Court: Group couldn’t sue Ohio EPA

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A Cincinnati appeals court has reversed a judge who said Ohio environmental regulators violated the federal Clean Air Act by allowing thousands of low-level polluters to go without the latest air-scrubbing technology.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday that the type of lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club in 2008 and that led to the judge’s ruling is not allowed under federal law and should be dismissed.

The decision turned back a 2010 ruling ordering the Ohio EPA to lift an exemption it had been giving since 2006 to emitters of 10 tons of pollution or less per year.

There were roughly 66,000 small pollution emitters registered in Ohio at the time of the 2010 ruling, including dry cleaners, auto-body shops and small production facilities.