A lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the alleged failure to clean up unsafe levels of sulfur dioxide on Guam, Puerto Rico, Indiana and Louisiana that threaten people’s health and well-being.
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Environmental Health and the Sierra Club sued EPA for failing to ensure that states and territories have plans in place to clean up air pollution that exceeds national standards that is required under the Clean Air Act.
The groups specifically cited hazardous air pollution in Piti-Cabras on Guam; Evangeline Parish, Louisiana; Huntington, Indiana; and San Juan and Guayama-Salinas, Puerto Rico.
“Reducing extremely dangerous air pollution like sulfur dioxide should be an urgent focus of the EPA’s work,” said Robert Ukeiley, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Instead, the agency consistently misses its deadlines, putting the profits of polluters first and refusing to protect human health even as study after study reveals people living in polluted zones have worse outcomes in this COVID-19 pandemic.”
According to the EPA, exposure to sulfur dioxide air pollution harms human health in as little as five minutes and can cause asthma attacks, as well as other harm to the lungs and cardiovascular system that can be fatal.
The groups argue that science continues to show that air pollution results in worse outcomes for people who have COVID-19. In addition, the highest risk groups for COVID-19 include people with asthma, which sulfur dioxide air pollution aggravates.
The largest source of sulfure dioxide air pollution is the combustion of fossil fuels by large power plants and industrial facilities.
“The unsafe levels of sulfur dioxide in these communities threatens people’s health and well-being,” said Zachary Fabish, an attorney for the Sierra Club. “EPA’s obligation to finally confront this dangerous pollution is a matter of basic fairness and equity.”
“Our air should be free of dangerous pollution that has serious impacts on both human health and the environment," said Caroline Cox, a senior scientist with the Center for Environmental Health.
