New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and attorneys general from 10 other states filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Monday for what they say is an illegal delay of a safety rule for chemical plants.
A spokesman for EPA Region 2, which includes New York, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Obama-era Chemical Accident Safety Rule, which was finalized in January 2017, requires companies to better prepare for possible accidents. The rule, which was partly a response to a 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. in Texas that killed 15 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, also expanded the EPA's authority to investigate and audit companies.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in mid-June delayed the regulation until February 2019 to review the legality of the rule and to weigh objections by industry groups.
"We are seeking additional time to review the program, so that we can fully evaluate the public comments raised by multiple petitioners and consider other issues that may benefit from additional public input," Pruitt said in a statement last month.In February, chemical companies wrote to the EPA arguing that the new safety rule didn't do much to secure public safety and "raises significant security concerns and compliance issues that will cause irreparable harm" to the industry.
The lawsuit filed by Schneiderman and the attorneys general of Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington all Democrats in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit alleges that the delay is "unlawful and therefore must be vacated."
In a statement, Schneiderman said that "protecting our workers, first responders and communities from chemical accidents should be something on which we all agree, yet the [President Donald] Trump EPA continues to put special interests before the health and safety of the people they serve."