Ohio EPA to hold public forum on effort to change regional-haze plan

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) said late last week that it will hold a public hearing on August 5 concerning changes it is seeking to its regional haze implementation plan.

OEPA wants to apply the federal Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) for Ohio’s plan to address regional haze and remove the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) reference in the current plan. CSAPR was created by the EPA because of issues with CAIR and aims to reduce the transportation of pollution across state lines. The Federal Clean Air Act contains measures to encourage states whose emissions might affect haze levels in other areas to further limit their impact.

CSAPR’s implementation is underway this year, and it is expected to reduce pollution from fine particulate and ozone by reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants. The original OEPA plan for managing regional haze was approved by the federal EPA in 2011, under CAIR. The plan to implement CSAPR does not affect the rest of the state’s plan.

The hearing will be held at OEPA’s Central Office in Columbus at 10:30 a.m.

OEPA's mission is "to protect the environment and public health by ensuring compliance with environmental laws and demonstrating leadership in environmental stewardship." For more information, visit http://wwwapp.epa.ohio.gov/gis/mapportal.