LADCO was established in 1989 to address interstate air pollution issues around Lake Michigan.
LADCO’s original members, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin came together as a result of a cooperative interstate and federal effort to coordinate on regional air pollution planning. The State of Ohio joined LADCO in 2004 and the State of Minnesota joined in 2012.
Pursuant to a series of Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), the roles and responsibilities of LADCO took shape through the following timeline:
1989 – Established a cooperative interstate and federal effort for the purpose of conducting an air quality study to address ozone formation in the Lake Michigan area.
1991 – Continued the cooperative interstate and federal effort to include identifying and evaluating various control strategies, and demonstrating attainment and maintenance of the ozone standard in the Lake Michigan area.
2000 – Reaffirmed the LADCO states’ intent to reach consensus agreement on a regional control strategy to attain the one-hour ozone standard in the Lake Michigan region. In addition, LADCO called for the states to begin to evaluate the impact of other air quality regulations in their state, including regulations for 8-hour ozone, fine particles, air toxics, and regional haze.
2004 – Added Ohio to the Consortium and reaffirmed the cooperative effort by the states and the EPA to:
- Achieve sufficient emission reductions to provide for attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard in the Lake Michigan region,
- Identify, evaluate, and implement sufficient emission reductions to provide for attainment of the standards for 8-hour ozone and PM2.5, and achieve the reasonable progress goals for regional haze throughout the five-state region; and
- Address other regional air pollution issues, including air toxics
2012 – Added Minnesota to the Consortium and continued the states partnership to ensure expeditious compliance with federal public health and welfare air quality standards.
