Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Friday to block a California climate rule that they say increases air pollution.
The lawsuit targets the state’s low-carbon fuel standard, which aims to increase the supply of biofuels and other alternative transportation fuels that can be used to lower the use of gasoline and diesel. The complaint against the California Air Resources Board argues that the regulation increases fumes from biogas, which is made from decomposing animal waste. The suit was filed in California superior court.
Incentives in the regulation have caused large increases in biogas production, said David Rodriguez, founding member of Central Valley Defenders for Clean Air and Water.
“We are a town of 4,000 people surrounded by 8,000 cows less than a mile away at a dairy that keeps expanding,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “We have endured pollution and putrid odors, and we have raised our concerns with CARB time and again, only to be ignored.”
