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Smog air pollution by county. <a href="https://earthjustice.org/feature/soot-smog-air-map-united-states-county">See full map.</a> (Air Quality System Data / U.S. EPA)
feature June 26, 2025

Mapping Soot and Smog Pollution in the United States

How is the air where you live?
Map of soot air pollution by county in 2024. (Air Quality System Data / U.S. EPA)
feature June 26, 2025

What’s the state of soot pollution where you live?

Search by county to see the level of soot pollution in the air. Soot causes death and serious health harms.
People enjoy a sunny afternoon in a Los Angeles park with a view of the downtown skyline. (Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images)
Update March 29, 2024

We’re on Our Way to Court to Defend a New Standard That Protects Us from Deadly Air Pollution

After hearing from the public, including 32,000 Earthjustice supporters, the EPA delivered stronger air quality protections.
document March 28, 2024

Communities intervene to defend national air quality standards from industry attacks

Health, environmental, and community organizations, represented by Earthjustice and Clean Air Task Force, filed to intervene in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent strengthening of an air standard…
video February 21, 2024

To: The Biden Administration. From: Kids

In the News: Washington Post February 7, 2024

New air pollution rule could prevent thousands of premature deaths

Patrice Simms, VP of Litigation for Healthy Communities: “We heard this in the ’70s, when lobbyists said that if we required catalytic converters for cars, the whole industry was going to collapse. Well, guess what? We’re fine. This is the same tired playbook of trying to undermine progress.”
Press Release February 7, 2024

EPA Fortalece Normativa de Contaminación del Aire para Proteger a las Comunidades del Hollín

La norma actualizada mejorará la salud pública y la economía
Willie Dodson, Central Appalachian Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices, installs an air monitor onto a house in Wilson Creek, Kentucky. (Michael Swensen for Earthjustice)
Press Release February 7, 2024

EPA Strengthens Air Pollution Rule to Protect Communities from Soot

Updated standard will improve public health and the economy
An industrial facility in California's Central Valley. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
feature March 28, 2023

Environmental, Health, and Grassroots Organizations Call for a Stronger Soot Standard

Exposure to fine particle pollution causes a range of health harms, such as increased infant mortality, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, asthma attacks, diabetes, dementia, and premature death.
Deadly fine particulate matter pollution, also known as soot, comes from tailpipes, smokestacks and industrial power plants. Breathing soot can cause premature death, heart disease, and lung damage. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Press Release January 6, 2023

EPA’s Soot Pollution Rule Update Falls Short, Again

Despite strong scientific consensus, EPA proposes lackluster public health protections
Smog over Los Angeles. (Robert S. Donovan / CC BY-NC 2.0)
Article October 2, 2014

California: A Terrible Place To Breathe

The Golden State claimed all five of the top slots for the highest air pollution in the American Lung Association's 2014 State of the Air Report.
Deadly fine particulate matter pollution, also known as soot, comes from tailpipes, smokestacks and industrial power plants. Breathing soot can cause premature death, heart disease, and lung damage. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
case May 12, 2014

Protecting Lives, Lungs from Soot

document May 9, 2014

Intervenor Brief Defending 2012 Soot Standards

document May 9, 2014

Court Opinion Upholding 2012 Soot Rule

Deadly fine particulate matter pollution, also known as soot, comes from tailpipes, smokestacks and industrial power plants. Breathing soot can cause premature death, heart disease, and lung damage. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Press Release: Victory May 9, 2014

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Clean Air Standards for Soot

Today’s decision is a victory for public health that will save tens of thousands of lives and more than a billion dollars in health related costs every year.
Press Release: Victory December 14, 2012

EPA Acts to Protect Lives, Lungs from Soot

Article July 20, 2012

Surprises Arise at Clean Air Public Forum

"This morning's testimony was so moving, I wish I'd had tissues with me," said one speaker. "It never occurred to me that I would need them at an EPA public…
Article June 20, 2012

Soot Gets Editorial Ink

The historical significance of the Environmental Protection Agency's recently proposed new limits on fine particle pollution, colloquially called soot, wasn't lost on a number of editorial pages.