SAN FRANCISCO – A Pennsylvania nonprofit and other environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over allegations he failed to review and revise as necessary emission standards for coke ovens.
Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, Gasp, Louisiana Bucket Brigade and Sierra Club filed a complaint on April 15 in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California against Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the U.S. EPA, alleging violation of the Clean Air Act.
The plaintiffs are suing the defendant "to take actions mandated by the Clean Air Act ...to protect public health and the environment from coke ovens, major industrial sources of highly toxic air pollutants," the suit states.
The suit states that the defendant promulgated national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for coke oven batteries on April 14, 2005, and coke ovens in August 2005, and should have taken final action in order to fulfill his duties within a period of eight years.
The plaintiffs allege that the defendant has been negligent in his duty and allowed more than eight years to pass without completing the reviews.
The plaintiffs are seeking an order for the defendant to review and either revise or issue a final determination, attorneys' fees and courts costs and other relief deemed fit. The plaintiffs are represented by Tosh Sagar, James S. Pew of EarthJustice in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California case number 3:19-CV-02004