Court says EPA must reclassify air quality rating in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis area environmental groups on Monday claimed a court victory that could upset the area's attempt to win federal approval of its air quality.

The area's air must now be reclassified as failing to meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency's standards for ozone, a key component of smog.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled Monday that the EPA must bump St. Louis from "moderate nonattainment" status to "serious nonattainment," a change that could bring stringent pollution controls and the loss of federal highway funding.

Environmental groups sued in 1998 after the EPA allowed St. Louis until 2004 to meet air quality guidelines. St. Louis was originally supposed to have met the standard by 1996.

It's unclear what effect the long-awaited federal court ruling will have because St. Louis has cleaned up much of its smog problem since environmental groups first took the issue to court.