Help clean up Montana's skies!

Called the Regional Haze rule, every 10 years, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality must propose a plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce air pollution and its impact on national parks and wilderness areas.

This is a really great opportunity to get the state to clean up some of the largest industrial polluters, including coal plants and oil refineries. These polluters have an impact on Yellowstone National Park, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area and the Crazy and Gallatin mountains.

Each fall, the air in Park County and surrounding public lands becomes very hazy with wildfire smoke, which is augmented by industrial pollution. We can't do anything about many of the problems that cause air pollution in these areas, but the regional haze rule is a rare opportunity to address these harmful polluters.

The pollutants at issue for the regional haze program are harmful to public health, especially communities living near the sources such as the people of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Agency.

Our partners at the National Parks Conservation Association found that the electricity sector accounts for 72% of Montana’s haze-forming emissions. These same facilities are fueling the climate crisis, pouring greenhouse gasses into the air, making wildfires even more devastating to health, and worsening drought.

However, under its current proposal, DEQ is saying that there is no need to take any action to halt air pollution.

Last week, we co-hosted a webinar on the issue, which featured speakers from the National Park Conservation Association and the Montana Environmental Information Center.

Watch the recording here!

Want to get involved? Here is a fact sheet to help write comments, which you can submit through the below opportunities.

For more information, go to our fact sheet!

Here are more opportunities too:

Attend the public hearing on March 18, 2022 at 1:30-3:00pm in Helena:

Lee Metcalf Building, Room 40

1520 E. 6th Avenue

Helena, MT

Join online: DEQ’s TEAMS meeting by clicking here.

Or join by phone: 406-318-5487; Conference ID: 687 809 787

Submit written public comment until March 21, 2022:

Rhonda Payne