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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

EPA Won’t Enforce Clean Air Laws, Enviros Say

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians claim the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by failing to ensure that six states meet national air quality standards. And the EPA failed to take final action on clean-air plans submitted by 13 other states and the District of Columbia, according to the federal complaint.

The EPA found in 2008 that six states and three U.S. territories failed to submit implementation plans for National Ambient Air Quality Standards, and failed to issue federal implementation plans for North Dakota, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, the environmental groups say.

And the EPA never took final action on plans submitted by Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia.

EPA approvals are required under to Clean Air Act, to limit levels of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, lead and ozone.

The groups ask the court to order the EPA to implement the "long-overdue" standards under the Clean Air Act.

They are represented by Kristin Henry with the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program in San Francisco.

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