Challenging EPA for failing to implement life-saving protections from soot pollution

SAN FRANCISCO – Yesterday 17 health, community, and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to implement the strengthened 2024 national standard for particulate matter air pollution, commonly known as soot.

On behalf of CleanAIRE NC, Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, and Savannah Riverkeeper, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, along with Clean Air Task Force and Earthjustice representing other groups.

The coalition also filed a motion for summary judgment requesting a court-ordered deadline for EPA to carry out its overdue legal requirement to designate areas that are violating the standard after missing the Clean Air Act’s February deadline.

EPA has estimated that the strengthened standard will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths annually, avoid 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms and 2,000 emergency room visits, and yield up to $46 billion in net health benefits once implemented. EPA’s failure to implement the standard by the legal deadline puts communities at greater risk of breathing in more deadly pollution, and the stakes are particularly high for Southern communities.

Recent data shows that multiple metro areas across the South are violating the strengthened 2024 standard, including Atlanta, Augusta, Charlotte, Birmingham, Nashville, and Macon, among others. Many of the hardest-hit neighborhoods are communities of color and low-income communities located near industrial facilities.

In response, SELC Senior Attorney Caroline Cress issued the following statement:

“EPA continues to turn its back on communities who should be able to trust that a federal agency will fulfill its responsibilities and comply with legal requirements intended to make our air safe to breathe. As the Trump administration inflicts more harm on local communities through delay and inaction on deadly soot pollution, we are asking a federal court to hold EPA accountable to implement its own strengthened standard that will save thousands of lives.”

The legal organizations representing the coalition issued the following statement:

“The EPA’s refusal to take even basic steps to drive compliance with the 2024 soot standard leaves one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution largely unchecked, putting the health of Americans at risk. Doctors and scientists who treat patients and study air pollution have made overwhelmingly clear that soot pollution kills and sickens people. Delaying compliance and enforcement of the standard is a choice the Trump administration is making to allow preventable health harms to worsen every day. Over and over again, this administration shows what its priority is – letting polluters off the hook. We are determined to ensure that the Trump EPA complies with the law and carries out these life-saving protections against soot pollution.”

The coalition members that Clean Air Task Force, Earthjustice and Southern Environmental Law Center have filed on behalf of include Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association, American Thoracic Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Clean Air Council, CleanAIRE NC, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, Michigan Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northeast Ohio Community Resilience Centre, Rio Grande International Study Center, Savannah Riverkeeper, and Sierra Club.