Overview:
- Michigan regulators are asking EPA to exclude wildfire smoke days from 2023 and 2025 air monitoring data in Oak Park and Port Huron to meet federal ozone standards.
- A federal court ruled in December that EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it found seven Southeast Michigan counties in compliance with ozone standards.
- Environmental groups say Michigan should enact stricter pollution controls instead of seeking data exclusions in a region with ongoing air quality problems.
Michigan regulators are again asking the Environmental Protection Agency to find that Southeast Michigan complies with federal ozone standards, following a December court ruling that said the region is out of compliance.
The EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it redesignated seven Southeast Michigan counties from “nonattainment” to “attainment” for federal ozone standards, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Dec. 5. It’s a decision that requires additional pollution controls in an area with longstanding air quality problems.
Elena Saxonhouse, an attorney with Sierra Club, which brought the case against the EPA for the ozone redesignation, expressed frustration with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
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Why it matters
Southeast Michigan residents face continued health risks from ozone pollution that can inflame airways, trigger asthma attacks, and worsen lung diseases.
Who's making public decisions
The EPA will ultimately decide whether to approve EGLE’s request to redesignate Southeast Michigan as meeting federal ozone standards. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Dec. 5. that the EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it redesignated seven Southeast Michigan counties from “nonattainment” to “attainment” for federal ozone standards.
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EGLE public comment periods close Wednesday for wildfire smoke exclusions and April 22 for the ozone redesignation request.
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EGLE is trying to loosen ozone protections by submitting an addendum to the 2022 redesignation request it made to the EPA, she said.
“They have this opportunity to revisit what (they can) do about the pollution problem in southeastern Michigan,” she told Planet Detroit. “And they just repeatedly instead go the route of trying to put their heads in the sand and wave it away.”
She referred to the addendum as a “made up” procedure that isn’t contained in Clean Air Act regulations, adding that there are few examples of EPA redesignations being struck down in court.
Planet Detroit contacted EGLE for comment on Saxonhouse’s remarks.
Ozone pollution can inflame and damage airways, make the lungs more susceptible to infection, increase the frequency of asthma attacks, and aggravate lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis, according to the EPA.
Wayne County received an“F” for ozone pollution in the American Lung Association’s 2025 State of the Air report, experiencing 18 high ozone days between 2021 and 2023.
EGLE moves to exclude smoky days in 2023, 2025
Michigan regulators still need to show the area has met federal ozone standards over the last three years to secure a redesignation, Saxonhouse said.
“There’s a number of days that they need to toss out in order to make the math work,” she said.
EGLE is seeking to remove air monitoring data for several days in June 2023 and July 2025 from monitors in Oak Park and Port Huron, using the EPA’s exceptional events rule.
The federal agency defines exceptional events as unusual or naturally occurring events that can’t be reasonably controlled by government agencies. EGLE said smoke from Canadian wildfires affected ozone data on the days in question.
EGLE spokesperson Josef Stephens told Planet Detroit in a statement that Southeast Michigan met the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone in 2021 and has continued to meet this standard when wildfire smoke impacts are taken into account.
A public comment period on EGLE’s effort to exclude the wildfire smoke days closes Wednesday, and a public comment period on the agency’s draft request to bring Southeast Michigan into ozone attainment is open through April 22.
A virtual public hearing will be held on the ozone draft request on April 22, if one is requested by April 8.
Nick Leonard, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, said his group will request an in-person public hearing for EGLE’s redesignation request.
if EGLE chooses to submit the exceptional event demonstration to the EPA, there will be another opportunity for public comment before the EPA makes its determination, Leonard said.
More in-person public engagement is needed on the issue, the environmental lawyer said.
“This is a community that’s particularly vulnerable to ozone pollution, given high rates of asthma hospitalizations.”
Stephens said EGLE is open to considering requests for an in-person hearing. Since the redesignation request affects a seven-county area, a virtual hearing may provide the best opportunity for community participation, he said.
Michigan regulators must show air quality improvements: Sierra Club attorney
The Sierra Club’s Saxonhouse said EGLE’s use of an addendum doesn’t make it any easier for the agency to demonstrate that Southeast Michigan is meeting federal ozone regulations.
The agency will still need to show that it’s enacting the stricter pollution controls ordered by the court in December, she said.
“The problem is the same requirements are still there,” she said.
Several areas of West Michigan are in nonattainment for ozone, meaning the state must develop “Reasonably Available Control Technologies” rules for volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, among other measures.
EGLE’s Stephens said the agency continues to address ozone pollution across the state with control measures that will remain in place if Southeast Michigan is found to meet federal ozone standards.
“If ozone levels were to increase in the future, the Request for Redesignation includes a Maintenance Plan (which) outlines additional actions EGLE could choose from to ensure the area continues to meet the ozone standard,” Stephens said.
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