EPA OKs Texas, Oklahoma Haze Plans for Clearer Park Views
Published Date: 12/5/2025
Rule
Summary
The EPA is giving a thumbs-up to Texas and Oklahoma’s plans to clear up regional haze and improve air quality through 2026 and beyond. This means cleaner skies for residents and businesses in both states, with progress tracked and rules set to keep pollution in check. The new rules kick in January 5, 2026, helping protect health and the environment without new costs for most folks.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Cleaner skies for Texas and Oklahoma
The EPA approved portions of Texas and Oklahoma regional haze plans, effective January 5, 2026, covering the first planning period (including 2007–2018), Texas's 2014 five-year progress report, and Texas's second planning period through 2028. The approvals are intended to reduce regional haze and improve visibility and air quality in affected Class I areas in both states.
Texas second-period plan adds no new limits
In approving Texas's July 20, 2021 SIP revision for the second planning period, the EPA notes Texas determined it was not necessary to incorporate any new emissions limitations, schedules of compliance, or other measures for stationary sources into the 2021 Plan. Texas weighed the four statutory factors and concluded no additional stationary-source measures were needed for reasonable progress.
EPA presumes reasonable progress if below URP
The EPA adopted a policy that for the regional haze second planning period a state presumptively demonstrates reasonable progress for a Class I area if (1) visibility conditions for that area are projected to be below the Uniform Rate of Progress (URP) for the end of the planning period and (2) the state considered the four statutory factors in CAA section 169A(g)(1). The URP is calculated from 2000–2004 baseline conditions to estimated natural conditions in 2064, and states must calculate the URP for the end of each planning period (for example, 2028 for the second planning period).
Oklahoma SIP approval extends to Indian country areas
The EPA approved Oklahoma's SAFETEA request to administer its EPA-approved environmental regulatory programs in the requested areas of Indian country in Oklahoma; this approval applies statewide in Oklahoma except for specified excluded Indian country lands (1) Indian allotments with unextinguished Indian title under 18 U.S.C. 1151(c), (2) lands held in trust by the United States for an individual Indian or Tribe, and (3) fee lands owned by a Tribe acquired under a treaty where the Tribe never allotted the land. The approval supersedes prior SIP approvals that had excluded Indian country for the geographic areas covered by Oklahoma's SAFETEA request.
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