By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is planning to join the state of Mississippi in a lawsuit against stricter federal ozone standards.
The Environmental Protection Agency tightened smog standards in March
Missouri DNR officials said the new restrictions would make it difficult for St. Louis and Kansas City to reach attainment and would burden industry.
Missouri DNR director Doyle Childers says the new standards will make it more difficult for several areas of the state to stay in compliance, including St. Louis.
And he says the suit addresses issues that should be considered.
"So much of what we do in the U.S. is East Coast, West Coast and the Midwest and less populated areas kind of get drawn along with it," Childers said. "We're saying let's take a look at this before we jump on board and get carried away and then we waste our resources and haven't made any real impact on the ozone that we're dealing with."
American Lung Association spokeswoman Susannah Fuchs (fyooks) says her organization, along with EPA's own scientists, wanted even tighter regulations.
She says the new regulations will be tough to meet, but it's in the best interest of the public.
"There are always going to be arguments that it's going to be too hard to meet this standard, but this is about protecting public health," Fuchs said. "What could be more important than protecting public health? We're not asking people to make huge sacrifices."
DNR is not entering the lawsuit with the Missouri Attorney General's office.
Childers says Attorney General Jay Nixon's office took too long to make a decision on whether to join the suit, so DNR moved forward.
A spokesman for the attorney general says their office asked for more information from DNR and received no response.