Attorney General Lisa Madigan, along with the City of Chicago, filed a lawsuit challenging a recently issued rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that fails to reduce smog in Illinois and Racine, Wisc., home of the new Foxconn manufacturing plant.  The lawsuit, filed in U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeks judicial review of EPA’s rule, which was published June 4. Madigan alleges EPA improperly designated a number of counties in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin as in “attainment” with the air quality standard for ozone. The designations mean that these counties do not need to take steps to reduce smog, despite the EPA’s previous determination that the counties were not in compliance with the ozone air quality standard. Designating Racine County, the future home of the $10 billion Foxconn electronics manufacturing area, as in attainment allows the development to avoid meeting stricter standards for controlling smog.  In its June rule, the EPA announced that in Illinois, northwest McHenry and southwest Monroe counties are in attainment, meaning they are not violating the ozone air quality standard, even though the EPA earlier determined otherwise. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has separately recommended that McHenry and Monroe counties be designated as nonattainment areas.