Sierra Club challenges SC plan to reduce air pollution over Cape Romain

Weeks after South Carolina finalized a plan aimed at reducing air pollution over some of the state’s most pristine landscapes, the Sierra Club has appealed federal approval of the document in federal court.

Last December, environmental groups were quick to say the statewide haze plan was flawed after the Environmental Protection Agency gave the report it’s seal of approval. They argued the plan should have required more controls over haze-causing emissions, and that the state relied on flawed methodology which ignored certain emissions and exempted a number of facilities from review.

The Sierra Club is petitioning the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the plan, saying it fails to follow the Regional Haze Rule and Clean Air Act. The national environmental group also is engaged in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the approval of West Virginia’s regional haze plan.

A report commissioned by the National Parks Conservation Association alleges that states in EPA Region 4, which includes South Carolina, used an outdated modeling system which ignored nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions. A letter signed by the group said the state improperly concluded that new reductions in pollution were not required.

A spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Environmental Services said in a statement the agency doesn’t comment on active litigation, adding the state is ahead of its timeline to approve visibility and met the EPA criteria for the regional haze program.

Under the Clean Air Act states must create and implement plans to control air pollution and improve visibility at national parks and protected areas. The long-term goal of these programs is to return these areas to their natural state. The rule is revised once ever 10 years.

Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, which sits just north of Charleston, is a Class 1 area, which means it enjoys special air quality and visibility protections given its size, according to the National Parks Service.

Despite their pristine nature, many national parks and wildlife areas experience poor air quality and reduced visibility from industrial facilities, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. Great Smokey Mountains National Park, which straddles the boarder between Tennessee and North Carolina, is among the parks most affected by air pollution.

While the aim of regional haze plans is to improve air quality in national parks, the plan also cleans up the air in communities surrounding these areas, said Paul Black, a senior campaign manager with Sierra Club.

“We as an organization not only want to protect the ability of folks to get outside, but we want to protect their ability to enjoy their communities, the ability to be able to breathe unimpeded,” Black said.

Push for deregulation

The plan’s approval and the subsequent lawsuit come almost a year after the EPA announced it would restructure the Regional Haze Program as part of a broader deregulatory push by the Trump administration, saying the program threatened the supply of affordable energy. Since then, the EPA has rejected Colorado’s plan, which outlined a plan to close the state’s six remaining coal plants by 2031.

In April 2025, the EPA approved West Virginia’s regional haze plan and announced a policy change, which gave states more flexibility when writing their pollution reduction plans so long as the states show they meet a “uniform rate of progress,” according to Harvard University’s environmental and energy law program’s regulatory tracker.

The Sierra Club has challenged this haze plan in court, too, saying it failed to require certain coal plants in the state from taking steps to reduce pollution.