Comment on Clean Air For All to Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

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The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has released a plan to clean up air at our national parks and other areas, but it falls short of what is needed to clean up the air and protect our health.

Why This Matters

Millions of people visit our national parks and wilderness areas each year to see some of the most awe-inspiring views in the world. But over the decades, haze – from cars and trucks, gas and coal-fired power plants, along with other industrial sources– has degraded visibility and harmed people’s health in our national parks and local communities. In Arizona those places include Grand Canyon, Saguaro and Petrified Forest National Parks, Chiricahua National Monument and Superstition, Galiuro, Mount Baldy, Sierra Ancha, Mazatzal, Sycamore Canyon, and Chiricahua Wilderness Areas.

The Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule (RHR) requires clean up of the air in these areas and is a time-tested, effective program that has resulted in real, measurable, and noticeable improvements in national park visibility and air quality. The RHR requires all states, including Arizona, to do their share by reducing pollution within their borders to help restore clean and clear skies at protected national parks and wilderness areas.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has released a plan for cleaning up these areas, but it is weak and will not significantly reduce the pollution from facilities such as coal plants, cement kilns, smelters, and more. Please take a moment to send a comment to ADEQ and ask it to strengthen its draft plan to address the deficiencies. Please add a note about why clean air is important to you and experiences you have had with the affected parks and wildlands. Also, please add experiences with any respiratory issues you or your family have and the importance of an expeditious clean up of these polluting facilities.

The comment deadline is July 14, so please act now.

You can send a comment on the plan by using the link below.

https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/support-clean-air-for-all?promoid=7013q000002JOwFAAW

Consider joining the Sierra Club for the Energy and Climate Action Team Meeting and Learn about Clean Air for All

Tues, June 28 at 6:30 pm (Tucson time)

Join the Energy and Climate Action Team to learn more about an upcoming opportunity to promote clean air at our national parks and monuments, as well as wilderness areas; better protect our health; and help reduce pollution that contributes to the climate crisis. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has just released a plan for addressing regional haze pollution. We will be discussing the importance of this plan and how it affects our communities, plus include action items such as commenting on the proposed plan.

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002GIbxAAG&id=70131000001

REQUEST TO SPEAK on (mostly) environmental bills at the Arizona Legislature

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There some good bills and some bad bills being heard in committees at the State Legislature starting Monday. There are some good bills in support of EVs. (Also see my previous post that includes the many bad bills that make it harder to vote.)  

Why do Request to Speak? Bills have to go through certain committees before they can be heard and voted on the floor of the House or Senate. Sometimes, just sometimes, we can stop bad bills from going to a vote on the House or Senate floor by killing them in committee. One way to do that is to weigh in on the Request to Speak system on the Arizona State Legislature website by choosing FOR or AGAINST. You need to weigh in before or while the bills are still in committee. That is why I include when the bill is being heard in a particular committee below. 

(See Request to Speak directions at the bottom of this page.) 

Coming Up at the Arizona Legislature this Week

Monday, January 24th

Senate Committee on Transportation & Technology at 2:00 PM 

SB1150 electric vehicles; pilot program; appropriation (Steele, Jermaine) establishes an electric vehicle (EV) pilot program, appropriates $500,000, requires EV ready homes. SUPPORT.
SB1151 charging station; pilot program; appropriation (Steele) appropriates $500,000 for a pilot program administered by Arizona Department of Administration. SUPPORT.
SB1152 zero emission vehicles; plans (Steele) requires state agencies to prioritize zero emissions vehicles when they purchase vehicles. SUPPORT.
SB1154 transportation electrification study committee (Steele) establishes a study committee to review laws and consider ways to promote EVs. SUPPORT.

House Committee on Military Affairs & Public Safety at 2:00 PM 

HR2004 border wall; construction materials; repurpose (Blackman, Payne) says the Arizona House of Representatives supports transferring unused federal border wall construction materials to the states to construct a border wall along the southern border. OPPOSE.

Tuesday, January 25th

House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water at 2:00 PM

HB2411 coal combustion residuals program (Griffin) authorizes the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to seek assumption of the coal ash program from EPA. The Sierra Club opposes ADEQ getting additional programs while the agency is not implementing the ones it has and are concerned about its coziness with utilities. OPPOSE.

Wednesday, January 26th

Senate Committee on Commerce at 2:00 PM 

SB1275 fireworks; use; overnight hours; prohibition (Mesnard, Shah) prohibits fireworks from 11:00 PM to 8:00 AM except on New Year's and July 4th. The Sierra Club thinks they should be prohibited altogether, but this is an improvement. SUPPORT

Thursday, January 27th

Senate Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 AM 

SB1215 missing and murdered indigenous peoples (Steele, Dalessandro, M. Hernandez, et al.) establishes a study committee and directs them to look at ways to reduce and end violence against Indigenous people. SUPPORT.

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign On to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example:SB1150). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above. 

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.

SB1493 environmental quality; dredge, fill permits is now on Governor Ducey's desk.

SB1493 environmental quality; dredge, fill permits is now on Governor Ducey's desk. 

Please call Governor Ducey and ask him to veto SB1493. You can reach his office at (602) 542-4331.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is pursuing control of an important Clean Water Act program that helps to protect washes and wetlands. The Sierra Club is concerned that the agency does not have the resources to properly fund and enforce these programs and that there will be inadequate consultation with tribal entities, and inadequate consideration of endangered species and cultural resource protections.

SB1493 environmental quality; dredge, fill permits allows ADEQ to pursue state control of the Clean Water Act dredge and fill permit program that protects wetlands and washes and ultimately our waters. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the state would have a robust public process and it is quite likely the state would try to eliminate any consultation related to endangered species. Further, the state has no comparable National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, so no real evaluation of alternatives would be required.

- Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act establishes a program to regulate the discharge of dredged and fill materials into waters of the United States, including wetlands.