VISTAS Regional Haze Program
Southeastern States Air Resource Managers, Inc. (SESARM) has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the entity responsible for coordinating regional haze evaluations for the ten Southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Knox County, Tennessee, local air pollution control agency were also participating agencies during the second regional haze planning period. These parties collaborated through the Regional Planning Organization known as Visibility Improvement - State and Tribal Association of the Southeast (VISTAS) in the technical analyses and planning activities associated with visibility and related regional air quality issues. VISTAS analyses support states efforts to develop, adopt, and implement their State Implementation Plans (SIPs) for regional haze.
Within the VISTAS region, there are 18 Mandatory Class I Federal areas (national parks greater than 6,000 acres and wilderness areas greater than 5,000 acres). States and tribes define long-term strategies to improve visibility in these Federal Class I national areas. States were required to establish baseline visibility conditions for the period 2000 - 2004, natural visibility conditions in the absence of anthropogenic influences, and an expected rate of progress to reduce emissions and incrementally improve visibility to natural conditions by 2064.
The following are the products of the VISTAS II Regional Haze Air Quality project for the second planning period of the regional haze rule. Additional products were provided that were tailored for each SESARM member state’s Regional Haze SIP development.
VISTAS Final Report – February 10, 2021
Presentation – Project summary presented to stakeholders – May 2020
Task 1 – Project/Contract Management
Task 2 – Emission Inventories
- VISTAS_Task_2A_Em_Inv_Update_Report_AOI-PSAT_FINAL_200922.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_2B_Em_Inv_Update_Report_2028 Visibility Estimates_REV_FINAL_200922.pdf
Task 3 – Emissions Processing
Task 4 – Data Acquisition and Preparation
Task 5 – Area of Influence Analysis
Task 6 – Air Quality Modeling
- VISTAS_Modeling_Protocol_Final_180627.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_6_BM_Rept_1_BMs_1_and_2_Final_200817.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_6_BM_Rept_2_BM_3_Final_200817.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_6_BM_Rept_3_BM_5_Final_200817.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_6_BM_Rept_4_BM_4_Final_200817.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_6_BM_Rept_5_BM_6_Final_200817.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_6_BM_Rept_6_BM_7_Final_200922.pdf
Task 7 – Source Apportionment Modeling/Tagging
Task 8 – Model Performance Evaluations
- VISTAS_Task_8-0_MPE_OZONE_200817_FINAL.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_8-0_PM_REGIONAL_HAZE_MPE_201029.pdf
- VISTAS_Task_8-1_Deposition_MPE_210122_FINAL.pdf
Task 9 – Future Year Projections – 2028
Task 10 – Data Handling and Sharing
Task 11 – Other Tasks
Consultation – Non-VISTAS States
- VISTAS_AR_Consult_Letter_Montgomery_200622.pdf
- VISTAS_AR_Consult_Response_1_200707.pdf
- VISTAS_AR_Consult_Response_2_Consent_Decree_Entergy_210311.pdf
- VISTAS_IN_Consult_Letter_Baugues_200622.pdf
- VISTAS_IN_Consult_Response_1_201022.pdf
- VISTAS_IN_Consult_Response_2_210212.pdf
- VISTAS_MO_Consult_Letter_Bybee_200622.pdf
- VISTAS_MO_Consult_Response_201019.pdf
- VISTAS_OH_Consult_Letter_Hodanbosi_200622.pdf
- VISTAS_OH_Consult_Response_201029.pdf
- VISTAS_PA_Consult_Letter_Trivedi_200622.pdf
- VISTAS_PA_Consult_Response_200708.pdf