District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on Friday that the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must follow the law and implement the strengthened health-based 2024 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, commonly known as soot.

The court rejected EPA’s arguments for slow-walking implementation of the health-protective soot standard and ordered that EPA officially identify the areas that violate the 2024 standard by Feb.

This court ruling follows on last month’s ruling from the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Circuit upholding the 2024 soot standard after this administration’s EPA requested that the court strike it down.

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to designate areas that violate the strengthened 2024 soot standard.

Those designations are what put communities with unhealthy levels of soot pollution on a path to cleaner air, but EPA missed its legal deadline earlier this year.

In response, 17 health, community and environmental groups filed a lawsuit to compel EPA to implement the life-saving strengthened soot standard.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for Americans’ quality of life, our public health, and our environment,” said Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Director Laurie Williams.

“As the mom of a child who has asthma, I know firsthand how these preventable diseases caused by pollution can upend lives.

We are glad to see the Court uphold the law in directing Trump’s EPA to implement soot standards in order to improve the health of Americans.

The Trump administration has launched dangerous and reckless attacks on public health by attempting to dismantle lifesaving environmental guardrails, but we will continue to fight back and defend our communities from preventable pollution.” “This is a huge victory for public health,” said Sage Lincoln, associate attorney at Earthjustice.

“The science is clear that the strengthened soot standard will help reduce dangerous air pollution and prevent thousands of premature deaths and illnesses.

The court’s order compelling EPA to follow the law and implement the standard puts people’s health where it belongs: first.

As a result,....