A coalition of conservation organizations—including the National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks—submitted a detailed letter urging the EPA to withdraw its proposed approval of Alaska’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan for the second planning period, arguing that the plan violates the Clean Air Act and the Regional Haze Rule by failing to require meaningful emission reductions that would protect visibility in Alaska’s most treasured national parks and wilderness areas. The groups contend that Alaska improperly focused only on sulfur dioxide while ignoring nitrogen oxides, excluded major industrial sources from required four-factor analyses, relied on flawed and incomplete modeling and documentation, and made substantive changes to the plan without proper public notice or comment. They further argue that EPA’s proposed approval is arbitrary and capricious because it overlooks these legal and technical deficiencies, disregards expert analyses showing cost-effective pollution controls are available, and fails to ensure reasonable progress toward restoring natural visibility in Class I areas such as Denali. The letter concludes that EPA must disapprove the plan and require Alaska to redo its analyses and controls in full compliance with federal law.
Read the full letter here.