EPA is moving forward on deals for a trio of lawsuits to address state air quality plans and air pollution from iron ore mills.
Under one proposed consent decree, for example, the agency has agreed to a series of staggered deadlines to act by December 2026 on state air cleanup submissions from Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.
The proposed deal, which still needs a federal judge’s signoff following a standard 30-day public comment period, would resolve the remaining claims in the suit filed last September in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Our Children’s Earth Foundation, a California-based nonprofit that describes its role as advocating on behalf of young people for clean air and clean water.
The state submissions were geared toward meeting federal requirements for national smog standards, industrial permitting and other regulations. The earliest was filed in 2007, the most recent in 2021, the notice indicates.
