The Environmental Protection Agency has set a hard spring deadline for listing regions of the country that cannot meet the Obama administration's strict rules for smog-forming ozone emissions.
The EPA plans to complete designations for all of the non-compliant areas no later than April 30, the agency announced in the Federal Register Thursday.
The Trump EPA had tried to delay formally designating the regions as non-attainment zones, which would force some cities and other areas to establish special pollution control plans that critics of the rule have argued would deter development and economic growth.
A court blocked EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's delay strategy and directed the agency to enforce the regulations. Since the court order, environmentalists have held the agency to meeting deadlines for designating the non-attainment regions, which is a key part of implementing the regulations.
EPA has missed the deadlines, saying it needs more time to collect data from states.
Thursday's notice ends that data collection period.
In November, the EPA said 2,646 counties, including Indian country in those counties, are meeting the ozone standards, and listed three other counties as unclassifiable. Thursday's notice means the EPA intends to designate all of the remaining areas as non-attainment regions.
In a separate action, EPA also proposes taking a large area that includes Missouri, including St. Louis, and Illinois off the non-attainment list for related rules for controlling soot pollution.
The action is meant to get feedback from stakeholders on the EPA's proposed plan to designate the large bi-state area as meeting the rules based on new pollution data from 2017.
"EPA expects to approve the area’s re-designation," the agency said. The proposal becomes effective Friday.
