Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Arkansas; Approval of Regional Haze State Implementation Plan Revision for Electric Generating Units in Arkansas

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing an approval of a portion of a revision to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Arkansas through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) that addresses certain requirements of the CAA and the EPA's regional haze rules for the protection of visibility in mandatory Class I Federal areas (Class I areas) for the first implementation period. The EPA is taking final action to approve, among other things, the state's sulfur dioxide (SO<INF>2</INF>) and particulate matter (PM) best available retrofit technology (BART) determinations for electric generating units (EGUs) in Arkansas and the determination that no additional SO<INF>2</INF> and PM controls at any Arkansas sources are necessary under reasonable progress. In conjunction with this final approval of a portion of the SIP revision, we are finalizing in a separate rulemaking, published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, our withdrawal of the corresponding Federal implementation plan (FIP) provisions established in a prior action to address regional haze requirements for Arkansas.