Visibility Protection

Overview

The Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) will provide technical analyses and databases to assist states, tribes, federal land managers, local air agencies and the US EPA with periodic implementation and planning requirements for the Regional Haze Rule in the West.

The effort on Regional Haze includes, but is not limited to:

Analyses to support air quality planning and management by individual WRAP member jurisdictions and agencies for the Regional Haze Rule;
Tracking trends, periodic assessments of the nature and causes of Regional Haze, and how the sources and impacts are related to ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen deposition and critical loads, mercury, and other pollutants;
Emissions sources from all sectors, both domestic and international;
Effects of air pollution transport; and
Effects of climate change on regional air quality.

The Landscape of Forever: Visibility Protection in the West is an educational storyboard that provides information about the unique challenges of protecting visibility in western states.

To accomplish these efforts, WRAP develops, maintains, and shares databases, supports technical analyses, and provides access to data and results from various information sources to produce consistent, comparable, and complete results for use by individual WRAP member jurisdictions and agencies.

WESTAR Comment Letters

- 2024 Regional Haze Comments for the non-regulatory docket.
- 2023 Regional Haze Recommendations to EPA.

Meetings/Workshops/Presentations

Western Visibility Protection and Planning Initiative Final Report

This report summarizes suggested guiding principles and potential areas of improvement (PAIs) for the Regional Haze Program and its implementation in the Western U.S. during its third planning period. The suggested principles and PAIs seek to create options to allow state, federal, Tribal, and local agencies to cooperatively continue improving visibility at Class I areas across the western region. This report is designed to inform discussions of the WESTAR Council of State Air Directors and to support their development of recommendations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other partners for improving the Regional Haze Program and its future implementation.

These principles and PAIs were collaboratively developed in 2022 and early 2023 by the Western Visibility Planning and Protection Initiative (WVPPI). The WVPPI convened representatives from state, Tribal, and local air agencies, and individuals from federal land management agencies. The purpose of the WVPPI has been to:

Build a strong shared understanding of the current state and anticipated future needs for visibility protection efforts, with a focus on the Western region of the U.S.
Share information regarding current regional haze-related practices in the participating states.
Explore how state, federal, Tribal, and local air agencies can cooperatively continue improving visibility at Class I areas across the U.S Western region.
Develop options for planning and implementation of the third planning period under the Regional Haze Rule, including potential changes to the Regional Haze Rule and agency guidance, and options for WESTAR/WRAP’s planning process.

WRAP Resources

Laws, Regulations and Guidance

Additional Information

- EPA’s non-regulatory Docket for Regional Haze comments
- WRAP 2018 Regional Haze SIP Workplan developed by the Regional Haze Workgroup

SO₂ Milestone Reports

Under Section 309 of the Regional Haze Rule, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Albuquerque-Bernalillo County track the emissions of applicable stationary sources as part of the pre-trigger portion of the SO₂ Milestone and Backstop Trading Program. WRAP assists these states and county with the implementation and management of the regional emission reduction program. Current and past reports are below.

Current Report

DRAFT 2022 SO₂ Milestone Report

Past Reports