The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeks to approve a request from Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) to redesignate what qualifies as safe ozone levels in the Detroit region. 

The change would redesignate the region as meeting federal ozone standards after years of strict standards.

EPA Regional Administrator Anne Vogel says the change is partially due to reductions in air pollution. “Redesignations lead to faster and more predictable air permitting processes, while existing pollution controls continue to drive improvements in air quality,” Vogel says. 

Environmental advocates like Nick Leonard disagree. Leonard is executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center.

He says ozone air pollution in the region is still above the health-based standard set by the EPA. 

“It’s been consistently above the air quality standard for the past 10 years,” Leonard says. “The EPA is nonetheless justifying its decision to find that air quality is attaining the standard… because they’re pinning the blame for a few high ozone days on wildfire smoke from the last few years.”

Officials say the change will ease the permitting process for industrial projects, which could help the region’s economy. 

Public comment on the proposal is open until Aug. 27.

Imagine opening your work calendar one morning and finding a meeting simply gone — deleted. And the meeting that vanished was about the safety of the water millions of people drink.

That’s what happened to Elin Warn Betanzo— a Michigan drinking water engineer, and one of the people who helped uncover the Flint water crisis.

More recently, she sat on a small federal panel that advises the government on drinking water. Then she signed her name to a public letter, alongside hundreds of other current and former employees, warning that the Environmental Protection Agency was walking away from its mission to protect the public. Two days later, the agency suspended her from that panel.

Now she’s suing to get her seat back. And her case raises a bigger question — one that reaches all the way to your kitchen sink: what happens to the rest of us when the government tells its own scientists to stay quiet?

Betanzo joined host Robyn Vincent on The Metro to talk about Flint, the lawsuit, and what’s at stake for anyone who drinks from a tap.

The Metro contacted the EPA, which said it does not comment on pending litigation. When the agency placed the dissent-letter signatories on leave last year, it said it has a “zero-tolerance policy”  for employees it accuses of “undermining, sabotaging and undercutting” the administration’s agenda.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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