{"id":618401,"date":"2026-05-02T02:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/618401\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T02:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:03:15","slug":"republican-bill-could-allow-wisconsin-to-skirt-federal-smog-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/618401\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican bill could allow Wisconsin to skirt federal smog regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wisconsin would be allowed to redesignate areas that aren\u2019t meeting federal smog regulations if it can show most pollution is coming from outside the state under a new bill<\/a> introduced by Republicans.<\/p>\n

U.S. House Republican Reps. Bryan Steil, Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman and Tom Tiffany introduced the Fair Air Standards Act on Monday. The legislation is the latest development amid years of legal challenges<\/a> and regulatory efforts<\/a> to bring the state in line with ground-level ozone standards updated by the Obama administration in 2015.<\/p>\n

Often called smog, ozone pollution occurs when air pollutants like nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds from industry, power plant or vehicle emissions interact with heat and sunlight. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated seven southeastern Wisconsin counties in \u201cnonattainment<\/a>\u201d or not meeting national air quality standards for ozone pollution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a news release<\/a>, Steil said Wisconsin families shouldn\u2019t be paying for pollution that crosses state lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fair Air Standards Act ensures that Wisconsin\u2019s non-attainment status is tied to activity originating in our state not those in other areas,\u201d Steil said. \u201cOur bill reduces burdens for families, employers, and workers across Southeast Wisconsin while holding out-of-state polluters responsible for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Areas that are not meeting ozone standards<\/a> include all of Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties and parts of Kenosha, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said lakeshore areas are susceptible to high ozone levels because of meteorological and other factors that carry pollution from out of state.<\/p>\n

A DNR spokesperson said only about 10 percent<\/a> of the ozone pollution affecting the counties comes from Wisconsin sources. The rest comes from other states, with Illinois and Indiana having the largest impact, contributing about 35 percent.<\/p>\n

Under the bill<\/a>, a state\u2019s governor may submit evidence that an area would meet ozone limits if not for outside sources, and the EPA administrator could grant or deny any redesignation. Republican congressman Tom Tiffany co-sponsored the bill, and he\u2019s the GOP frontrunner in the race for Wisconsin\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n

Tiffany has also called for an end to \u201ccostly and time-consuming<\/a>\u201d vehicle emissions testing for hundreds of thousands of drivers. Testing is required due to the state\u2019s ozone nonattainment status, which could end if the bill advances. Nearly $300 million in state and federal funding has been allocated for the state\u2019s vehicle emission inspection program since 1984, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.<\/p>\n

Environmental group Clean Wisconsin has previously sued<\/a> to enforce smog regulations. The group\u2019s general counsel, Katie Nekola, said it\u2019s a bad bill that doesn\u2019t reduce pollution from other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Tom Tiffany cares about Wisconsin, he should want to actually cut the pollution that\u2019s coming into our state with the tools that are available already, rather than just draft a bill that says we\u2019re going to pretend like the pollution isn\u2019t there,\u201d Nekola said.<\/p>\n

She argued the bill would not improve air quality for children and people who are suffering health impacts from ozone pollution<\/a>, which can trigger breathing problems, asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases.<\/p>\n

The Clean Air Act already allows the EPA to craft regulations that require states to control pollution affecting others downwind, including Wisconsin. However, the U.S. Supreme Court put an EPA rule on hold<\/a> that would limit cross-state pollution. The Trump administration is now rolling back limits<\/a> under the so-called \u201cgood neighbor\u201d plan, which the Biden administration estimated would save lives and bring billions of dollars<\/a> in benefits.<\/p>\n

As cross-state pollution continues unabated, the EPA upgraded southeastern Wisconsin counties to \u201cserious nonattainment\u201d of federal ozone standards last year. The state has sought judicial review of that move, and a federal appeals court postponed it<\/a> from taking effect.<\/p>\n

The designation would mean industry could face tighter limits on emissions, operation and mandatory pollution controls to meet the standards. The DNR has estimated 382 businesses<\/a> may need new or updated permits if the state\u2019s ozone status were elevated, which could cost businesses as much as $6.9 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s largest business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce backs the bill, said Adam Jordahl, WMC\u2019s environmental and energy policy director. He said every factory or power plant in those counties could shut down and still not meet the ozone standard, saying the regulations threaten to harm economic development and jobs in the region. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our point of view, this bill is about creating an avenue for individual states, who are being treated unfairly under the federal regime, to find some relief,\u201d Jordahl said.<\/p>\n

Understanding Wisconsin, Together.<\/p>\n

WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today\u201d newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Public Radio, \u00a9 Copyright 2026, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wisconsin would be allowed to redesignate areas that aren\u2019t meeting federal smog regulations if it can show most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[28,101,192,3,79],"class_list":["post-618401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-news","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}