PROVIDENCE – Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin said that Rhode Island will join 11 other states in taking two actions to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue rules against soot.

Kilmartin and the attorneys general of the other states recently notified the EPA of their intent to bring a new suit over the agency’s failure to issue rules against soot.

Kilmartin said in a news release that issuing the rules is something the agency is required to do by the Clean Air Act and court order.

The release said that the federal Clean Air Act requires EPA to update federal standards for several pollutants, including soot, every five years. The deadline for the EPA to adopt new standards for soot pollution passed on Oct. 17.

Other states participating in the notice to sue include: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont and Washington.

Additionally, Kilmartin said in the release said that Rhode Island has joined nine other states that sought to reopen an old suit on the same topic.

The coalition of 10 states filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking the court to enforce its earlier order to the EPA to issue a new standard for soot. The earlier order had been won by the states in 2009. •