EPA should step up to protect our parks

On a clear day, the views in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are awe inspiring.

Clear days, however, are hard to find ‘ especially in the summer when warm, stagnant air traps a blanket of pollution over the park.

The EPA must stand for protection of our nation’s air, land and water rather than capitulating to the demands of the White House and its energy industry cronies.

The air pollution rule change, likely to be finalized this summer, is a rewrite of the provision of the Clean Air Act that applies to Class I areas.

Returning to the rule change, the EPA has proposed to alter the way it monitors air pollution in the parks. Present regulations require pollution to be monitored in 3-hour and 24-hour increments. This captures spikes in emissions that occur in periods of peak power demand ‘ mostly the result of increased generation at coal-fired power plants.

The rule change would smooth out these peaks and measure average pollution on an annual basis. This means that spikes in pollution would no longer violate the Clean Air Act. As a practical matter, this likely would lead to more low-visibility, high-smog days in the park just as long as the annual average was OK.

The administration is no longer taking public comments on the rule change, but there are still available avenues of protest. Local residents who feel an affinity for the Smokies can call their congressmen and senators and urge them to take a strong stand against this rule change.

The federal government has a duty to protect our cherished national parks for the next generation. To relax the pollution standards in this manner is a dereliction of that duty.