Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will issue final standards to control toxic air pollution from industrial boilers by April 2012, more than a year after a federal court ordered the agency to finish the process. The delay places thousands of lives at risk and will saddle the American public with disease and economic burden that could have been avoided had the agency acted according to the court’s decision.

Below is a statement from Earthjustice attorney James Pew:

“By EPA’s own account, the practical result of this one year delay will be the death of as many as 6,500 people. The delay will also cause thousands of heart attacks, asthma attacks, and emergency room visits and hundreds of thousands of missed days of work and school due to illness caused by uncontrolled air pollution.

“This delay is both a violation of the Clean Air Act and the decision made by a federal court that EPA had to finish these critical health protections last February. The agency’s unilateral choice to ignore these authorities is audacious and dangerous to the public’s health.”