The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that the area of Rusk and Panola Counties in Texas did not meet federal air quality standards for sulfur dioxide by the required date of January 12, 2022. This finding requires the state of Texas to update its air quality plan to meet the standards within a year of this rule's publication. The EPA considered public comments and stated that the area's pollution levels were higher than allowed, based on data collected from 2019 to 2021. The rule is set to take effect on January 16, 2025, and doesn't impose any new regulations beyond existing clean air laws.
Simple Explanation
The EPA told Texas that the air in two counties wasn't clean enough by a certain date, so now Texas has to make a plan to clean it up. They looked at how much sulfur pollution was in the air from 2019 to 2021 and found it was too much, so by January 16, 2025, Texas needs to fix it without any new rules.