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Latest Developments (see below)
There are three basic forms of visibility impairment - a reduction in one's ability to see clearly or far: urban haze, "plume blight", and regional haze. Urban haze, often referred to as "brown cloud", comes from the scattering of light due to various types of pollution from a wide range of sources found in large cities.
"Plume blight" or Reasonably Attributable Visibility Impairment (RAVI) can be a plume of pollution rising from a specific source, but it commonly refers to pollution coming from the stack or chimney of a stationary source (e.g., electrical generating station or copper smelting operation).
  
Regional Haze is defined as visibility impairment caused by the emission of air pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area.
The Regional Haze Rule (RHR) outlines the requirements for States to follow in order to address haze impairing pollutants (71 FR 60631  , Oct. 13, 2006). The purpose of the rule is to improve visibility at the 158 national parks and wilderness areas throughout the U.S. (formally known as mandatory Federal Class I areas). States are required to demonstrate reasonable progress towards the national visibility goal established in 1977 by the Clean Air Act (Section 169A and 169B): "the prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing impairment of visibility in mandatory class I Federal areas which impairment results from man-made air pollution." Arizona has 12 Class I areas. States, with the assistance of regional planning organizations (RPOs), are required to submit a State Implementation Plan to EPA every five years outlining how the State is progressing on attainment of the national goal. The RPO assisting the western states is the Western Regional Air Partnership, or WRAP .
Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART)
The RHR requires Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) to be considered as a control measure on specific categories of major stationary sources of haze-producing pollutants in existence prior to the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments. Most of these sources are refineries, smelters and coal-fired electrical generating units (EGUs) that emit 250 tons per year (TPY) of sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOX), and particulate matter (PM). Should a source be found BART-eligible, a determination of the source's contribution to visibility impairment and the resulting emission reductions from the application of BART is conducted. Currently nine sources have been found BART-eligible and the applications, or rationale for not applying BART, are under review. General information on BART is available from WRAP . The WRAP site also has a list of sources throughout the Western region that have been determined to be "Subject to BART" and exempted as not "Subject to BART" .
Regional Haze Section 309 State Implementation Plan
Section 309 of the RHR includes a provision that recognizes the work of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC), the research and planning organization established under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990; prior to WRAP. The Commission's recommendations, representing reasonable progress toward the national goal, addressed impairment at 16 western Class I areas on the Colorado Plateau, including four Class I areas in Arizona. Implementation of these recommendations meets the reasonable progress requirement for those 16 Class I areas. The States of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and the City of Albuquerque opted to develop a plan under Section 309 and submitted regional haze plans by the Dec. 31, 2003, deadline. The 2003 Section 309 plan was revised in 2004, and is currently under revision to account for changes to the SO2 backstop trading program as well as new requirements based on the 2006 RHR.
Since the 2003 submittals, the Section 309 States have been successfully implementing the GCVTC recommendations along with other measures contained in the plans. These include documented SO2 reductions for stationary sources far in excess of those anticipated in the submitted plans, an enhanced smoke management plan, reduction of dust (fine and coarse particulates), energy efficiency and renewables energy, and mobile source (both on-road and off-road) reductions.
Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report
One of the requirements of the Section309 Regional Haze SIP is the submission of an annual report documenting the comparison of regional SO2 emissions from major industrial sources to established milestones as required by the backstop trading program. The Regional Haze Rule Section 308(e) indicates that a State may enter into a trading program if it demonstrates that such a program can provide greater reasonable progress toward natural conditions than BART. Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and the City of Albuquerque are in the process of drafting the 2007 Milestone Report. Previous Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Reports are available .
Regional Haze Section 309(g) State Implementation Plan
States submitting Regional Haze Plans under Section 309 of the RHR are required to submit plans to address visibility impairment at Class I areas not covered by Section 309 plans (Arizona has eight remaining areas). Section 309(g) plans follow the provisions of Section 308(d)(1) through (4) of the RHR.
WRAP has been working closely through its various committees and forums to provide background data and support for preparation of Section309 revisions, and Section 309(g) and Section 308 state implementation plans. States and tribes in the WRAP region have participated in developing these materials and are using the reports and regional technical analyses to develop their individual plans.
Questions on the SIPs can be directed by fax or e-mail directly to the attention of Corky Martinkovic or Lisa Tomczak at (602) 771-2366.
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Last Revision
Apr. 20, 2009