U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) told reporters today that he is doing what he can to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to tighten the nation’s ground-level ozone rule, which health and environmental officials want to further reduce harmful smog but conservatives view as a job killer.

Joined by several lobbyists from the manufacturing and business sector, Mr. Latta opened an hour-long conference call by saying he and U.S. Rep. Pete Olson (R., Texas) have introduced legislation to prevent a stronger rule.

Mr. Latta said a stronger rule potentially affects the 60,000 people in his district who hold manufacturing jobs, many of them in the Toledo area.

“The [U.S.] EPA keeps coming out with new rules before getting the existing ones [fully] implemented,” Mr. Latta said. 

“This could very well put the whole state of Ohio into non-attainment,” he added, saying that would make it harder for the state to attract business and expand existing ones. “This is not the time to be doing something like this.”

The U.S. EPA is required under the federal Clean Air Act to review rules for ozone and five other major types of air pollution at least once every five years to see if pollution-control technology used by manufacturers, power plants, and other large emission sources is keeping pace with scientific advancements.

The rule announced last November by the agency would be the first update to the national ozone standard since 2008.

The American Lung Association and other health-based organizations have supported a tighter rule, agreeing with the U.S. EPA that it could be done with minimal impact on business and great savings to society’s costs to treat asthma and other respiratory illnesses linked to smog.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.

First Published August 24, 2015, 3:22 p.m.