Nebraska among thirty-nine states that failed to submit pollution reduction plans to the Environmental Protection Agency

OMAHA, NE -Today, a coalition of environmental organizations filed a notice of intent (NOI) to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because it has failed to enforce the Regional Haze Rule as required by the Clean Air Act. The Regional Haze Rule is designed to protect our national parks and wilderness areas from fossil fuel and other sources of pollution that reduce visibility. Enforcing the Clean Air Act will restore the air in our country’s most iconic parks, and return those wild places to natural visibility. NPPDs Gerald Gentleman coal-burning power plant is one of the largest polluters in the country, emitting more haze pollution than all other Nebraska sources combined. Nebraska has at least six facilities that are sources of regional haze according to the National Parks Conservation Association. 

“For decades, NPPD’s Gerald Gentleman has polluted the air in two of our country’s most treasured places, the Badlands and Rocky Mountain National Park. The Clean Air Act requires that Gerald Gentleman install the cost-effective, modern pollution controls—scrubbers—that power plants across the country successfully operate. It has been fifteen years now and nothing has changed,” said John Crabtree, Nebraska Campaign Representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.

Thirty-nine states failed to submit their most recent Regional Haze plans to the EPA by the deadline of July 31, 2021. The EPA had until January 31, 2022 to issue a formal finding that these states have failed to submit the requisite Regional Haze state implementation plan (SIP), but the agency has not yet done so. The NOI filed by the coalition of organizations asks the EPA to fulfill its mandatory obligation established by Congress. 

The first state plans for regional haze were due in December 2007. Six states–including Nebraska–still do not have fully-approved round one plans that require necessary pollution controls at the oldest and largest sources of pollution in those states, including NPPD’s Gerald Gentleman Units 1 and 2.  

Haze impacts 90 percent of our country’s national parks, with the same pollutants responsible for the widespread air pollution that harms public health, particularly in communities targeted by generations of systemic racism. Air pollution from burning fossil fuels and other sources worsens community health, drives up healthcare costs, and makes it harder for kids to learn and play and adults to work. The same sources of pollution that are harming our communities are also fueling the climate crisis. Strong regional haze plans will help us attain natural visibility in our national parks, improve public health, and reduce pollution that is changing our climate.