350 Seattle v. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Washington Superior Court alleging that local clean air agencies were unlawfully shifting decision-making authority for new source approval from their boards of directors to technical staff and treating such approvals as ministerial decisions. The plaintiffs alleged that the effect of these actions was to undermine the Washington State Clean Air Act’s “ability to protect the public health of Washington residents and the State’s ability to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.”