Judge rules EPA failed to implement key part of the Clean Air Act

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge delivered a victory to environmental advocates and states suing the government over violations of the Clean Air Act, ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to implement strengthened 2024 air quality standards by next February.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. ruled the agency failed to perform its duty under the Clean Air Act of identifying areas across the country that violate the new standards for fine particulate matter, or soot, by Feb. 6.

“Because there is no dispute that EPA failed to timely fulfill its nondiscretionary duty, summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs is appropriate,” the judge said in his ruling released Friday.

The judge ordered the EPA to issue the required designations by Feb. 6, 2027, rejecting the agency’s request to extend the deadline further.

In a statement, Sage Lincoln, an associate attorney at Earthjustice representing the plaintiffs, called the ruling a “huge victory for public health.”

“The science is clear that the strengthened soot standard will help reduce dangerous air pollution and prevent thousands of premature deaths and illnesses. The court’s order compelling EPA to follow the law and implement the standard puts people’s health where it belongs: first,” she said.

Soot is a deadly pollutant that comes from several sources, including combustion engines, factories and construction sites. It’s small and can enter people’s lungs, moving from there to other organs.

Congress in 2024 strengthened the Clean Air Act with national ambient air quality standards. The standards can’t be completely implemented until the EPA makes its attainment and nonattainment designations.

The EPA was required to create the designations by Feb. 6, 2026. When the agency missed its deadline, several environmental organizations filed a lawsuit to compel the EPA to issue the designations. Another suit filed by a host of states, including California, closely followed.

“As Judge Gilliam’s order makes clear, EPA’s failure to promulgate designations for the updated soot standard is unlawful, and the agency must expeditiously move forward with designations for the entire country,” Hayden Hashimoto, an attorney at Clean Air Task Force, said in a statement. 

“… EPA has an obligation under the Clean Air Act to protect public health, and it must now allocate the staff and resources required to publish designations in the Federal Register by the court-ordered deadline of Feb. 6, 2027.”

A representative for the DOJ declined to comment.

In his 30-page order, Gilliam ordered a “slightly relaxed schedule” compared to the plaintiffs’ requested 150-day deadline for the EPA to announce designations. The Barack Obama appointee seemed frustrated with the government’s opposition to the 150-day proposal, as it didn’t offer an alternative timeline or provide additional details for its proposed 15-step plan.

“These arguments plainly did not satisfy EPA’s ‘especially heavy’ burden of showing infeasibility in light of its failure to act with the utmost diligence,” he said.

Further, Gilliam called the government’s revised seven-phase, 18-month timeline to publish designations “unhelpful,” noting the broad steps the agency outlined have always been required, yet, in 2024, the EPA estimated the remaining steps to take 120 days to complete.

“It is EPA’s burden to go beyond a description of the process and instead explain why it cannot complete the process within a shorter amount of time, particularly given plaintiffs’ largely undisputed characterizations of the specific work that remains,” he said.

Gilliam additionally declined the government’s request to pause the case pending the D.C. Circuit’s decision on the legality of the 2024 standards, as the court denied the government’s motion to vacate the day after oral arguments in the California case.

“Plaintiffs have demonstrated a fair possibility of real health harms from delaying these proceedings, and EPA has not made out a clear case for hardship or inequity in being forced to move forward now that the D.C. Circuit has issued its opinion,” he said.

“Every community deserves the opportunity to breathe clean air, and today’s decision brings us one step closer to that goal, clearing the way for protections that will save lives and reduce harmful air pollution in communities across the country,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement to Courthouse News. “The Trump administration must now move swiftly to fully implement and enforce this life-saving soot standard. Every day of delay means more Americans are exposed to dangerous levels of pollution. My office will continue to monitor implementation to ensure that these clean air safeguards are carried out as the law requires.”