February, 10 2021, 11:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Erin Fitzgerald, efitzgerald@earthjustice.org
Brian Willis, Brian.Willis@sierraclub.org
Anne Hawke, ahawke@nrdc.org
Stuart Ross, sross@catf.us
Angela Gonzales, agonzales@npca.org
Lisa Caruso, lcaruso@cbf.org
"Do Nothing" Toxic Ozone Rule Challenged by Health and Environmental Groups
Ground-level ozone harms public health and nature, yet inaction continues. 
WASHINGTON
Today, fourteen health and environmental groups, half of them represented by Earthjustice, challenged ozone standards in a lawsuit in a federal appeals court. The move comes in response to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Trump administration's last-minute refusal to strengthen the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, or NAAQS, for ozone, and less than a month after Earthjustice sued the EPA over a similar rule affecting particulate matter.
EPA issued the flawed rule in late December, leaving 2015 standards in place. Those standards were set at a level that allowed pollution in our cities that scientific studies show harms vulnerable populations and children's health. Since 2015, additional scientific evidence confirms that ground level ozone at levels allowed by EPA is harmful to human health. Last month, Washington, DC's circuit court struck down rules that relaxed EPA's implementation of ozone standards and closed important loopholes, ensuring that states will have to take necessary steps to bring polluted areas into compliance with ozone standards.
"The Trump administration corrupted and rushed the scientific review process of this rule as it walked out the door, just so industrial polluters can sit and do nothing for the harm they cause," said Seth Johnson, lead Earthjustice attorney on the case. "These outdated ozone standards must be corrected not just for children's safety and public health, but also because they are critical to addressing the climate crisis."
While ozone is good as a protective layer in the stratosphere, ground-level ozone causes asthma attacks and other respiratory problems. It is linked to premature deaths, damages plants and forests, and stunts tree and crop growth. Formed by emissions from cars, trucks, and factories, ozone is also a greenhouse gas, and curtailing it is a powerful way to help solve the climate crisis.
"The most recent science shows that ozone standards are simply not strong enough to protect the lungs of our neighborhoods, or the crops and forests we depend on," the coalition of groups challenging the rule said. "As we fight in court for long overdue safeguards, we call on the Biden administration to listen to the science and take action."
According to a recent report by the American Lung Association, more than 134 million people live in counties that have dangerous levels of ozone -- many of which are disproportionately low income communities and communities of color.
Earthjustice represents the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, Appalachian Mountain Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club. The Clean Air Task Force represents the Clean Air Council, Conservation Law Foundation, and Natural Resources Council of Maine. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, and Environmental Law & Policy Center have also signed on to the challenge. The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Quotes from our clients and partners:
Georgia Murray, Staff Scientist for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC):
"The delays in protection of our health, ecosystems, and climate by this inaction are unacceptable. Tropospheric ozone continues to pollute outdoor spaces which should instead be healthy for all. The science clearly shows that a stronger limit is needed to protect public health and also support separate standards to protect plants and the environment. The negative impacts of ozone to plants and ecosystems include a litany of insults including visible foliar injury, productivity declines, biomass loss, altered nutrient and water cycling, changes in community structure, and disruption of plant-insect interactions. We need stronger science-based standards to address ozone's impacts on the air we breathe and natural ecosystems that cherish."
Stephanie Kodish, Clean Air Program Director for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA):
"Despite the overwhelming evidence that keeping the current, insufficient ozone standards in place will result in continued harm to the health of our communities and national parks, the Trump Administration chose to disregard the science and turn its back on our most vulnerable populations and the environment. People visit national parks thinking the air is clean, but ground level ozone contributes to poor air quality, affecting parks across the country from Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, to Yosemite in California. Ozone is a potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate harms in Arctic landscapes and ecosystems in Denali. It also damages park plants like the Quaking Aspen tree at Rocky Mountain, reduces crop yield and limits tree growth. The EPA must revise ozone standards to follow the science and protect the health of our people and environment; otherwise, the consequences could be dire."
