Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of 13 other states and local governments sued the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its failure to implement a life-saving 2024 Clean Air Act rule strengthening national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), commonly known as soot. In a lawsuit filed earlier today, the coalition called for a court order to ensure EPA takes the key steps required by Congress to initiate the rule’s protections and kick-off implementation planning.
“Soot kills people. It causes heart attacks, triggers asthma, and cuts lives short – and the science on this is not in dispute,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “Every family in this state deserves to breathe clean air and live without the threat of preventable illness, which is why we are fighting to maintain the strong environmental protections Oregonians expect.”
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. These health effects fall disproportionately on lower-income communities and communities of color.
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 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.
Reductions in soot are associated with decreases in the risk of mortality and increases in life expectancy. In 2024, EPA strengthened the soot NAAQS based on overwhelming scientific evidence. According to its own estimates, the EPA has reported 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. Shortly after EPA adopted the 2024 standard, a coalition of Republican states and chambers of commerce asked a federal court to strike down the updated soot standard.
Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit alleges that the EPA violated the Clean Air Act by failing to designate areas in the United States as in or out of attainment with the 2024 standard. EPA’s failure undermines the ability of states and local governments to reduce levels of fine particulate pollution in the air—especially in low-income communities and communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted—and to achieve significant public health benefits including reduced premature deaths, mortality, and healthcare and administrative costs.
Oregon and the coalition are seeking both declaratory and injunctive relief, asking the Court to declare EPA’s failure to implement the 2024 standard as unlawful and order it to carry out its responsibility to make attainment designations within 150 days of the court order.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as Harris County and the City of New York.
