Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Interior Department and Utah have agreed on a plan to reduce haze in Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion national parks.
The memorandum of agreement sets up a process for the Park Service to notify the state to address major pollution sources, such as power plants, if progress is not being made toward clearing the air.
At that point, the state would look at ways to address the situation, Cheryl Heying, planning branch manager at the Utah Division of Air Quality, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The Clean Air Act could potentially require the polluters to upgrade their facility with cleaner technology to reduce emissions.
The memorandum completes Utah's portion of a regional plan for protecting the visibility at national parks on the Colorado Plateau, the Interior Department said Wednesday.
Under the plan, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and Oregon adopted a regional emissions cap. Utah is the first of the five to pursue the memorandum of agreement with the department under the plan, the agency said.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
