Landmark US pollution ruling hailed

Environmentalists in the United States are celebrating a Supreme Court ruling that places benefits to public health as the sole criterion in establishing air pollution standards.

The unanimous ruling by the nine Supreme Court judges rejected assertions by the powerful industrial lobby that costs must be considered.

Lawyers for road haulage groups, manufacturing and chambers of commerce had argued that the decision could cost the country up to fifty billion dollars a year.

For its part, the government Environmental Protection Agency said its strict standards for soot and ozone emissions will save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in health costs.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service