeping this critical tool out of the SIP, and trade associations representing Ohio’s biggest polluting facilities filed a brief with the Court supporting ANR removal.
In February 2023, after deciding that the petitioners had legal standing to challenge the ANR removal and setting forth guidelines for USEPA to use in the remand process, the Court sent the decision back to US EPA for “reconsideration.” Over the past year, US EPA has been reconsidering whether to put the ANR back into the SIP based on the Sixth Circuit’s decision.
Proposed reinstatement and public comments
Guided by the reasoning of the Court in its February 2023 decision, which had cited several instances where citizens used the ANR both inside and outside of court to win reductions in air pollution prior to its removal in 2020, the US EPA is now proposing to restore the ANR to the SIP. In its announcement, US EPA acknowledges that its November 2020 action “failed to adequately consider the role the ANR plays in the enforcement” of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in Ohio.
Next steps
Despite this huge victory, the fight is not over. We are asking you to send emails of support for the restoration of the Air Nuisance Rule to [email protected] with the Docket ID NO. EPA-R05-OAR-2020-0055 in the subject line.
Tell US EPA you support reinstatement of the Air Nuisance rule before the March 25 deadline. Emails of support are very important as the State of Ohio is likely to challenge the reinstatement. Let USEPA know the importance and value of the ANR for Ohioans.
