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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown secured a legal victory after the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued a decision granting the motion for summary judgment and requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move forward with implementation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The court’s decision denies the EPA’s motion to hold the case in abeyance and rejects the EPA’s arguments against the lawsuit.
In April, Attorney General Brown joined a coalition that filed a lawsuit against the EPA over its failure to implement a lifesaving 2024 Clean Air Act rule strengthening NAAQS for fine particulate matter, commonly known as soot. Soot is a deadly air pollutant emitted from a variety of sources including combustion-engine vehicles, factories, and construction sites. Because of the particles’ small size, once inhaled, they can penetrate the lower parts of lungs, move out of the respiratory system, and affect other organs. As a result, soot exposure can lead to myriad health problems, including shortened lifespans, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and cancer.
“Marylanders deserve clean air, and that means enforcing the standards that protect it,” said Attorney General Brown. “This ruling forces the federal government to implement those standards, cutting the risk of heart attack, hospitalization, and premature death for thousands of Marylanders.”
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is required to set NAAQS for several pollutants, including fine particulate matter, at a level that protects public health and welfare. When NAAQS are updated, the Clean Air Act gives the EPA a specific deadline to designate areas of the country that are in violation of the updated standard as “nonattainment.” This designation provides key support for state programs to reduce dangerous pollution levels to safer levels. The EPA ignored this deadline, leading to the multistate suit, and the Court decision requires the EPA to issue the designations.
Reductions in soot are associated with decreases in the risk of mortality and increases in life expectancy. In 2024, in response to advocacy from California and others, the EPA strengthened the soot NAAQS based on overwhelming scientific evidence. According to its own estimates, the EPA has estimated that the first year alone of full attainment of the 2024 NAAQS will result in significant public health benefits, including avoiding 4,500 premature deaths, 2,000 emergency room visits, 5,700 new cases of asthma, 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms, 290,000 lost workdays, and 1,000 hospital admissions for Alzheimer’s/Parkinson’s diseases. The value of these and other health benefits would outweigh the estimated costs of implementation by $46 billion.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the lawsuit were the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the City of New York and Harris County, Texas.
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