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Press Release March 28, 2024

Communities Fight Back Against Industry Attacks on New Air Quality Standards

EPA’s updated soot standards under threat from legal challenges, potentially undermining air quality improvements for years to come

In the News: Houston Landing March 25, 2024

EPA gives ‘minor’ polluters a free pass, creating a regulatory void in Channelview

James Pew, Attorney, Washington, D.C., Office: “Just getting the EPA to use the authority it has had all along would yield huge benefits.”

In the News: WHRO March 22, 2024

Stricter federal air pollution standards likely won’t help Hampton Roads communities plagued by coal dust

Seth Johnson, Attorney, Washington, D.C., Office: “Strengthening a standard is really important. It’s really important to set that benchmark and tell people, ‘This is what counts as safe air.’ But if you don’t know what the air quality actually is, the impact of the standard is going to be not as great as it could…

Fine particulate matter (also known as soot or PM2.5) originate from fuel combustion and industrial processes. These harmful tiny particles penetrate the lungs and bloodstream, causing serious health harms. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Press Release March 20, 2024

Earthjustice Blasts Congressional Efforts to Weaken Particulate Matter Standard

The ‘Smoggy Skies Act’ would weaken the Clean Air Act, limit the use of science-based decision making, and put the profits of polluting industries over the right to clean air

Driving an electric car in the Holland Tunnel in New York City. Because electric vehicles are more efficient in converting energy to power cars and trucks, electricity across the board is cleaner and cheaper as a fuel for vehicles, even when that electricity comes from the dirtiest grid. (Mecky / Getty Images)
Update March 20, 2024

EPA Drives the Transportation Sector Forward with New Car Pollution Standards

Here’s what the standards will do for health and climate.

Steel mills in East Chicago, Indiana, on the shore of Lake Michigan. (Matthew Kaplan / Alamy Stock Photo)
Press Release: Victory March 18, 2024

Final Steel Mill Rule Will Prevent 64 Tons of Hazardous Air Emissions Annually

Despite significant industry pushback, EPA takes important step to regulate steel production, one of the worst sources of toxic heavy metal air pollution

Clean Air Laredo Coalition and Rio Grande International Study Center rally in front of Midwest Sterilizer facility in Laredo, TX. The facility ranks among the most polluting facilities in the nation of ethylene oxide emissions. (RGISC)
Update March 14, 2024

Industry Is Trying to Weaken Regulations on Cancer-Causing Emissions

The EPA has finalized stronger rules on the cancer-causing emission ethylene oxide.

A flare burns in a California oil field.
(Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Press Release March 13, 2024

Health, Environmental, Community Groups Move to Defend EPA Oil and Gas Methane Standards in Court

EPA’s oil and gas methane standards are firmly rooted in science and the law

Flaring at a refinery located next to homes in Wilmington, CA. (Jesse Marquez)
Press Release: Victory March 4, 2024

Federal Court Confirms EPA’s Authority to End Loopholes Companies Use to Pollute Air with Impunity

The exemptions prevent communities from holding air polluters accountable for toxic emissions

A haze of smog covers the Port of Houston. (James Dillard)
case February 28, 2024

The EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan: Defending Public Health in the Supreme Court

The future of the Good Neighbor Plan hangs in the balance, with implications for public health and economic prosperity nationwide.

Valmont Power Station in Boulder, Colo., in 2011. (Josh Schutz / Getty Images)
Press Release February 22, 2024

With Broad Public Support, Legislators to Introduce Package of Bills to Address Colorado’s Ozone Crisis

Legislation will focus on permitting reform, air quality enforcement, additional measures to cut harmful pollution in Colorado

video February 21, 2024

To: The Biden Administration. From: Kids

Celia, Cymone, Jonathan, and many other kids from across the United States shared with the Biden administration why they need clean air. On Feb. 7, 2024, the Biden administration answered — with new protections from the deadly air pollutant soot that will prevent nearly a million asthma episodes and save thousands of lives.

In the News: CNN February 21, 2024

Supreme Court signals skepticism over Biden ‘good neighbor’ smog plan

Sam Sankar, Senior Vice President of Programs: “Polluting industries always challenge pollution regulations because it costs them money to protect our health. We’re hoping that a few members of the court’s right-wing supermajority will remember that they shouldn’t be second-guessing sound judgments about what’s best for our kids’ lungs.”

Ozone is a type of pollution formed from the exhaust of power plants, factories, cars and trucks. (Tatiana Grozetskaya / Shutterstock)
Press Release February 21, 2024

SCOTUS Hears Extraordinary Request to Block EPA’s New Smog Plan

The future of the Good Neighbor Plan is uncertain, with implications for public health and economic prosperity

The U.S. Supreme Court. (Phil Roeder / CC BY 2.0)
Press Release February 21, 2024

Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on Cross-State Ozone Pollution

Blocking the Good Neighbor Plan would be extraordinarily harmful

document February 16, 2024

Flint Groups Submit Comments to EGLE on Universal Coating

Comments submitted to the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) by Earthjustice on behalf of Flint community organizations and individuals opposing Universal Coating’s proposal to add new tumble spray lines at its facility, which will add to the cumulative pollution affecting residents of this environmental justice community.

In the News: MinnPost February 15, 2024

Minnesota tribes say EPA’s taconite mercury emission rules don’t go far enough

James Pew, Attorney, Washington, D.C., Office: “That just isn’t enough. The EPA could fix this.”

Air pollution from refineries, chemical plants, and power plants contribute to tens of thousands of premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks every year. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Press Release February 15, 2024

Groups Urge Members of Congress to Reject Bill Weakening Air Standards

The Air Quality Standards Implementation Act would weaken the Clean Air Act and expose millions to more toxic air pollution.