EPA issued what the Agency is calling "Round 1" of
final area designations under the 2015 ozone standard on November
6, 2017. The designations, which will be published in the
Federal Register tomorrow, November 16, and become effective 60
days later, include only those counties, tribal areas, and
territories that EPA has designated
"attainment/unclassifiable" — totaling 2,646
counties. EPA also designated 3 counties in the state of Washington
as "unclassifiable." EPA did not designate any
nonattainment areas as part of the final rule, but simply noted
that it is "not yet prepared to issue designations" for
the remaining areas of the U.S.
EPA is currently facing litigation over its June 2017
announcement extending the deadline for designating areas under the
2015 ozone NAAQS by one year, to October 2018, even though the
Agency later reversed that decision. On July 12, 2017, a dozen
environmental and public health groups sued EPA in the D.C. Circuit
Court of Appeals,
