U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Challenges to EPA Standards for Soot

Cleveland Plain Dealer (7/8, Scott) – A federal court on Tuesday gave the U.S. EPA the OK to enforce more stringent standards to reduce one of the most dangerous types of air pollution - usually known as fine particle pollution or soot. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected nearly all challenges to the new Environmental Protection Agency standards for soot brought by nine cities and counties, 10 power industry groups and three states…It affects more than 200 counties nationwide, primarily in California and the industrial Midwest. The new standard is designed to protect the public from exposure to air pollution particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller - about four times the diameter of a human hair. See map of the affected counties and read the court decision.