Vijay Limaye, climate and health scientist, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
"For nearly half a century, the Clean Air Act has helped protect the country from the health consequences of dirty air. That protection is critical for all of us, but especially children, older people, communities of color and low income communities who are disproportionately burdened by higher levels of pollution in the air. This case challenges the Trump Administration's abdication of its responsibility under that law to protect people by following the science. The science clearly calls for more protective ozone standards."
Al Armendariz, Senior Director of Federal Campaigns, Sierra Club:
"Watching a child have an asthma attack is one of the most heart wrenching experiences that any parent can have, but it happens all too often in our country due to lax clean air safeguards like the ones the Trump administration left unchanged on its way out the door. Our lawsuit isn't some partisan exercise to spike the football: it's about the child who feels their chest tighten when they are outside in the summer and the worried look their parents get when they hear them start wheezing. No child and no parent should have to experience this in the United States, and it's the EPA's job to honestly and forthrightly put in place standards to protect families from this. Our lawsuit is about making sure EPA lives up to those expectations, because every family deserves clean air and peace of mind."
Ann Weeks, Legal Director, Clean Air Task Force:
"The Trump EPA sidelined the science and ignored mounting evidence that serious health harms occur due to ozone exposures at levels below the current national standards. We urge the Biden administration to prioritize setting a standard based in science that recognizes these harms. Stronger ozone standards are needed to better protect public health and to reduce damage to the environment. Implementing stronger standards will also reduce climate pollution. In short, stronger ozone standards are needed to help to achieve the administration's climate and environmental justice goals."
Ariel Solaski, Staff Litigation Attorney, Chesapeake Bay Foundation:
"The Trump EPA's refusal to strengthen ozone standards not only endangers people's health, it undermines the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort. Federal ozone controls are essential to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, an ozone precursor. Airborne nitrogen causes roughly one-third of nitrogen pollution fouling the Bay and its waterways. Ozone damages trees and plants critical to improving water quality. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation will fight for science-based standards that fulfill EPA's responsibility to restore and protect the Bay, as well as the health of the watershed's most vulnerable residents."
Rachel Fullmer, Senior Attorney, Environmental Defense Fund:
"The EPA is legally required to ensure that our national standards are set at a level that protects public health - including a margin of safety for particularly impacted groups. Tens of millions of Americans already live in an area with unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone pollution, and the Trump EPA's rushed decision to maintain the current standard particularly harms those who are more susceptible to air pollution, including children, the elderly, anyone working outdoors, and people with asthma or other heart and lung diseases. This action has significant environmental justice impacts and disproportionately harms Black communities and low-income communities where there are higher rates of childhood asthma and other chronic diseases."
Ann Jaworski, Staff Attorney, Environmental Law & Policy Center:
"When the Trump EPA found that the 2015 ozone standard was still adequate to protect human health and the environment, it ignored the Clean Air Act's requirement to use the best available science. We hope that the court will reverse this decision and that the Biden administration will respect the science and enact tougher standards so that people living in the U.S. are assured cleaner, safer air to breathe."
Morgan Folger, Destination: Zero Carbon Campaign Director, Environment America:
"No one should experience one day of polluted air--let alone months. Ozone pollution is getting worse and the current pollution standards are not doing enough to prevent people from getting sick. Tens of thousands of people have their lives cut short annually from adverse health impacts linked to air pollution. This legal challenge is just part of a necessary overall effort to ensure we strengthen air quality protections in order to save lives."
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Watchdog Urges FEC to Investigate Trump Campaign Over Scheme for Legal Fees
"By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much."
Apr 24, 2024
A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."
The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center (CLC) said that "evidence appears to show an illegal arrangement between several Trump-affiliated committees and a compliance firm named Red Curve Solutions that is designed to obscure the identities of those providing legal services and how much they are being paid."
"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money."
CLC alleges that the Trump campaign, Trump's political action committee (PAC) Save America, and three affiliated organizations "violated federal reporting requirements based on a scheme in which the committees reportedly paid over $7.2 million—described as 'reimbursement for legal' costs or expenses"—to Red Curve.
The watchdog also said that Red Curve appears to be "making or facilitating illegal contributions that violate either federal contribution limits or the prohibition on corporate contributions."
According to CLC:
Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.
According to filings with the FEC, Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor. By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much they are being paid—through this arrangement.
