OAKLAND, Calif.— The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health today filed a notice of intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to finalize plans to curtail dangerous smog in Ventura County, Calif.

The EPA has unlawfully delayed a decision on five components of the county’s plan to reduce ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and cardiovascular problems.

“The EPA’s foot-dragging is literally choking the county’s must-vulnerable residents,” said Caroline Cox, research director at the Center for Environmental Health. “If we’re going to guarantee healthy, clean air for all everyone in the country the EPA must enforce the Clean Air Act.”

Ventura County, which is home to more than 800,000 people, has failed to meet federal smog standards for decades.

According to the American Lung Association, Ventura County’s chronic smog pollution places 12,317 children at risk for pediatric asthma; 43,418 people at risk for cardiovascular diseases; and 30,511 at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Smog pollution also harms wildlife and ecosystems. The region’s Ponderosa pines are particularly sensitive to smog pollution, which can stunt growth, interfere with photosynthesis and increase risks from disease, weather and insects, according to the EPA.

Maintenance of Ponderosa pine habitat is critical for the several species such as the federally-endangered California condor and the imperiled Sierra Nevada red fox, Siskiyou mountain salamander, and Shasta salamander.

“As frustrating as it is to the fossil fuel addicts running the Trump EPA, cleaning up Ventura County’s dangerously smoggy air is not optional, it’s the law,” said Robert Ukeiley, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It shouldn’t take legal action to make sure the most vulnerable people and wildlife are protected from harmful air pollution. But that’s why we have the Clean Air Act. And we’ll continue to use its tools to force this administration to do its job..”