News Releases from Region 06

EPA approves Oklahoma’s five-year report for regional haze

DALLAS (June 28, 2019) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently approved Oklahoma’s Regional Haze five-year report that found that the state is making reasonable progress towards preventing future impairment of visibility caused by human-made pollution in the Wichita Mountain Wilderness Area.

Under the Clean Air Act, states are required to develop State Implementation Plans (SIPs) that ensure reasonable progress towards the national goal of addressing visibility impairment in designated class I areas, like national parks and wilderness areas. Five years after submittal of the initial SIP, states are required to submit a report in the form of a SIP revision that evaluates progress towards visibility in the class I area.

During the previous administration, more than 20 Federal Implementations plans (FIPs) were developed to address Regional Haze programs. Overall, EPA has made significant progress to address backlogged SIPs by approving a SIP approximately every month since March 1, 2017. EPA has approved over 200 SIPs.

EPA believes that states are best suited to run their clean air programs. EPA will continue to work with its state partners to ensure that the Clean Air Act standards are met in Oklahoma and across the country.

In March 2019, EPA proposed to approve the state’s regional haze five-year progress report. EPA did not receive any relevant adverse comments on the proposed action and moved forward with approval. 

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About EPA Region 6: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-6-south-central  

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