A second federal lawsuit is intensifying Cleveland's long-running fight over air pollution, with environmental groups warning that the region may end up with weaker protections against smog.
In the new case, advocates are challenging EPA's determination that Cleveland had already met federal ozone standards, saying the agency reached that conclusion too soon.
Here's what to know
According to Cleveland.com, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Ohio Environmental Council, and Sierra Club filed the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. They argue EPA should not have counted Cleveland as meeting national smog standards and say the agency shifted Ohio's cleanup deadline to December 5, 2026.
Another part of the lawsuit focuses on Ohio's plan to maintain air quality through 2038. The groups say the strategy leans heavily on pollution reductions from federal clean-car standards that the EPA repealed, leaving Cleveland-area communities with a weaker path to cleaner air.
The filing follows a separate NRDC lawsuit over EPA's approval of Ohio's plan to reduce smog-forming emissions from major industrial facilities in Greater Cleveland. The Clean Air Act generally requires facilities in areas that fail to meet federal air-quality standards to use "reasonably available control technologies" to curb emissions.
More background
Ground-level ozone is the main ingredient in smog, and high levels can make breathing more difficult for people with asthma and other respiratory conditions.
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The EPA said in June that the Cleveland area had met the national standard for ground-level ozone. The agency arrived at that determination after recalculating the region's three-year average ozone level to account for smoke from Canadian wildfires that covered the area in 2023.
That adjustment lowered the 2023-2025 figure from 71 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion, the attainment benchmark. In the earlier lawsuit, NRDC also argued that Ohio's plan does not require facilities to publicly disclose their actual emissions, potentially making it harder for nearby communities to understand what they are breathing.
What's being done?
The latest lawsuit asks the court to review EPA's smog decision. In the earlier case, NRDC is seeking to overturn EPA's approval of Ohio's industrial pollution plan and to require stricter pollution limits and emissions disclosure rules.
NRDC says EPA relied on studies submitted by the companies but still did not require the stronger controls those analyses showed were possible. Facilities named in that lawsuit include Cleveland-Cliffs' Cleveland Works, PPG Industries, Lubrizol, Henkel, and Owens Corning.
Asked about the litigation, EPA said that, "in keeping with longstanding practice," it does "not comment on pending or ongoing litigation."
For residents who want to support cleaner-air advocacy beyond the courtroom, local public-comment opportunities and donations to climate causes can help support organizations pushing for stronger protections.
As Sierra Club Midwest Beyond Coal Campaign Manager Neil Waggoner put it: "No one should have to negotiate to breathe clean, safe air."
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