EPA: Smog rule coming 'shortly'

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reiterated Friday that it intends to issue updated ozone standards “shortly,” but did not offer a specific deadline for finalizing the rules.

The regulations are still undergoing an inter-agency review process, the EPA said in a motion filed in federal court Friday on the status of the standards.

"EPA believes that this inter-agency review will be completed shortly, after which EPA expects expeditiously to sign the final action that will complete its rulemaking reconsidering the [ozone rule]," EPA said in the motion.

EPA says the court should direct the agency to alert stakeholders one day before signing the final ozone rule.

The EPA motion is a response to a motion filed by Earthjustice and other environmental groups earlier this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals asking the D.C. Circuit to require that the agency immediately issue the standards.

“In a motion filed today, EPA reiterated that Administrator Jackson is fully committed to finalizing EPA’s reconsideration of the Clean Air Act health standard for ground level ozone, which is currently going through interagency review led by OMB,” EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said in a statement Friday. “Following completion of this step, EPA will finalize its reconsideration. We look forward to doing so shortly.”

While the EPA declined to offer a time frame in the motion, the continued pledge to issue a revised standard "shortly" suggests that the administration is not yielding to an industry push to pull back the rule.

The administration has delayed the release of the final standards several times. Most recently, EPA missed its July 29 deadline to issue the standards, raising the ire of public health and clean air groups.

The American Lung Association, for example, said continued delays of the ozone standards could result in more deaths related to air pollution.

"This untenable delay means more will get sick and more will die," American Lung Association President Charles Connor said last month. "There is no possible acceptable excuse for this decision."

The ozone standards are intended to tighten rules issued by President George W. Bush. The regulations, EPA says, will yield major public health benefits.

“A new ozone standard will be based on the best science and meet the obligation established under the Clean Air Act to protect the health of the American people,” Gilfillan said in the statement Friday. “In implementing this new standard, EPA will use the longstanding flexibility in the Clean Air Act to consider costs, jobs and the economy.”

The pending regulations have come under fire from Republicans and industry groups. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute have led the charge to scuttle new ozone rules until at least 2013, lobbying both EPA and the White House in recent weeks on the issue.

Business groups sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday reiterating their concerns with the standards.

Meanwhile, several Senate Democrats called on the Obama administration to “stand strong” in the face of opposition to the ozone standards.