OFFICE OF THE 

SECRETARY 

STATE OF D EL AWARE 

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES 

AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL 

89 KINGS H IG H WAY 

DOVER, DELAWARE 1 9901 

Secretary's Order No. 2008-A-OOSO 

Re: Approval of the Delaware Visibility State Implementation Plan 

Date of Issuance: September 25, 2008 

Effective Date: September 25, 2008 

PHONE: (302) 739-9000 

FAX: (302) 739-6242 

Under the authority vested in the Secretary of the Department of Natural 

Resources and Environmental Control ("Department" or "DNREC") lmder 29 Del. C. 

§§800I et seq. and 7 Del. C. §60IO(c), the following findings, reasons and conclusions 

are entered as an Order of the Secretary in the above-referenced matter. 

This Order considers the proposed 'Delaware Visibility State Implementation 

Plan ("Proposed SIP"), which the Department's experts in the Division of Air and Waste 

Management, Air Quality Management Section prepared to comply with the United 

States Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") Regional Haze Rule. The EPA 

delegated to the Department the authority to administer certain responsibilities in 

Delaware under the federal Clean Air Act, as amended, 42 u.s. C.§§740I et seq. 

("CAN'), including the Regional Haze Rule that seeks to protect visibility, especially in 

the 156 national parks and wildel11ess areas denoted as Federal Class I areas. The nearest 

Class I area to Delaware is located in New Jersey. The Regional Haze Rule requires 

state, tribal and federal agencies to work together to improve visibi lity, and for each state 

to develop a series of state implementation plans ("SIPs") that set forth the plan to reduce 
visibility impairment to meet a 2064 deadline requiring that the visibility in all Class I 

areas will be retumed to natural conditions. 

The Department's technical experts within the Division of Air and Waste 

Management, Air Quality Management Section, after the required consultation with the 

Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Visibility Union ("MANE-VU") Regional Planning Organization 

("RPO") members, Federal Land Managers ("FLMs") responsible for the Class I areas, 

and the EPA, prepared the extensively researched one hundred and ten page Proposed 

SIP. The Proposed SIP considers and demonstrates Delaware 's efforts to satisfy the 

following Regional Haze Rule requirements: 1) monitoring strategies for evaluating 

visibility impacts, 2) baselines and trends, 3) long-term strategies, 4) how Delaware 

meets its fair share of the "reasonable progress goals" towards reducing visibility 

impairment in Class I areas, and 5) Best Avail able Retrofit Technology ("BART"). The 

Proposed SIP also demonstrates that Delaware has met its Regional Haze Rule 

obligations for the Regional Haze Rule's 20 18 visibility impairment standard. 

On August 17, 2008 and on September 1, 2008, the Department provided public 

notice of the Proposed SIP, and held a September 23, 2008 public hearing as required by 

EPA regul ations in order to provide the public an opportunity to comment on the 

Proposed SIP. No one from the public attended the hearing and the Department received 

one written comment, which indicated general agreement with the Proposed SIP. Jack 

Sipple of the Department's Division of Air and Waste Management, Air Quality 

Management Section developed the record at the hearing with hearing exhibit, including 

voluminous supporting documents. At the hearing, Mr. Sipple recommended several 

minor technical and grammatical corrections to the Proposed Plan. 

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The Department's presiding hearing officer, Robert P. Haynes, reviewed the 

record and orally recommended that the Department approve the Proposed SIP, as 

revised at the hearing, as a final plan. I agree with the hearing officer's recommendation 

and hereby approve the Proposed SIP, as revised at the hearing, as the Department's fi nal 

plan to be subl1'.itted to the EPA to comply with the CAA and EPA's CAA regulations. 

In conclusion, the following findings and conclusions are entered: 

I. The Department, acting through this Order of the Secretary hereby 

approves "Delaware Visibility State Implementation Plan" as a final plan, as attached 

hereto; 

2. The Department shall have this Order published in the Delaware Register 

of Regulations and in newspapers in the same manner as the 

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