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Regional Haze SIP Update Due in 2008
Utah is currently developing an update to the 2003 Regional Haze SIP. The schedule for Utah's Regional Haze SIP calls for a Utah Air Quality Board hearing in June 2008 with a submittal to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 in the fall of 2008.
The 2003 SIP is available below; the 2008 update makes revisions to the 2003 backstop trading program for sulfur dioxide from large industrial sources as required by litigation completed in 2005. The SIP update will also address Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) for nitrogen oxide and particulate matter (PM) emissions, and updates the Milestones that if not met will trigger the backstop trading program. Utah is working with other members of the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP)in the development of the SIP update.
When the EPA adopted the Regional Haze Rule at 40 CFR 51.309 in 1999, it incorporated the recommendations of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC). EPA required the WRAP, a regional planning organization that was established to address regional haze, to complete the development of regional milestones and a backstop trading program for stationary sources that emit sulfur dioxide and to submit it as an Annex to the GCVTC recommendations. The WRAP submitted the Annex in September, 2000. On June 5, 2003, EPA approved the Annex and incorporated the stationary source provisions into the Regional Haze Rule. In December, 2003 the Air Quality Board adopted Section XX of the SIP to address regional haze. This plan was based on the GCVTC recommendations and the Annex. EPA’s approval of the Annex was challenged, and on February 18, 2005 the DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacated EPA’s 2003 rules (Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED) vs. Environmental Protection Agency, February 18, 2005). The Court determined that EPA had required a BART demonstration in the Annex that was based on a methodology that had been vacated by the Court in 2002 (American Corn Growers Association vs. Environmental Protection Agency, May 24, 2002). On October 13, 2006 EPA revised the regional haze rule to establish the methodology for states to develop an alternative to BART that was consistent with the Court’s decision. This rule change revises the SO2 milestones and backstop trading program to meet the 2006 revisions to the Regional Haze Rule.
The Air Quality Board adopted the Regional Haze SIP and the rules that accompany it on September 3, 2008. These documents became effective and enforceable in Utah on November 10, 2008. The package of materials was submitted to the EPA on September 18, 2008 and will become federally enforceable after EPA approves them.
(2,411 kb), and R307-110-28 
(16 kb), , Emissions Inventory , Western Backstop Sulfur Dioxide Program A specific commitment in the 2003 Regional Haze SIP requires Utah and the four other states submitting SIPs under Section 309 of the Federal Regional Haze Rule ( 40 CFR 51.309
152 kb) to report annually the actual emissions for stationary sources emitting 100 tons per year or more of sulfur dioxide (SO2) to determine if the annual milestone for the backstop trading program were exceeded. WRAP compiled the emissions reports submitted by Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Albuquerque for 2004-06. The 2006 milestone report was submitted to EPA in March 2007 and can be found at http://wrapair.org/forums/309/docs.html.