"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money," CLC senior director of campaign finance Erin Chlopak said in a statement. "When campaigns and committees obscure that information from the public, not only do they make it difficult to determine if the law has been violated, but they deny voters the ability to make an informed choice when casting a ballot."
"The steps taken by the Trump campaign, its affiliated committees, and Red Curve Solutions concealed information about how campaign funds were used to pay former President Trump's legal expenditures, including the amounts and ultimate recipients of these expenditures—and the FEC must investigate immediately," Chlopak added.
Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.
The new CLC filing comes a day after the watchdog filed separate FEC complaints urging investigations into a pair of Trump-affiliated "scam PACs," which "pretend to fundraise for major candidates or issues while secretly diverting almost all of their donors' money back into fundraising or the fraudsters' own pockets."
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'One Step Closer': Arizona House Votes to Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban
"With a total ban still set to take effect June 8, the Arizona Abortion Access Act is needed now more than ever," one state campaigner said of a November ballot measure.
Apr 24, 2024
Three Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday joined with Democrats to advance legislation that would repeal an 1864 ban on abortion—a development rights advocates welcomed while stressing that the fight is far from over.
The 32-28 vote on House Bill 2677—with GOP Reps. Tim Dunn (25), Matt Gress (4), and Justin Wilmeth (2) voting in favor—was the third attempt in as many weeks to pass repeal legislation since the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the ban.
"The state Senate could vote on the repeal as early as next Wednesday, after the bill comes on the floor for a 'third reading,' as is required under chamber rules," according toNBC News. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Wednesday toldThe Washington Post that "I am hopeful the Senate does the right thing and sends it to my desk so I can sign it."
Applauding the House passage of H.B. 2677, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona president and CEO Angela Florez said that "today, Arizona is one step closer to repealing the state's Civil War-era total abortion ban. While the repeal still must pass the Senate, this is a major win for reproductive freedom."
"We must celebrate today's vote in support of abortion rights and harness our enthusiasm to spread the word and urge lawmakers in the Senate to support this necessary repeal bill," she continued. "Despite this step forward, Arizonans cannot stop fighting."
Florez noted that "even with the repeal of the Civil War-era ban, the state will still have a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that denies people access to critical care. And lawmakers continue to attack Arizonans' ability to access reproductive healthcare. Our right to control our bodies and lives is hanging on by a thread."
"Thankfully, voters will have the opportunity to take back control if the Arizona Abortion Access Act is on the ballot this November," she added. "Abortion bans are out-of-step with the will of Arizonans and will force pregnant people to leave their communities for essential healthcare. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona will continue fighting to ensure everyone has the right to make decisions about their health and futures."
The Arizona Abortion Access Act is a proposed state constitutional amendment that would prevent many limits on abortions before fetal viability and safeguard access to care after viability to protect the life or physical or mental health of the patient.
The coalition supporting the amendment, Arizona for Abortion Access, highlighted on social media that the House-approved bill "did not include the emergency clause required to stop the 1864 ban from taking effect on June 8," meaning H.B. 2677 wouldn't apply until 90 days after the end of the legislative session.
Coalition campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said that "with a total ban still set to take effect June 8, the Arizona Abortion Access Act is needed now more than ever. We remain committed to taking these decisions out of the hands of extremist politicians."
Arizona is one of multiple states where rights advocates are promoting abortion rights ballot measures this cycle. Reproductive freedom is also dominating political races at all levels, including the presidential contest. Democratic President Joe Biden is set to face former Republican President Donald Trump in November.
"Donald Trump is responsible for Arizona's abortion ban. Women in the state are still living under a ban with no exceptions for rape or incest and have been stripped of the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions," said Julie Chávez Rodriguez, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' reelection campaign manager.
While the presumptive GOP nominee has tried to distance himself from the Arizona Supreme Court's reinstatement of a 160-year-old abortion ban, he has also campaigned on his three appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped reverse Roe v. Wade.
"Trump brags that he is 'proudly' the person responsible for these bans and if he retakes power, the chaos and cruelty he has created will only get worse in all 50 states," Chávez Rodriguez said. "President Biden and Vice President Harris are the only candidates who will stop him."
