OSAKA -- A 12-year air pollution suit was finally resolved Friday as residents of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and the central government and an expressway operator formally settled the case at the Osaka High Court after the state pledged to take specific steps to reduce harmful vehicle emissions.
It is the first air pollution case in Japan in which the state has promised to implement concrete measures to reduce emissions of harmful substances. Earlier agreements in similar cases only urged the government to make efforts to reduce air pollution.
According to the agreement, the Environment Agency, the Construction Ministry and the expressway operator, Hanshin Expressway Public Corp., will take measures to reduce the level of so-called suspended particulate matter to the environmental standard of 0.1 mg per cubic meter of air in the area along National Route 43 and the elevated Hanshin Expressway, which runs above it.