Updated at 1:25 p.m.

Politico reports today that New Jersey has dropped out of a lawsuit challenging the White House
decision to bypass strict ozone standards that the EPA had recommended
as necessary to protect human health.

According to Politico,

The state was notably absent from briefs filed this month in State of Mississippi v. EPA
before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. That case began
in 2008 after the Bush administration sidestepped Environmental
Protection Agency scientists’ recommended ozone standards, which were
later proposed by current Administrator Lisa Jackson.

And in a brief
filed Friday, the state withdrew from the case, saying only that the
move is voluntary and “will not materially prejudice the rights of other
parties to the action.”

The offices of Gov. Chris Christie and state
Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa did not respond to repeated requests for
comment.