(Salem, OR) -- A federal judge has ruled the Environmental Protection Agency must implement a standard for soot pollution. Oregon, and a coalition of states, filed a lawsuit in April that claimed the EPA must implement a 2024 Clean Air Act rule strengthening standards for fine particulate matter, which is also called soot. It comes from engines, factories, and construction sites. In 2024, when the EPA strengthened soot standards, the agency said it prevented 45-hundred premature deaths and other illnesses.