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STATEMENT BY EPA ADMINISTRATOR CAROL M. BROWNER ON APPEAL OF RECENT PANEL DECISION ON AIR QUALITY STANDARDS

Release Date: 06/28/99
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I’m pleased that the Department of Justice will formally appeal one of the most bizarre and extreme decisions ever rendered in the annals of environmental jurisprudence. In this decision, two judges from a three-judge panel would deny the EPA the ability to set tough public health air quality standards on behalf of the American people. In reaching this decision, the two judges were forced to ignore 64 years of Supreme Court precedent, the history of the Clean Air Act, and the work of five Presidents and 15 Congresses.

If allowed to stand, this decision would bring real consequences to the American people. By striking down the new clean air standards, 125 million Americans, including 35 million children, will breathe air that doesn’t meet health standards based on modern science. One million of those people will suffer serious respiratory illnesses each year, and 15,000 will ultimately suffer premature death.

The panel never challenged the science on which the new health standards are based. To the contrary, the court panel itself even said there was ample scientific support for the new standard for fine particulate matter, or soot.

The Administration remains committed to clean air for all Americans and will pursue all avenues available for meeting the public health needs of the public, including the petition for rehearing before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the Department of Justice will file.


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