AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine's attorney general is joining a group of his peers in a lawsuit calling for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to better regulate asbestos. Attorney General Aaron Frey is adding himself to a coalition headed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on the effort. Frey says the lawsuit is about forcing the EPA to issue a rule on asbestos, which is a carcinogen.
Frey and others previously called for the EPA to create a new rule requiring data collection on the importation and use of asbestos. He says the agency's refusal to create such a rule "makes this lawsuit necessary.''
Frey says the rule would provide the federal government with information it needs to regulate asbestos in a way that better protects Americans.