Lawsuit Filed to Protect Endangered Wildlife, Plants From Acid Rain, Soot

WASHINGTON- The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to assess harms to endangered wildlife and plants when determining the national air-pollution standards for dangerous nitrogen, sulfur and soot pollution - a violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit seeks to ensure that the EPA consults with the federal agencies responsible for protecting wildlife and plants to prevent the agency's action from driving any endangered species to extinction.

"The science is very clear that this air pollution can do devastating and irreversible harm to vulnerable wildlife and plants like the bay checkerspot butterfly and Shenandoah salamander," said Ryan Maher, an attorney at the Center. "The EPA ignored both the law and the science when it failed to make sure these harmful pollutants won't drive some endangered species to extinction."

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to adopt "public welfare" air-quality standards that protect wildlife and vegetation, as well as the soils and waters they depend on.

In its final decision, the agency rejected the advice of scientists and retained outdated air-pollution standards for nitrogen and soot pollution.

The EPA changed the standard for sulfur air pollution but estimated that the new standard would not result in any additional emissions reductions from sources of the pollution, such as coal-burning power plants.

In arriving at its decision on these air-quality standards, the EPA failed to complete the required Endangered Species Act consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to assess how the air pollution allowed by the standards would affect threatened and endangered plants and animals.

"It's dumbfounding that the EPA continues to flagrantly ignore the clear mandates of the Endangered Species Act when abiding by them would improve air quality for both wildlife and people," said Maher. "Instead the agency's content to let air-quality standards stay stagnant for decades, even as real harm is done to our land, water and wildlife."

Background

Nitrogen oxides are produced by burning fossil fuels and contribute to ozone formation, acid rain, nutrient pollution and poor visibility. Acid rain harms plants and wildlife by altering the pH levels of soils and water bodies - for example, acidification of aquatic ecosystems harms endangered whooping cranes by depleting their food resources. The cranes' preferred prey animals, such as aquatic insects, crayfish and frogs, are vulnerable to acidic waters. The EPA has not updated the nitrogen standard since it was first set in 1971.

Soot, also known as fine particulate matter, is a known threat to imperiled wildlife. Research has linked soot to harms to numerous endangered species, including whooping cranes, desert tortoises and small mammals like critically imperiled Preble's meadow jumping mice. Sources of soot include the burning of fossil fuels and fracking. Reduced visibility and haze are primarily caused by soot, which also damages forests and crops by reducing nutrients in soil.

Sulfur pollution is primarily released into the air by burning coal. It contributes to acid rain, threatening vulnerable aquatic plants and wildlife, and increases plant mortality and reproductive harm on land.

The EPA made its decision on the standards under an agreement that resolved a 2022 lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health. That agreement required the agency to finalize its decision on the air quality standards by Dec. 10, 2024.

Today's lawsuit was filed in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

More information about the Center's fight against air pollution is available at Protecting Air Quality Under the Clean Air Act.

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