Under the federal Clean Air Act, each state must develop a plan describing how it will attain and maintain national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), that is how it will clean up polluted areas and keep them clean. This plan is called a state implementation plan (SIP). The state must involve the public in approving the plan before it is submitted to the US EPA. If the EPA finds a plan unacceptable, it can promulgate and enforce a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) in that state. 

APCD, as the only local air pollution control agency in Kentucky, has developed and maintains its own SIP (a portion of the Kentucky SIP), made up of all the key regulations, permits and programs that have been determined to be necessary and appropriate for Louisville/Jefferson County to achieve compliance with the federal standards for certain pollutants—currently for ozone and particulates and in the past for carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. The details of the SIP are decided by the Air Pollution Control Board based on recommendations by District staff and stakeholder groups.

This function of developing and maintaining an adequate and federally approvable SIP is one of the agency’s most complex and important functions.

On a continuous basis, the SIP staff track federal SIP requirements, identify necessary and appropriate strategies to make progress toward achieving compliance with federal air quality standards and help seek the adoption of those strategies whether through new programs, regulations, permits or other effective means.

The EPA Region 4 SIP page and EPA Region 5 SIP page have more information on the plans of this and nearby states.

SIP Documents

These are documents related to the Jefferson County portion of Kentucky's State Implementation Plan. The documents are in Adobe Acrobat format and will open in a new window.