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CRPE's CASES
Association of Irritated Residents v. U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
The San Joaquin Valley has one of the nation’s highest
levels of particulate matter (PM) pollution and is designated a
serious
PM10 nonattainment area by the federal government. The levels of
PM pollution facing the Valley represent a public health crisis
that is leading to premature deaths, aggravated asthma, acute respiratory
symptoms and other health effects for the Valley’s residents.
Yet the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District
and the Environmental Protection Agency have completely failed
to take the statutorily mandated steps necessary to address this
critical issue. The Air District was required by the Clean Air
Act to come up with an EPA-approved plan to regulate PM-10 by 1994.
Instead, the District
bungled its responsibility to protect the Valley residents and
did not get its PM-10 plan approved until May 2004. Unfortunately,
even this much-belated plan fails to comply with basic statutory
requirements of the Clean Air Act and will not adequately address
the serious heath problem PM-10 poses to the Valley. CRPE has filed
a suit on behalf of the Association of Irritated Residents to challenge
the EPA’s approval of this insufficient plan and to force
the EPA to take the steps necessary to protect the health and environment
of Valley residents.
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