(CN) — The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District must face a lawsuit brought by five environmental justice groups after a federal judge on Friday denied its motion to dismiss.
The regulator argued that the Clean Air Act does not authorize citizens to sue air quality control districts, regional government agencies that monitor air pollution and enforce emission limits.
U.S. District Judge Kirk Sherriff disagreed, citing two rulings from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which he said found “that citizens could pursue an enforcement action … if the state failed to perform its regulatory duties.”…