A coalition of healthcare professionals filed a brief this week in support of a federal lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s May ozone pollution decision that found Detroit in attainment with federal ozone standards under the Clean Air Act.
The Sierra Club’s lawsuit alleges the EPA prematurely lifted the “nonattainment” designation for the area, removing the state’s obligation to implement ozone reduction plans.
“Health professionals see firsthand how poor air quality due to historic environmental racism leads to severe and chronic suffering,” Kindra Weid, a registered nurse and coalition coordinator for the nonprofit MI Air MI Health (MAMH), said in a statement.
“EPA failed to protect public health with this ruling. We are asking the court to reverse the EPA’s decision before it leads to more sick people, more hospital visits, and more avoidable deaths in Detroit.”
Ozone pollution is formed when nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react in sunlight. These pollutants often originate from vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, gasoline vapors and chemical solvents. When exposed to sunlight, these substances undergo a chemical reaction, creating ground-level ozone, a key component of smog.
Ozone air pollution poses significant health risks by aggravating respiratory conditions and impairing lung function.
In the amicus brief filed by environmental legal nonprofit Earthjustice, MAMH and Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action urged the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the EPA’s decision, saying Detroit’s air was still worse than federal standards and that highways and industrial pollution sources continue to create health disparities for residents.
In deciding on the Detroit region’s ozone attainment, the EPA used air monitoring data submitted by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, which discounted ozone readings for two days in June 2022 from an air monitor in Detroit.
EGLE argued that high readings on those days were due to wildfire smoke and could be excluded under the “exceptional events rule” of the Clean Air Act, a loophole that one regulator called a “magic wand” to make dirty air appear clean.
In the amicus brief, healthcare workers noted the data that was excluded came from a majority Black area near major industrial facilities and that research has shown historically redlined areas of Detroit are disproportionately burdened by air pollution.
“Ground-level ozone, also known as smog, is a harmful air pollutant created when emissions from cars, power plants, and industrial facilities react in sunlight,” the coalition wrote. “When an area’s air quality exceeds (the National Ambient Air Quality Standards), the people living there are at higher risk for exacerbations of lung conditions, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These health problems increase school absenteeism, reduce time outside, and cause people to miss work and other activities.”
The Sierra Club also filed a brief for the case this week, saying in a statement that the state and EPA had failed to show “the area’s air quality is actually clean enough to meet the ozone standard” or that “air quality improvement was the result of ‘permanent and enforceable’ emissions reductions.”
The group said the EPA’s decision was especially concerning because agencies relied on data from years when the pandemic-related recession decreased air pollution.
In a statement to Planet Detroit, EGLE spokesperson Hugh McDiarmid defended the attainment designation and the exclusion of exceptional event days.
“Concerted and sustained efforts have helped reduce ozone pollution across all of Michigan during the past several decades, leading to the attainment designation for (southeast) Michigan,” he said. “While we expect that downward trend to continue, there is still work to be done in neighborhoods located near industrial facilities – particularly in low-income communities and communities of color.”
McDiarmid said that Canadian wildfire smoke is beyond the control of state regulators and that the exceptional events rule is in place to ensure residents don’t bear the responsibility of a problem they cannot address. He added that Michigan and other states are looking to the EPA for “potential additional guidance in light of the increasing impacts of the wildfire smoke.”
Assurances of continued improvement in reducing ozone are not enough for Rhonda Anderson with the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, who said leaders have failed to protect Detroiters facing environmental injustice.
“I’m disappointed in both Michigan and the EPA for allowing pollution sources to operate without the controls and emission reductions that my community deserves under the Clean Air Act,” Anderson said in a statement. “Me and my community have a right to breathe clean air.”