Adam R.F. Gustafson, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice | Official Website
Earlier this week, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to invalidate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 air quality standard for particulate matter. The ENRD argued that the EPA admitted to using an unlawful regulatory shortcut when implementing this rule.
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to thoroughly review scientific evidence before making changes to air quality standards. According to ENRD, during the previous administration, "the EPA decided it could not be bothered to do the science, so it took an illegal regulatory shortcut to adopt a stifling and costly national air quality standard for particulate matter through a truncated reconsideration process."
The ENRD stated that under President Donald J. Trump’s Administration, "the EPA has renewed its commitment to following the law." The filing from this week acknowledged "the illegality of the 2024 rule." The ENRD further claimed that during the Biden Administration, "EPA violated the Clean Air Act by issuing its rule without a thorough review of the science and without considering the costs of its shortcut." The division asserted that removing this rule would restore compliance with federal law and reduce unnecessary environmental regulations.
