EPA is again clashing with Utah regulators over the scope of haze reduction requirements for two high-polluting coal-fired power plants.
In a draft rule published Monday, EPA tentatively rejected part of a Utah plan for making continued headway toward clearing the air in Canyonlands National Park and other large federal recreation areas inside and outside the state.
Among other factors, EPA cited Utah’s failure “to reasonably evaluate” measures for cutting emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the Hunter and Huntington plants, both owned by PacifiCorp and located in central Utah.
Those releases are a major source of haze-forming pollution. But rather than require both plants to adopt a pollution control technology known as selective catalytic reduction that would slash NOx emissions by thousands of tons annually, Utah opted for tonnage limits so high that they will yield no reductions from current levels, the draft rule indicates.
