In the statement, Pruitt asserted that the Clean Air Act gave his agency “the flexibility to allow one additional year for sufficient information to support ozone designations,” and said he might take “future action to use its delay authority.”

Pruitt claimed that it became evident early this summer that “underlying complexities, methodological and information questions” would cause workers to miss the deadline. It was not clear whether any of those challenges existed under the previous administration.

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One of the attorneys general who joined the lawsuit against the EPA claimed victory on Thursday.

“On Tuesday, we sued the EPA for blocking vital clean air protections. Last night, the EPA reversed course, withdrawing Administrator Pruitt’s year-long delay of these critical smog regulations,” said New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. “One in three New Yorkers breathe dangerous smog levels. The EPA’s reversal — following our lawsuits – is an important win for the health and safety of the 6.7 million New Yorkers, and the over 115 million Americans, directly impacted by smog pouring into their communities.”

Since entering office, President Trump has sought to roll back rules created by the Obama administration. Congressional Republicans are currently trying to rewrite those rules. House conservatives recently pushed a bill that would delay the implementation of Obama’s ozone rule, finalized in 2015, for eight years on behalf of smokestack industries such as power plants that called it burdensome.

The rule would limit the amount of ground-level ozone — produced when pollutants from cars, oil refineries and other industrial plants react chemically in sunlight — to 70 parts per billion from 75. State health departments, health-care groups such as the American Lung Association and conservation groups link ozone to asthma and other disease that leads to hospitalization and death. The EPA estimated that a drop in the cost of ambulance services, emergency room visits and hospital stays would more than offset the $1.5 billion cost of the rule.

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