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SALT LAKE CITY — A regional haze plan designed to curb power plants' emissions that mar scenic vistas was upheld by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the Environmental Protection Agency's endorsement of the effort does not violate the Clean Air Act.
The ruling this week from the Denver-based court means the efforts of Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming to oversee reductions in levels of sulfur dioxide pollutants from eight coal-fired power plants have been accompanied by sufficient analysis, despite objections by a coalition of environmental groups.
Utah's pollution regulators say the decision is good news for the region.
"We view this as a success on a number of levels," said Colleen Delaney, an environmental scientist with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. "Obviously the emissions reductions have been a success, but the end result is that the long effort, process and the consensus-based approach has been equally important."
Reductions in power plant emissions are based on a visibility standard, not health-based, and are designed to protect some of the most renowned views in the nation, including Utah's five national parks.
In 1999, the EPA ordered regional haze reductions to protect visibility in 156 federal areas, supplanting a 1980 requirement that only looked at pollution from local sources.
Utah's efforts are part of a regionwide approach that grew out of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission in 1991 and ultimately incorporated a milestone, or target-based approach that set sulfur dioxide emissions at a particular limit.
...emissions reductions have been a success, but the end result is that the long effort, process and the consensus-based approach has been equally important.
–Colleen Delaney
Groups like HEAL Utah, the Sierra Club and the National Park Conservation Association insisted the EPA relied on inflated emissions of sulfur dioxide when it set caps on industry and other sources, and therefore any actual reductions that have been made did not come via installation of the best available technology.
“Coal-fired power plants polluting the Colorado Plateau should be held to the same pollution control standards required elsewhere,” said Jenny Harbine, an attorney with Earthjustice, which represented the groups. “There is no excuse for these plants to get a free pass to foul the air over our nation’s treasured national parks and wilderness areas.”
But Delaney countered that the actual emissions reductions have been significant — and shouldn't be overlooked or discounted.
The three-year targeted average in 2012 for the region was 200,722 tons while actual emissions were at 115,115 tons, she said. "The reductions have been a lot more than we had anticipated then when the plan first went into place."
Delaney added that the plan is meant to backstop the 2018 regionwide goal of 141,849 tons — and the actual reductions are already far below that.
The regional haze plan, designed to safeguard views at places like Grand Canyon, Canyonlands and Bryce national parks, incorporates a number of haze-reducing strategies that include regulatory approval of large prescribed burns, air quality monitoring, and tracking emissions growth in what's called the "Clean Air Corridor."
Reduction strategies also embrace renewable energy goals and energy conservation.
