Attorney General Dan Rayfield secured a court order today requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move forward with life-saving air pollution protections it had been delaying. A federal court sided with AG Rayfield and a coalition of attorneys general in their lawsuit, rejecting the EPA’s attempt to put the case on hold and requiring the agency to implement updated clean air standards for soot.
“Too many of our neighbors are forced to breathe air that is harming their health, leading to serious illness, asthma, lost work, and even death,” said Attorney General Dan Rayfield. “The federal government needs to do its job to make sure that everyone has clean air to breathe.”

In April, Attorney General Rayfield filed a lawsuit against the EPA over its failure to implement a lifesaving 2024 Clean Air Act rule strengthening National Ambient Air Quality Standards (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.

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 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, the 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.