Renner Barsella, renner.barsella@sierraclub.org
Lansing, MI – Just days after wildfire haze caused Detroit to experience the second worst air quality in the world, a coalition of organizations is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address another kind of traveling haze that also has roots in climate change yet pollutes our skies all year.
The Sierra Club, Environmental Integrity Project, and National Parks Conservation Association filed a lawsuit today against EPA for failing to act on the Regional Haze Rule plans from Michigan and seven other states. They aim to compel EPA to decide if the plan submitted by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) complies with the Clean Air Act. Because the EGLE plan is so inadequate, the organizations argue that EPA should reject it and then bring the state into compliance by limiting emissions from DTE’s Monroe coal plant, as well as other coal and industrial polluters.
Regional haze is caused by sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate pollution that travels across a region and dirties skies year-round. The Clean Air Act requires states to reduce haze in U.S. national parks and wilderness areas, almost all of which are impacted by the pollution. In Michigan, visitors to both Isle Royale National Park and Seney National Wildlife Refuge experience reduced visibility of scenic vistas – sometimes by as much as 55%. The same pollutants that cause haze also harm our respiratory systems and can cause a range of other health problems. The four biggest Michigan sources of haze pollution include the Belle River, Monroe, and J.H. Campbell coal-burning power plants, as well as the Tilden Mine’s iron-ore kilns.
“EGLE’s haze plan does absolutely nothing to curb the pollution that dirties our skies and makes us sick,” said Mike Berkowitz, the Michigan senior campaign representative for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “The River Rouge, Ecorse, and Southwest Detroit area is one of the most polluted communities in the country. This lawsuit is needed to jolt EPA into action to actually decrease haze for all the people who visit Isle Royale and Seney – and especially for those people who live near the dirty coal plants and other polluters that significantly hurt community health.”
Federal lands in neighboring states are also impacted by haze from Michigan coal and industrial emissions, which combine to be the third largest source of haze pollution of the eight states. These include Acadia National Park in Maine, Great Gulf Wilderness Area in New Hampshire, and Lye Brook Wilderness in Vermont. And the same sources of haze pollution are fueling the global climate crisis, which increases events like the wildfires burning millions of acres in Canada.
The plan from EGLE would do nothing to decrease haze. For example, EGLE did not even evaluate EES Coke or US Steel, which pollute environmental justice communities in and around Detroit and emit large amounts of haze-causing pollution every year. Nonetheless, and despite EPA’s mandate to either approve or reject state plans, the agency has taken no action by the statutory deadline. This has left our national parks unprotected from the pollution, which also harms the health of people in marginalized communities near polluting facilities.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the complaint can be found here. The organizations are represented by Sierra Club’s own Environmental Law Program and Earthjustice.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.