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After spending a couple of years in administrative and legal limbo, Utah's regional haze plan is set for an EPA review.

Several environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, HEAL Utah and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency in July, alleging that since 2014 the EPA has failed to enforce the development of the state's regional haze plan, as required by the Clean Air Act.

EPA Region 8 spokesman Rich Mylott said the EPA delayed issuing a decision in 2014 while it waited for Utah to finish a revised plan, which he said was received in June.

The federal agency plans to issue a decision on the revised plan by Nov. 19, with final action due by March 31, 2016, but is first holding a public comment period to publicly vet the suggested deadlines.

The EPA rejected Utah's haze proposal in October 2012 because the plan did not have an acceptable analysis of new retrofit technologies that could reduce pollution at the Hunter and Huntington coal-fired power plants. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA is required to implement a federal haze plan within two years of rejecting a state's plan if the state does not supply an acceptable plan.

Cory MacNulty, NPCA's southwest region program manager, said the plaintiffs filed suit after the EPA missed the 2014 deadline to ensure the timely development of a haze plan.

If finalized, Mylott said, the schedule of deadlines should resolve the lawsuit.

But that may not be the final word from the NPCA if the EPA approves the state's revised haze plan in November, MacNulty said.

"We're really hoping EPA makes a decision that will help clean the air in the parks. That's really what this is all about, and what we have been working toward — clean air in the parks," she said. "And the state plan, as proposed, does not make any improvement to air quality in the parks."

MacNulty said the NPCA was disappointed to see that the state's latest haze plan does not require retrofits at the Hunter and Huntington plants, but instead tries to take credit for the closure of the coal-fired power plant in Carbon. Rocky Mountain Power shuttered the Carbon plant earlier this year.

epenrod@sltrib.com Request for public comment

The EPA has requested feedback on its new schedule of deadlines for Utah's regional haze plan. Public comment is due by Oct. 22. Comments may be submitted online at http://www.regulations.gov (search for docket number EPA-HQ-OGC-2015-0636), via email to oei.docket@epa.gov or mailed to:

EPA Docket Center,

Environmental Protection Agency

Mailcode: 2922T

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,

Washington, DC, 20460-0001