Advisory

The RAQC Control Strategy Blueprint

 

What is the RAQC’s Control Strategy Blueprint?

The RAQC’s Control Strategy Blueprint, also known as the Blueprint for Clean Air, is a strategic framework for control strategy options and air quality planning information for proposed action over the next few years. It compiles reports, data, and other documents for potential emissions-reduction strategies in one place and maps a proposed path to cleaner air by 2030. We also host public workshops and gather information from stakeholders as part of the Blueprint development process.   

Though the Blueprint milestones are aligned with federal and state statutory attainment milestones to achieve critical air quality improvement, it is not a regulatory document, nor is it a final, fully developed version of the potential control strategies.

How is the Blueprint different from Colorado’s State Implementation Plan, or SIP?  

Once it’s done in fall 2026, the Blueprint will inform and strategically describe what emission reductions and other factors are needed to prepare a successful State Implementation Plan (SIP), but the Blueprint isn’t a regulatory document — it’s is more of a one-stop shop for ideas about reducing emissions that lead to ground-level ozone formation in summer.

A SIP is a formal regulatory document for the EPA that describes in a rigid, legally required format how the state will reduce ground-level ozone in the Denver Metro/North Front Range nonattainment area to comply with federal standards by 2032 at the latest. It must be approved by the state and EPA, and once approved, it’s enforceable. The next SIP is due for local and state approval by late 2029 to then be submitted for EPA action in early 2030. 

What does the Blueprint do? 

The Blueprint is a north star for the RAQC’s air quality planning work over the next several years. The Blueprint: 

  • Compiles documentation of elements needed for subsequent SIP development and lays out air quality improvement concepts on three future milestone timeframes — 2030, 2035, and after 2035 — for a variety of audiences and stakeholders.
  • Creates a framework for public workshops and opportunities to comment on draft materials to obtain stakeholder input on a variety of potential control strategies. 
  • Organizes important supporting documentation for air quality planning in one place.  

What does the Blueprint NOT do?

Though the Blueprint is a comprehensive, high-level overview of control strategies, it is not a regulatory document and does not include all details necessary for implementing regulations. 

  • The Blueprint isn’t a set of prescribed regulations.  
  • The Blueprint doesn’t examine the full feasibility or cost of each control strategy. 

What is the process for developing the Control Strategy Blueprint?

The RAQC has developed the Control Strategy Blueprint in coordination with stakeholders throughout 2025 and 2026. The Blueprint was endorsed by the RAQC Board in November 2025 and will be brought back to the RAQC Board for approval in fall 2026, as laid out in the Blueprint Development Policy linked below.  

How do I get involved?

Public opportunities for discussion and input on the Blueprint will occur at Control Strategy Committee, Indirect Sources Work Group, and Board meetings in September and October 2026, prior to RAQC staff putting it forward for Board approval at the November Board meeting. This page will be regularly updated with relevant draft documents for review and deadlines for written comments, as well. Please reach out to emissioncontrols@raqc.org with any questions or comments. 

 

Current Draft of the Control Strategy Blueprint 

The September preliminary draft of the 2026 Blueprint was released publicly on September 1, 2026. Previous drafts are linked towards the bottom of this page. Supporting documents are linked in the Blueprint as well as below.  

The next written public comment deadline, on the September draft of the Blueprint and its supporting materials, is September 21, 2026. Please submit all comments to emissioncontrols@raqc.org . You can also see “How to get involved?” above to register for and participate in upcoming meetings where the draft Blueprint will be discussed. 

 

Supporting Documents

Strategy Overviews. The RAQC developed overviews for each control strategy concept as brief documents designed to provide clear, high-level information about the strategies included in the Blueprint for a variety of audiences, at a greater level of detail than is in the Blueprint itself. Overviews are linked in the 2026 preliminary draft version of the Blueprint in the “Emission Control Strategies” section, as well as linked below listed by source sector. They were first developed for the 2025 Blueprint and will be updated with each draft of the 2026 Blueprint.

Stakeholder Engagement Information. This document supplements the information on stakeholder and public outreach and input available in the Blueprint and in the strategy overviews, providing additional details on stakeholder engagement in the Blueprint development process and on feedback received on the strategies. This document also contains a comprehensive list of written comments received and links to each comment, as well as a summary of responses to comments from members of the public and detailed responses to comments from RAQC Board members. This document was first developed for the 2025 Blueprint and will be updated with each draft of the 2026 Blueprint.

Blueprint Development Policy. At its September 2025 meeting, the RAQC Board approved this policy that lays out an overview of the process for creating the Blueprint and for the Board to consider the Blueprint going forward. 

The following documents were developed in 2026 as part of the Blueprint process, based on next steps from the 2025 RAQC Board-endorsed version of the Blueprint.  

2026 Blueprint Strategies

The following strategies include evaluation of the impact of existing AQCC regulations (denoted with “on-the-books” in their titles), potential updates to existing regulations, and conceptual strategies that could be established as regulation or potential voluntary programs. Conceptual strategies and updates to existing regulations require further analysis and impact assessment, and their estimated emission reductions are based on the best available data and should be considered preliminary estimates.

The strategy summaries provide overviews of the goals of each strategy under consideration in the Blueprint. Additional details on each Blueprint control strategy are available in a linked briefing paper summary. The strategies are by source category (oil & gas pre-production and production, stationary sources (smokestacks) requiring APCD permits to operate, emissions from on-road vehicles and off-road equipment (non-road engines), and smaller sources present across the NAA (e.g., gas stations, personal care products, commercial kitchens), and those counted at the county level (non-point sources).

All strategies are proposed for implementation in the DM/NFR ozone nonattainment area. Strategies primarily focus on reducing emissions during the ozone season rather than year-round, depending on relevant implementation considerations.

Oil & Gas Source Sector:
On-Road Source Sector:
Non-Road Source Sector:
Stationary Sources:
Non-Point Source Sector:

2026 Workshops on Blueprint Strategies

The RAQC hosted a series of virtual public workshops in summer 2026 to review updated briefing papers for the control strategies in the Blueprint and gather stakeholder input. These included a pre-meeting and three workshops organized by source type. The briefing papers were drafts at this stage, to be further updated during the remainder of the 2026 Blueprint development and review process. Written comments were collected after each source sector workshop. 

  • July 13, 1-3:30pm: Pre-meeting for all three source type workshops covering the results of the Health Impacts Report and Future Ozone Impact Analysis Report as well as a primer on background ozone and transport.
  • July 15, 1:30-4pm: Workshop #1, focused on Stationary Sources and Oil & Gas strategies
  • July 28, 1:30-4pm: Workshop #2, focused on Non-Road and Non-Point strategies
  • August 12, 1:30-4pm: Workshop #3, focused on On-Road strategies

A summary of all four workshops is available here. 

 

2025 Blueprint Development Efforts & Documents

Documents from the 2025 development process that led to Board endorsement of the 2025 version of the Blueprint are available on the 2025 Blueprint Development Efforts & Documents page. This includes previous versions of the Blueprint, strategy overviews, stakeholder engagement information, 2025 workshop materials, and more.