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US Dodges Growing Calls for Probe of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," said one legal expert.
Apr 24, 2024
While continuing to give Israel billions of dollars in support to wage war on the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration this week has declined to join the growing global demands for an international probe into mass graves discovered at hospitals in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Two journalists on Tuesday questioned Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, about the administration's response to the hundreds of bodies found at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as well as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk's call for an independent investigation.
"Would you support such an independent investigation?" Said Arikat asked during a press briefing. Patel responded, "Right now, Said, we are asking for more information... That is squarely where we are leaving the conversation."
Patel added that "I don't have any details to match, confirm, or offer as it relates to that. We're aware of those reports, and we have asked the government of Israel for additional clarity and information. And that's where I'm at."
When Said asked a follow-up about potential U.S. support for a probe, Patel reiterated that the administration is awaiting information from the Israeli government.
Later, Niall Stanage asked Patel to explain U.S. "resistance" to supporting a probe, the spokesperson insisted that "it's not about resistance to this particular situation, it is me not wanting to speak in detail about something which Said posed as a hypothetical question when, from the United States' perspective, I don't have any additional information on this aside from the public reporting."
After Patel again stressed that the administration has asked Israel for more information, Stanage inquired, "And do you believe the government of Israel is a credible source in enlightening you?"
The spokesperson interrupted Stanage to say, "We do."
While supporting the six-month Israeli assault on Gaza that the International Court of Justice has found to be plausibly genocidal, the Biden administration is also arming Ukrainians' resistance to a Russian invasion. Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the Crisis Group's U.S. program and a former legal adviser at the State Department, pointed to the latter.
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," Finucane said on social media in response to Stanage's questioning.
Meanwhile, European Union spokesperson Peter Stano made clear Tuesday that the E.U. supports an independent probe.
"This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed," Stano said. "That's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure accountability."
Human rights groups around the world joined the call for an independent investigation on Wednesday, as the official death toll in Gaza hit 34,262 with 77,229 people injured and thousands more missing and presumed dead beneath the rubble.
In an Arabic statement translated by Al Jazeera, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the number of bodies found in the mass graves is "alarming, and requires urgent international action, including the formation of an independent international investigation committee."
The group added that some of those killed were subjected to "premeditated murder as well as arbitrary and extrajudicial executions while they were detained and handcuffed."
Amnesty International senior director of research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns Erika Guevara Rosas said in a statement that "the harrowing discovery of these mass graves underscores the urgency of ensuring immediate access for human rights investigators, including forensic experts, to the occupied Gaza Strip to ensure that evidence is preserved and to carry out independent and transparent investigations with the aim of guaranteeing accountability for any violations of international law."
"Lack of access for human rights investigators to Gaza has hampered effective investigations into the full scale of the human rights violations and crimes under international law committed over the past six months, allowing for the documentation of just a tiny fraction of these abuses," she noted. "Without proper investigations to determine how these deaths took place or what violations may have been committed, we may never find out the truth of the horrors behind these mass graves."
Guevara Rosas continued:
Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence; they must be protected until professional forensic experts with the necessary skills and resources can safely carry out adequate exhumations and accurate identification of remains.
The absence of forensic experts and the decimation of Gaza's medical sector as a result of the war and Israel's cruel blockade, along with the lack of availability of the necessary resources for the identification of bodies such as DNA testing, are huge obstacles to the identifications of remains. This denies those killed the opportunity to have a dignified burial and deprives families with relatives missing or forcibly disappeared the right to know and to justice—leaving them in a limbo of uncertainty and anguish.
Noting that the International Court of Justice directed Israel to preserve evidence in its initial genocide case order, Guevara Rosas said that "amid a total vacuum of accountability and mounting evidence of war crimes in Gaza, Israeli authorities must ensure they comply with the ICJ ruling by granting immediate access to independent human rights investigators and ensuring that all evidence of violations is preserved."
"Third states must pressure Israel to comply with the ICJ orders by allowing the immediate entry into the Gaza Strip of independent human rights investigators and forensic experts, including the U.N.-appointed Commission of Inquiry and investigators of the International Criminal Court," she added. "There can be no truth and justice without proper, transparent independent investigations into these deaths."
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