1. Status of Regional Haze Rule

2. Status of the Regional Haze Program 8 deciviews, 180 km visual range
Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV
Weiss Knob
33 deciviews, 15 km visual range

3. Regional Haze Timeline
Regional Haze (RH) final rule: July 1999
Regional Haze remand vacating BART provisions in Section 308 of RH rule: May 2002
Court objected to inclusion of individual sources based on collective assessment of visibility impacts from all sources
BART provisions reproposed in notice published on May 5, 2004
Consent Decree deadline for final action on BART: April 15, 2005
Regional Haze State implementation plans (SIPs) due 3 years after designation of PM2.5 attainment and nonattainment areas (January 2008)

4. 1999 Regional Haze Rule General Requirements
Regional haze SIPs in 2008 are to address emissions which “may reasonably be anticipated to cause or contribute to any impairment of visibility” in any Class I area
States establish reasonable progress goals – presumption: rate of improvement for period sufficient to achieve natural conditions by 2064
Regional planning encouraged
Regional Haze program applies to all States, regardless of whether the State contains a Class I area
Emissions from States without Class I areas contribute to Class I areas in other States
Clean Air Act (CAA) directs us to “prevent any future impairment”

5. 1999 Regional Haze Rule – Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) Provisions
Requires States to implement BART for all eligible sources ( )
Includes CAA mandate that BART determinations should be based on five factors:
Cost of compliance
Energy and nonair quality environmental impacts
Existing pollution control technology at the source
Remaining useful life of the source, and
Degree of visibility improvement which may reasonably be anticipated from controls
Includes option for States to implement “better than BART” trading program in lieu of individual source BART determinations.

6. BART Guidelines BART guidelines Which sources are BART- eligible?
Approach for determining which BART-eligible sources should be subject to BART determinations; and
Approach for making BART determinations.
Which sources are BART- eligible?
Major sources >250 tons built between 1962 and 1977
Includes: electric generating units (EGUs), industrial boilers, others (26 source categories)
But only if such sources are reasonably anticipated to contribute to regional haze in any Class I area
BART guidelines originally proposed July 2001; reproposed May 5, 2004 in response to Regional Haze Rule remand