EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday announced he would move to clear hundreds of backlogged cases to clean air, saying the Biden administration focused on "ideological pursuits" rather than the agency's "core mission."
The post Exclusive — EPA Chief Lee Zeldin Moves to Clear Massive Biden-Era Agency Backlog to Improve Air Quality Faster appeared first on Breitbart.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday announced he would move to clear the hundreds of backlogged cases to clean air, saying the Biden administration focused on “ideological pursuits” rather than the agency’s “core mission.”
The agency said it would commit to working with states and tribes to resolve the hundreds of backlogged State Implementation Plans (SIPs) and Tribal Implementation Plans (TIPs) the Biden-Harris administration could not or would not resolve. At the end of the Biden administration, there were 685 unresolved SIPs with 322 considered overdue.
“The Biden Administration’s focus on ideological pursuits instead of the agency’s core mission and statutory duties resulted in a delay of air quality improvement,” the EPA administrator wrote in a statement. “With more than 140 million Americans living in nonattainment areas around the country, cooperative federalism and clearing out the State Implementation Plan backlog will make significant strides to improving the air we breathe.”
A State Implementation, according to the EPA, is a collection of regulations and other documents used by a state or tribe to implement, maintain, or enforce the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), and to fulfill other requirements of the Clean Air Act.
The EPA has six “criteria” for pollutants that are known to be harmful to human health. This includes:
- Carbon monoxide
- Lead air pollution
- Nitrogen oxide pollution
- Ozone pollution
- Particulate matter pollution
- Sulfur dioxide pollution
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review and approve all SIPs that meet the requirements of the law. However, many states have raised concerns about being punished for emissions outside the control of their state and air quality monitors not being placed in the most logical areas.
The EPA said it would work with, and not against, states and tribes to ensure that air quality is protected, while growing the economy to include development of high-tech manufacturing such as semiconductor fabrication and artificial intelligence (AI) development.
This is just the latest move in the EPA and Zeldin’s efforts to ensure Americans have clean air while “powering the Great American Comeback.”
Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle explained in his exclusive interview with Zeldin in February:
Zeldin and his team are exclusively announcing this new initiative — titled “Powering the Great American Comeback” — here on Breitbart News. The initiative has five major pillars. The first is pushing for “Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American.” The second is to “Restore American Energy Dominance,” and the third is for “Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership.” The fourth pillar is to “Make the United States the Artificial Intelligence Capital of the World,” and the fifth is “Protecting and Bringing Back American Auto Jobs.”
“The EPA is going to aggressively pursue an agenda powering the Great American Comeback. That is our agenda we wanted to announce with you — that’s what we call it, that’s our purpose, and it’s what will keep us up at night. EPA wants to help power that Great American Comeback. President Trump, as the leader of our country and the great American people, has earned that mandate. It’s up to the EPA to ensure we’re doing our part to make sure we deliver on that,” Zeldin said at the time.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
