Air Plan Approval; Wisconsin; Moderate Attainment Plan Elements for Wisconsin’s 2015 Ozone Standard Areas
Key claim: EPA is signing off on Wisconsin’s ozone-cleanup plans for Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan, including 2023 vehicle-emissions budgets and the state’s inspection and new-source review programs.
Abstract
(Rule · Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving portions of Wisconsin’s 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS or standard) Moderate nonattainment area State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission for the Wisconsin portion of the Chicago, Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin area (Kenosha County), the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, and the Sheboygan County, Wisconsin area. The elements of the Moderate SIP submissions include the reasonable further progress (RFP) demonstration and the associated motor vehicle emissions budgets (Budgets) for 2023, the motor vehicle inspection and maintenance (I/M) program, and the nonattainment new source review (NNSR) program. The EPA is also approving the base year emissions inventory as satisfying previous Marginal area requirements for these areas. The EPA is finding adequate and approving the Budgets for these areas. The EPA proposed to approve this action on April 2, 2026, and received no adverse comments.
Why this matters
Approval of Wisconsin’s Moderate area SIP elements locks in 2023 motor vehicle emissions budgets that govern transportation conformity for Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan, and it federally enforces the state’s vehicle I/M and nonattainment NSR programs — the day-to-day tools that constrain new source permitting and mobile-source emissions in the Lake Michigan corridor. It fits a broader pattern of routine EPA sign-off on Section 182 Moderate-area plans as the 2015 ozone NAAQS implementation cycle matures across the Midwest.