Court orders Valley Air to comply with state mandates on monitoring refinery emissions

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has 30 days to find that California agencies have failed to submit clean air plans for the San Joaquin Valley

La EPA tiene 30 días para reconocer que las agencias de California no han presentado planes de aire limpio para el Valle de San Joaquín

It is hereby ordered and declared that: Defendants Andrew Wheeler, Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Mike Stoker, Regional Administrator, Region 9, EPA, are in violation of the Clean Air Act with regard to their mandatory, nondiscretionary duty under 42 U.S.C. § 7410(k)(1)(B) to make findings that the State of California has failed to submit for the San Joaquin Valley three overdue nonattainment state implementation plans addressing nonattainment of the 1997, 2006, and 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

This action is brought under the federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401–7671q, to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take the statutorily required action of making findings under 42 U.S.C. § 7410(k)(1)(B), and publishing notice of those findings in the Federal Register, that the State of California has failed to develop and submit at least four separate nonattainment state implementation plan revisions to combat persistent violations of the 1997, 2006, and 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

San Joaquin Valley’s air is the most toxic in the state

The head of one California air district went to Washington, D.C., to try to weaken the “impossible to meet” standards of the Clean Air Act, on the same day the California Air Resources Board presented its plan to meet those standards.

The South Coast air district used updated risk data to better protect children from toxic air pollutants, while the San Joaquin Valley air district used that same data to double the acceptable cancer risk threshold for industry.

The local air district in California’s San Joaquin Valley blames ozone pollution from overseas, rather than lax regulation at home, for the valley’s notoriously poor air quality.

The Los Angeles region is currently experiencing dirty, filthy and downright disgusting air. It's time for stronger air regulations.

A coalition of public health and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA today, asking a federal court to require the agency to protect Southern California communities from hazardous levels of air pollution.

A coalition of public health and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, asking a federal court to require the agency to protect LA and San Joaquin Valley communities from hazardous levels of air pollution.

Well, it happened. As we predicted back in June, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District officially has no hope of attaining the 1997 soot standard by the Dec. 31, 2014 deadline.

An unfortunate incident shows both how much advocates have achieved—and how much more work we have to do in the San Joaquin Valley.

Ships, trucks and trains to clean up their act under new plan.

Millions of Americans suffer from asthma. However, most people don’t know how brutal it is to live with the disease. Breathing is a fundamental right, yet every day air pollution affects our right to breathe clean air.