(Updates with call to EPA in sixth paragraph.)

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- New York, California and nine other states sued to enforce clean air standards after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to meet a deadline to limit soot pollution.

The lawsuit, filed today in federal court in New York, asks a judge to order the EPA to propose and complete the standards, Attorney General Peter P. Kilmartin of Rhode Island, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. The complaint couldn’t be immediately confirmed in court electronic records.

“The science is clear that the current federal standards for soot emissions are woefully inadequate, causing premature deaths and serious chronic respiratory harm,” Kilmartin said.

According to the American Lung Association, one in 17 Americans lives in areas with unhealthy year-round levels of soot pollution, Kilmartin said. Most soot comes from diesel vehicles and power plants, he said.

Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington also sued the EPA, according to the statement.

EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

--With assistance from John Hughes in Washington and Dawn McCarty in Wilmington, Delaware. Editors: Stephen Farr, Andrew Dunn

To contact the reporter on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware at pmilford@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net