A U.S. District Court judge in Arkansas ruled Tuesday the Environmental Protection Agency has until Aug. 31 to approve a regional haze plan for Arkansas, which the Sierra Club said should have been done years ago.
The Sierra Club brought the lawsuit against the EPA in 2014, charging that the EPA should have promulgated a federal implementation plan for Arkansas in 2014 but didn’t, according to the order filed Monday by U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes.
The Sierra Club filed the lawsuit to have a judge require the EPA to issue a plan for Arkansas. The EPA also could approve Arkansas’ implementation plan by Aug. 31.
In August, state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge was allowed to intervene in the case. Rutledge said in a news release that she intervened because a consent decree proposed by both sides would have imposed an arbitrary deadline for the EPA to finalize a plan or approve a revised state implementation plan.
The Sierra Club of Arkansas was pleased with the ruling.
“We now have a deadline for EPA to finalize a plan protecting our national parks and wilderness areas from haze pollution,” Glen Hooks, director of the Sierra Club of Arkansas said in statement. “EPA missed its statutory deadline to act, and EPA now has a court-ordered deadline to act as a result of Sierra Club’s lawsuit.”
Rutledge’s office said she disagrees with the ruling.
“Attorney General Rutledge disagrees with the court’s decision, which ultimately allows a California-based special interest group to control the regulatory process affecting Arkansans,” her office said in a statement provided to Arkansas Business. “The Attorney General will continue to review this decision and evaluate how to proceed.”
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