Environmental Protection Agency proposes settlement in Utah air quality case

EPA proposes settlement in Utah air quality case

SALT LAKE CITY — The public has until Jan. 6 to comment on a proposed settlement in a lawsuit involving Utah’s air and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The environmental group WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit in September challenging Utah rules that the group claims let industrial facilities exceed emissions limits when pollution-control equipment breaks down.

The group wants EPA to tell the state that the provision doesn’t comply with the federal Clean Air Act.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver.

The proposed settlement, published in the Federal Register on Dec. 7, would require the EPA to decide by February 2011 whether Utah needs to revise its rules.