Working to protect public lands and wildlife since 1967


Certification of Forest Service Impairment

Federal land managers have the ability to “certify” that impairment of visibility has occurred in a Class I area. Under Wyoming’s air quality regulations, if a federal land manager certifies impairment, the Department of Environmental Quality must determine whether the impairment can be attributed to existing major stationary source of pollutants, or a small group of such facilities. If such an attribution is made, best available retrofit technology (BART) must be installed on the sources of pollution in order to remedy the problem. 

To date, no federal land manager has certified that impairment is occurring in a Wyoming Class I area; however, the Forest Service has stated clearly and in writing that it believes impairment has occurred in the Bridger and Fitzpatrick Wilderness Areas. Unfortunately, the agency is reluctant to certify impairment officially unless it can also attribute the causes of the impairment, which it has been unable to do. As we have noted, the responsibility to attribute the source lies with the state, not the federal land manager, so this should present no real obstacle to the Forest Service. The Wyoming Outdoor Council believes the Forest Service should certify that impairment has occurred in the Bridger and Fitzpatrick Wilderness Areas so that it meets its “affirmative responsibility” to initiate state action to control this regional haze.

The Outdoor Council has prepared a report that documents impairment in the Bridger Wilderness Area. This report also indicates that oil and gas development in the area is almost certainly an important contributor to impairment. You can view this report by clicking the links below:

Summary.pdf

Impairment report.pdf