Smog in U.S. National Parks Called Health Risk
12/23/99
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Title: Smog in U.S. national parks called health risk
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 23, 1999
Byline: Randi Fabi
From the Great Smoky Mountains to the Grand Canyon, America's
national parks are becoming a health risk for millions of visitors
due to pollution from coal-burning power plants, according to an
environmental report.
"This summer of 1999 proved to be the worst for our national park
system due to the high concentration of air pollution," said a report
issued Wednesday by the environmental group Izaak Walton League of
America.
The Maryland-based group blamed the acid rain, soot and smog - which
can cause lung damage and asthma - on old coal-burning power plants
exempt from tough air standards under the Clean Air Act.
"On days with high ozone levels, visitors to our national park's
experience reduced lung function and may endure respiratory problems
such as asthma," the report said.
National parks recorded 209 days this year when its air quality
violated the federal standard for ozone smog blown hundreds of miles
from tall smokestacks, the study said.
"This is a very major problem for us," said Chris Shaver, National
Park Service Chief of the Air Resources Division. "Visibility in many
of the eastern national parks is about half of what it should be on
an average day," Shaver said.
The Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee - the country's most visited
national park and most polluted - recorded 52 days during which air
pollution levels violated the federal health standard, the report
said.
Old plants produce 97% of acid rain
While the old power plants account for 52 percent of U.S. energy
generation, they produce 97 percent of the acid rain and haze-causing
sulfur dioxide, 85 percent of the ozone smog-causing nitrogen oxide
(NOx) and 99 percent of the toxic mercury pollution from the utility
sector, the report said.
Ground-level ozone smog is formed when NOx and volatile organic
compounds combine in the presence of heat and sunlight.
Similarly, when these same chemicals combine with water molecules,
acid rain is created and it pollutes the lakes and streams of
national parks. Coal-burning power plants are the nation's largest
single source of acid rain, the report added.
The Justice Department, acknowledging that pollution in national
parks caused by outdated coal-fired power plants needs to be reduced,
has filed a series of lawsuits with the cooperation of the
Environmental Protection Agency against the plants for violating the
Clean Air Act.
Last month, the EPA accused seven major utility companies of
modifying 17 "grandfathered" coal-burning power plants without
installing state-of-the art equipment required by the Act to control
smog, acid rain and soot.
The so-called "grandfather" clause in the Clean Air Act exempted old
coal-fired plants from meeting tougher new air standards as long as
the plants did not add generating capacity or step up its use of
coal. When the law was written nearly three decades ago, Congress
believed that many of the aging coal plants would eventually be shut
down.
The utility companies - American Electric Power Co, Cinergy Corp,
FirstEnergy Corp, Illinova Corp, Southern Co, TECO Energy Inc and
Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Co - have repeatedly denied any
wrongdoing.
They face potential civil fines of up to $27,500 per plant per day,
the EPA said.