Proposed Regional Haze
Proposed Revision, November 2009
As required by the federal Regional Haze Rule (40 CFR Section 51.308), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Division of Air Resources has prepared a proposed State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision demonstrating how reductions in the emissions of visibility impairing pollutants will result in a decrease in the degree of visibility impairment in Class I areas in the northeastern United States. The overall goal of the Federal Haze Program (64 FR 35714) is to reduce haze to natural, pre-industrial conditions in these areas by 2064. This SIP addresses reductions that are proposed for the first 10-year period that ends in 2018. The emission reduction strategy described in this document was developed in concert with other northeast states that are members of the Mid-Atlantic Northeast Visibility Union (MANE-VU) as is required by the regional haze program.
More about Proposed Regional Haze:
- Table of Contents - Contains downloadable PDF documents of the entire Regional Haze SIP.
- Acronymns and Abbreviations - A list of commonly used acronymns and abbreviations
- Executive Summary - State Implementation Plan for Regional Haze Program
- 1.0 Background and Overview of the Federal Regional Haze Regulation - The EPA's Regional Haze Rule's aim was to achieve national visibility goals by 2064.
- 2.0 General Planning Provisions - Addresses elements required by 40 CFR Sections 51.308(d) and 50.308(e), the establishment of RPG, and Regional Planning, State and Federal Land Manager coordination.
- 3.0 Regional Planning - NY is a member of the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Visibility Union (MANE-VU) RPO.
- 4.0 Federal Land Manager Coordination - 40 CFR Section 51.308(i) requires coordination between States, Tribes and the Federal Land Managers (FLMs).
- 5.0 Assessment of Baseline and Natural Conditions - Comparing natural visibility levels to current baseline conditions helps determine how much progress should be made in the next five to 10 years.
- 6.0 Monitoring Strategy - Visibility conditions representative of those within the Class I areas is monitored by the IMPROVE program.
- 7.0 Emission Inventory - Provides information on the development of baseline and future emission inventories that were used in modeling visibility for the purposes of this SIP.
- 8.0 Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) Requirements - BART requirements are intended to reduce emissions specifically from large sources that, due to age, were exempted from NSPS requirements of the Clean Air Act.
- 9.0 Reasonable Progress Goals (RPGs) - EPA's Regional Haze Rule requires each state containing a Class I area to establish visibility goals that provide for reasonable progress toward achieving natural visibility.
- 10.0 Long Term Strategy - The long-term strategy must include enforceable emissions limitations, compliance schedules and other measures necessary to achieve reasonable progress goals established by the states where the Class I areas are located.
- 11.0 Comprehensive Periodic Implementation Plan Revisions - NY commits to revising and submitting this regional haze implementation plan by July 31, 2018 and every ten years thereafter as required.
- 12.0 Determination of the Adequacy of the Existing Plan - Depending on the findings of the five-year progress report, NY is required to take one of the actions listed in 40 CFR Section 51.308(h) that apply to non-Class I states.
