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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

WA Can Get Tougher on Air Permits, Polluters

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008   

Seattle, WA - Who has the right to decide when and how to monitor industrial air pollution--the states or the United States government? A federal appeals court has decided it should be the states' responsibility.

The case arose because the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not allowed states to implement new monitoring. Conservation groups challenged the rule and won. Attorney Keri Powell of Earthjustice argued the case, saying that states can't enforce the Clean Air Act laws unless they can decide how to test their own air.

"You'd think that would be what they've been doing all the time, but the EPA had made things much more complicated. They said they didn't trust the states to do the job. They didn't want the states deciding what kind of monitoring needed to be done at individual facilities in their states."

In Washington, the Department of Ecology requires an Air Operating Permit for any business that releases more than 100 tons per year of any pollutant--or for one that releases 10 tons, if it's a hazardous pollutant. The permit must be renewed every five years.

Powell says the ruling also should give the public a greater voice in the state permitting process, because they'll have better access to local data.

"It means that people can play a very significant role in making sure that facilities they're concerned about are properly monitored. It's great that that power is back in the hands of the people."

The case was brought by a group of organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. It was opposed by the EPA, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.


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