EPA May Struggle to Meet Its Own Ozone Review Deadlines

The EPA is racing to meet its goal to review ozone pollution standards by the end of 2020, with a draft due early next year, but such a goal may not be possible and risks undermining the entire process, former agency employees and science advisers say.

The Environmental Protection Agency set a December 2020 goal to finish reviewing the 2015 air quality standards for ozone—a known lung irritant—and the 2012 standards for fine airborne particle pollution.

But the reviews under the Clean Air Act require a multi-step, time-consuming process that involves counsel from advisers on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory ...