WildEarth Guardians Files Suit to Keep Particulate Pollution in Check Nationwide

EPA Failing to Keep People Safe

San Francisco—WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club today filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the agency’s failure to keep fine particle air pollution in check in 37 states and Washington, D.C.

“It’s time for EPA to stop dragging its feet and start protecting public health,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians.  “This simply a matter of keeping our communities and our kids safe from air pollution.”  

In 2006, the EPA adopted new ambient air quality standards limiting fine particle pollution to protect public health under the Clean Air Act.  Referred to as PM2.5, fine particle pollution includes all particles that are 2.5 microns in diameter or less, or 1/28th the width of a human hair.  They include heavy metal particles and droplets of acid gases.  The standards limit concentrations of PM2.5 in the air to no more than 35 micrograms/cubic meter over 24 hours.  The primary source of PM2.5 is fossil fuel combustion, including vehicles and coal-fired power plants.

Exposure to PM2.5 is linked to a number of health effects, including difficulty breathing, susceptibility to respiratory infections, and asthma attacks. For people suffering heart and lung disease, PM2.5 exposure increases the chances of premature death.  The EPA estimates that meeting the 2006 PM2.5 standards will annually prevent up to 13,000 premature deaths nationwide, as well as 2 million days when people must restrict their activities due to air pollution. 

The EPA also estimates that the benefits of meeting the 2006 PM2.5 standards will far outweigh the costs.  An analysis in 2006 found that the benefits of meeting the standards will range from  $9 to $76 billion dollars, whereas the costs will amount to $5.4 billion.  This means that for every dollar spent reducing PM2.5, the nation reaps up to $14 in benefits.   

“Clean air is an investment that’s proven to pay back time and time again,” said Nichols.  “Yet we can’t enjoy the full benefits of reduced air pollution unless and until the EPA starts doing its job.” 

Today’s lawsuit targets the EPA’s failure to ensure that states and territories have plans in place to meet the 2006 PM2.5 standards.  Under the Clean Air Act, states and territories are required to limit air pollution to both attain and maintain compliance with ambient air quality standards within three years of the adoption of new standards.  Although EPA adopted new standards in October of 2006, 37 states and territories have still failed to ensure they have plans to effectively limit PM2.5 pollution to ensure compliance with the standards and protect public health.

The groups’ lawsuit seeks to put the EPA on track to either make a finding that states have failed to submit the required plans or, where states have submitted plans, to approve or disapprove of the plans.  If the EPA makes a finding that any state has failed to submit the required plan, the agency would be required to adopt their own federal plan to overrule state authority.

The states for which the EPA has yet to approve or disapprove PM2.5 plans include Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

The states and territories that have failed to submit PM2.5 plans include territories at issue include Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

Today’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California. 


 

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