MSLF is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to use reliable data and follow the law when deciding which Western communities and counties fail to meet federal air-quality standards.
A decision made at an air-quality monitoring station can affect far more than the air around it. When the federal government designates an area as failing to meet national air-quality standards, businesses in that area can face significant new hurdles before they can build, expand, or invest in energy and resource projects.
That is why the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest round of air-quality designations matters to the West.
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In 2024, EPA tightened the annual standard for fine particulate matter, commonly known as PM2.5, to 9.0 micrograms per cubic meter. Fine particles can come from sources such as industrial activity, vehicle emissions, and wildfire smoke. EPA is now determining which areas meet that standard, which violate it, and which nearby areas contribute to a violation. The agency plans to base its decisions on monitoring data from 2023 through 2025, with final designations due by February 6, 2027.
The consequences of those decisions can be substantial. Areas designated as nonattainment face additional federal permitting requirements for certain new or expanding major sources of pollution. Businesses may have to install the most stringent available emissions controls and obtain emissions offsets to move forward. In places where suitable offsets are difficult to find, these requirements can make new projects and business expansions significantly more difficult.
For Western communities that depend on energy production, mining, and other natural resource industries, an overly broad or poorly supported designation could become another barrier to investment, jobs, and economic opportunity.
MSLF’s Center for American Prosperity & Energy (CAPE) has submitted comments urging EPA to get these decisions right. The comments ask the agency to support its designations with reliable monitoring data, explain why particular counties or portions of counties should be included, and address important questions about wildfire and prescribed-fire impacts on air-quality readings.
The Clean Air Act does not give EPA unlimited authority to label entire regions as failing to meet federal standards. The law allows the agency to designate areas that violate the standard, as well as nearby areas that contribute to a violation. But EPA must have a reasoned, evidence-based explanation for the boundaries it draws. A monitoring result in one location does not automatically justify placing surrounding communities and counties under the same restrictions.
CAPE’s comments address ten Western states, where EPA faces different questions about monitoring data and where to draw designation boundaries. In Colorado, EPA flagged monitoring data that may affect its final decision. In New Mexico, a monitor in Doña Ana County recorded levels that may exceed the standard, while a monitor in Santa Fe County had too little data to calculate a valid result. CAPE asks EPA to resolve those questions and explain how any qualifying wildfire, prescribed-fire, or high-wind dust event affects the readings it uses.
In Montana, the state recommended a nonattainment boundary around the Township of Libby. If EPA draws a broader boundary, CAPE asks it to explain what evidence supports including additional parts of Lincoln County. CAPE also supports EPA’s proposed statewide designations for Idaho, Nevada, and Washington, which would keep all three states outside nonattainment, if the final evidence continues to support that outcome. Where EPA departs from a state’s recommendation, CAPE asks the agency to explain its reasoning and give affected communities an opportunity to respond to material changes.
MSLF is not asking EPA to ignore air-quality standards or abandon its responsibility to protect public health. We are asking the agency to exercise its authority within the limits Congress established. When a federal designation can trigger significant new restrictions on businesses and communities, the government must be able to show that its decision is supported by the facts and the law.
A well-supported designation process matters. EPA should not impose additional regulatory burdens based on unreliable data, unexplained boundaries, or a failure to consider relevant evidence. By insisting on careful, lawful implementation of the Clean Air Act, MSLF is working to protect the ability of Western businesses and communities to put their land and resources to productive use.
The law should protect clean air without giving federal regulators a blank check to restrict lawful economic activity. CAPE will continue to defend property rights, economic liberty, and responsible resource development by holding federal agencies accountable to the authority Congress gave them.
