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Jul 2, 2008 12:00 am US/Central
EPA Set To Approve Smog Reduction Plan
DALLAS (AP) ―
The
Environmental Protection Agency is ready to sign off on a clean air plan for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The proposal would reduce ozone-forming pollutants by 88 tons per day. The amount is more than double what the earlier plan proposed.
The EPA will take comments on the plan before making its final decision.
The proposed approval has some conditions. The EPA said the state has to finalize regulations that would reduce the amount of discrete emission credits available in the nine-county non-attainment area covered by the plan.
Environmental groups such as the
Dallas Chapter of the Sierra Club said the plan is woefully short of where it needs to be.
"There has been talk of further action regarding this air plan as far as legal action. There has been talk from the environmental community of requesting that the state agency's air authority be pulled," said Rita Beving, conservation spokeswoman for the Dallas club, referring to the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
She said as far as whether a lawsuit will be filed, "we would be looking at something within 60 to 90 days."
Beving said her organizaton and other environmental groups had met with the EPA behind closed doors to ask the EPA to pressure the state environmental agency to do more or partially disapprove the plan.
"We were totally surprised by this announcement. We're very disappointed that we tried to work with a federal agency to get a better plan," Beving said.
She said the Dallas-Fort Worth area has already faced what she called "two failed air plans and we feel this plan will be a third."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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