The order came as Judge Phyllis Hamilton denied EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s motion for relief from a consent decree, which had mandated the EPA either approve or reject Delaware’s plan to use “reasonably available technologies to control major sources” of ozone pollution by Sept. 29.

“EPA is hereby ORDERED to take final action on the Delaware (plan) … within 90 days of the date of this order,” Hamilton stated in her ruling in the U.S. District Court in California.

The EPA delegates authority to states to enforce certain parts of the federal Clean Air Act.

The judge’s order was the latest action in a case involving a coalition of environmental groups, which in July 2016 had sued the EPA, alleging the federal agency failed to act on numerous states’ air pollution plans.

The environmentalists in a statement said the “decision means Delaware is one step closer to having a plan in place that assures protections around the clock against smog.”