A coalition of California environmental, health, and community organizations sued the U.S. EPA yesterday for neglecting to enforce clean air standards in the state’s infamously smoggy Central Valley. An EPA official acknowledged that the agency had “failed to act” on a 1997 plan to improve air quality and said the lawsuit would force the agency to implement measures to reduce dust and smog. The 25,000-square-mile San Joaquin Valley ranks among the five worst places in the country for smog and among the six worst places for dust; poor air quality in the region has been linked to high rates of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and heart disease.
