Regional Planning Organizations

Because the pollutants that lead to regional haze can originate from sources located across broad geographic areas, EPA has encouraged the States and Tribes across the U.S. to address visibility impairment from a regional perspective. Today, EPA provides funding to five regional planning organizations to address regional haze and related issues. These organizations will first evaluate technical information to better understand how their States and Tribes impact national park and wilderness areas (Class I areas) across the country, and they will then pursue the development of regional strategies to reduce emissions of particulate matter and other pollutants leading to regional haze.

EPA annually sponsors meetings of the Regional Planning Organizations' (RPOs') national work groups. Participants are members of work groups within each RPO.

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The five regional planning organizations are:

• Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP). The WRAP is the successor organization to the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission, which was formed in 1991 and issued recommendations to EPA in 1996 for improving the air quality in the 16 Class I areas on the Colorado Plateau. The Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR) is working in cooperation with the WRAP. Nine WRAP states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming) now have the option of implementing many of the Commission's recommendations within the framework of the national regional haze rule.
  
       
  
  
• Central States Regional Air Partnership (CENRAP). Affiliated with the Central States Air Resource Agencies (CENSARA). Includes nine states - Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
  
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• Midwest Regional Planning Organization (Midwest RPO). Affiliated with the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO). Includes five states - Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
  
  
  
  
• Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Visibility Union (MANE - VU). Includes Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Northern Virginia, and suburbs of Washington, D.C. The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) and Mid-Atlantic Regional Air Management Association (MARAMA) are working in cooperation with the OTC on regional haze issues.
  
             
  
  
• The Visibility Improvement State and Tribal Association of the Southeast
  (VISTAS) is a collaborative effort of state governments, tribal
  governments, and various federal agencies established to initiate and
  coordinate activities associated with the management of regional haze,
  visibility and other air quality issues in the Southeastern United States.
  Member States and Tribes include: the States of Alabama, Florida,
  Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
  Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia and the Eastern Band of the
  Cherokee Indians.