Southeast Michigan could soon face another major Clean Air Act battle. The Sierra Club plans to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over a missed deadline on ozone pollution in the Detroit area, arguing that the region's air is bad enough to warrant stricter federal oversight.
What's happening?
According to Planet Detroit, a seven-county stretch of Southeast Michigan is classified as being in "moderate nonattainment" for ozone, meaning it does not meet federal air quality standards.
However, Nick Leonard, the executive director at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, said air-monitoring data shows the area should be elevated to "serious nonattainment," a more severe designation that would trigger tougher pollution controls.
Leonard, who is representing the Sierra Club, said the EPA did not make its required Feb. 3, 2025, determination on whether the Detroit area complied with the federal ozone standard.
Under the Clean Air Act, that decision is supposed to help keep states moving quickly to reduce pollution.
The dispute comes months after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled on Dec. 5 that the EPA had unlawfully changed Southeast Michigan's ozone status from nonattainment to attainment, according to Planet Detroit.
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At the same time, Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is reviewing public comments on a proposed addendum asking the EPA to find the area in compliance. That request relies in part on excluding several 2023 and 2025 monitoring days affected by smoke from Canadian wildfires under the EPA's "exceptional events" rule.
Why does this matter?
The fight is about more than a legal deadline. Planet Detroit noted that, according to the EPA, ground-level ozone can inflame and damage airways, worsen asthma attacks, and aggravate chronic lung diseases.
For families in Southeast Michigan — especially children, older adults, and people with respiratory conditions — delayed action can mean more dangerous air on hot summer days.
A "serious nonattainment" designation would come with stricter rules for the pollutants that create ozone, including tighter controls on industrial sources and tougher inspection and maintenance requirements for cars and trucks.
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As Planet Detroit reported, Detroit got an F for air quality in the American Lung Association's 2026 State of the Air report, and the Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor area ranked 39th worst in the nation for ozone pollution — worse than its No. 45 ranking the year before.
When regulators delay or weaken enforcement, it can slow progress toward a healthier future for people already living with the burden of traffic and industrial pollution.
What's being done about it?
The Sierra Club sent the required 60-day notice before filing suit, and Leonard said that the waiting period expires June 22. If the EPA still has not acted by then, the organization is expected to move forward in court, Planet Detroit reported.
There could also be another lawsuit if Michigan submits its addendum and the EPA agrees that Southeast Michigan is meeting the ozone standard. Leonard said the Sierra Club would "almost certainly" challenge that outcome as well.
In the meantime, EGLE spokesperson Josef Stephens said officials are continuing to review comments and have not decided whether to send the addendum to the EPA. The EPA and EGLE both declined to comment on the threatened litigation.
"For the first time in 2025, we saw some additional monitors creeping above the ozone standard at Oak Park and Port Huron," Leonard said, according to Planet Detroit. "So, the problem seems to be getting worse rather than better."
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