April 10, 2023 |
Photo – Wyoming State Capitol Building in Cheyenne – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Biden Administration appears to be dogging Wyoming and another coal producing state, Tennessee, over their ozone plans. Governor Mark Gordon is fighting back in federal court.
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would ignore its own data and “defer action” on Wyoming’s State Implementation Plan (SIP) for ozone.
Governor Mark Gordon is asking the Tenth Circuit Court to review the EPA’s decision to defer action on Wyoming’s State Implementation Plan for ozone transport.
This follows the March 14th petition by Wyoming to reconsider and stay the effect of the EPA’s deferral disapproval of the State’s plan. The petition highlights how the EPA arbitrarily deferred Wyoming’s SIP by overlooking their own ozone modeling data and applying it differently to Wyoming than in their decisions on other states.
Gordon said in a statement. “This is yet another example of this Administration picking and choosing examples which are intended to punish fossil energy-producing states.”
The petition illustrates how the EPA arbitrarily deferred Wyoming’s SIP by overlooking the agency’s own ozone modeling data and applying it differently to Wyoming than in their decisions on other states. The data shows that Wyoming is not a significant contributor to ozone pollution in our neighboring states, the governor said.
Governor Gordon previously discussed with EPA Administer Michael Regan that the current ozone transport rule violates the principles of cooperative federalism, does not accommodate all forms of energy development, and is disproportionately applied to western states.
“Wyoming is not a significant contributor to ozone pollution in our neighboring states,” the governor said in a written statement.
