The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is submitting to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for review a draft Regional Haze Progress Report for the Second Implementation Period under EPA’s Regional Haze Rule (RHR). This proposed draft Regional Haze Progress Report addresses commitments and enforceable actions under Florida’s Regional Haze Plan for the Second Implementation Period.
In Florida’s Regional Haze SIP (submitted to EPA on October 8, 2021, and supplemented on June 14, 2024 and October 28, 2024), the Department set forth a long-term strategy to attain reasonable progress goals (RPGs) for visibility impairing pollutants in Florida’s Class I areas, which include the Chassahowitzka National Wilderness Area, the Everglades National Park, and the St. Marks National Wilderness Area. The predicted reductions in visibility impairment were expected to result from the implementation of a combination of existing emissions control activities and planned emission control programs. Florida’s Regional Haze Progress Report is intended to address the requirements of 40 CFR 51.308(g), which requires that states develop and submit to EPA periodic reports evaluating the state’s progress goals toward the RPGs applicable to Class I areas within their jurisdictions. Specifically, this draft Progress Report is intended to fulfill the requirements of paragraphs 51.308(g), (h), and (i) of the RHR and to serve as a progress report for the second regional haze planning period, from 2019 to 2028. In this progress report, the Department affirms that the combined elements of Florida’s approved regional haze SIP for the first planning period (78 FR 53250) and pending regional haze SIP for the second planning period are adequate for making reasonable progress towards the RHR goal of achieving natural visibility conditions at Class I areas by 2064. Pursuant to 40 CFR 51.308(h), Florida’s Progress Report also includes a determination of the adequacy of the State’s existing implementation plan.
Per revisions made to the RHR in 2017 (82 FR 3078), this draft progress report is not being submitted as a formal State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision.
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