State plan aims to reduce haze on federal land

Due in part to newly shuttered coal plants and modern industrial controls, state environmental officials expect significant reductions through 2028 in at least two major pollutants that haze up an otherwise clear Big Sky.

Myriad regulations and benefits exist for quality air, generally. But the state Department of Environmental Quality is required by a federal rule specifically to reduce the state’s haziest conditions and protect still-clear skies for certain mandated federal lands through 2064.

The ultimate national goal — to achieve natural visibility conditions in these areas — is set by the federal Regional Haze Rule. The stated task since the early 2000s is to address hazy vistas across the country and now at 156 national parks, wilderness areas and national monuments.

Northwest Montana contains five: Glacier National Park, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Scapegoat Wilderness, Mission Mountains Wilderness and Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

Formal efforts to reduce haze in the areas come via 10-year plans. The DEQ has rolled out its public comment period for Montana’s newest Regional Haze Implementation Plan, which will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency for later comment and approval.

The DEQ is now accepting public comment on the new plan through March 21, with a public hearing set for March 18 in Helena and online. Recent rule revisions allowed the state to postpone its second implementation plan, which was originally set to start in 2018.

The new 323-page plan outlines how Montana aims to achieve clear skies diminished by emissions sources like industry, oil and gas works, wildfires, on- and off-road vehicles and other out-of-state and foreign sources.

Rhonda Payne, an air quality planner for the DEQ, said the state overall is projecting reductions through 2028 in nitrogen-oxide emissions by 40% and sulfur-dioxide emissions by 21%. Both are precursors to visibility-impairing particulates, and other air quality issues.

“We are on track to meet these goals in 2028,” Payne said generally of the state’s efforts. “These goals are established every planning period, so it’s an incremental, sort of stepwise reduction that you would be trying to make to meet the ultimate goal in 2064.”

Overall, the state’s haze reduction plans through 2028 remain relatively simple and largely coincide with general state and federal efforts to reduce air pollution.

Statewide, now-retired coal-fired electrical power plants play a major role in the planned reductions. Several have closed, all in eastern Montana.

According to the DEQ plan, the closures include the 153-Megawatt J.E. Corette steam-electric station in 2015 near Billings; Units 1 and 2 at the Colstrip steam-electric station, each producing 307 MW, that shut down in 2020, also near Billings; and the 50-MW Montana-Dakota Utilities Lewis & Clark station, which shut down last year near Sidney.

Otherwise, Payne said Montana’s new plan largely relies on enforcing existing federal and state air quality controls and programs.

She said there are no new major state initiatives.

“Through our ongoing permitting and ongoing pollution-reduction programs: it’s sort of like an integrative planning approach,” Payne said.

“It sounds as though we might not be doing anything for regional haze purposes, but there are so many other air pollution control programs that benefit regional haze.” she said.

Another avenue of reducing emissions statewide exists in a general updating of industrial facilities that are thereby held to stricter, more modern emissions standards than, for example, a quarter-century ago.

“So we know that as new equipment comes on, there’s already going to be operational standards for emissions reductions,” she said.

“We’re kind of feeling like even additional growth that we might see would still be well within this plan of protecting against haze,” Payne said.

As required by the federal haze rule, the plan also identifies past progress in reducing emissions tracked by the state.

Statewide from 2002 to 2017, nitrogen-oxide emissions decreased by 47%; sulfur-dioxide emissions declined by 62%; volatile organic compounds declined by 28%; and levels of particulate matter declined by 12%, according to the plan.

It overall addresses four main regulatory steps under the haze rule.

The steps include determining current visibility conditions as compared to natural conditions; developing the state’s long-term plans for emissions that cause visibility impairments; establishing reasonable progress goals through 2028; and submitting a monitoring strategy.

The state’s full implementation plan is available at deq.mt.gov.

Public comment could be mailed to Rhonda Payne, MT DEQ AQB, 1520 E. 6th Ave., Helena, MT 59620; or emailed to repayne@mt.gov.

This story has been updated to reflect new public comment and hearing dates concerning the proposed statewide plan to reduce haze.

Reporter John McLaughlin can be reached at 758-4439 or jmclaughlin@dailyinterlake.com