An EPA-approved Alaska plan will not do enough to reduce pollution that harms visibility in national parks, several environmental groups charge in a newly filed lawsuit.
The lawsuit is the latest escalation in the struggle over EPA’s regional haze program, which requires states to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources that cloud the air in national parks and wilderness areas.
In comments last year, the groups that brought the suit — the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club and Alaska Community Action on Toxics — argued Alaska’s plan was “fundamentally flawed in multiple ways that make it ineffective.”
Alaska focused on sulfur dioxide emissions without also looking at nitrogen oxides emissions, both of which contribute to haze formation, the groups said. They also alleged the state ignored emissions from the oil and gas sector and relied on flawed air quality monitoring and modeling.
