Interior Department says park's air, visibility will not be impaired.
YELLOWSTONE N.P., MONT.-Political appointees at the Department of Interior (DOI) say that air quality at Yellowstone National Park will not be jeopardized by pollution from the proposed Roundup Power Plant, despite contrary findings and conclusions by National Park Service career scientists.
DOI's ruling is an about-face from an earlier decision. Last December, DOI sent a letter to Montana's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) stating that the plant would impair air quality in Yellowstone. Park Service studies conducted by scientists in Denver found that the coal-fired plant, which would be built about 120 miles northeast of Yellowstone, would significantly reduce park visibility 39 days per year.
But in January, Craig Manson, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife, and parks, issued a second letter withdrawing the agency's first position. Manson, a former judge in California, concluded that "weather events," not pollutants from the nearby Roundup plant, caused the park's visibility problems. His decision apparently followed a conference call with Roundup project officials and the State of Montana, who had contacted DOI following the initial impairment finding and lodged protests. The Interior's reversal notes that its "determination goes against the recommendation of the NPS Air Quality Division."
"This is not a decision based on science or what's best for the park," said Tony Jewett, senior regional director of NPCA's Northern Rockies office. "This is a determination arrived at behind closed doors, intended to pave the way for a polluting corporation to degrade air over America's first national park."
The Denver-based division of the Park Service is responsible for examining potential impacts to air quality in national parks across the country. The Air Quality Division looked at Roundup as a lone polluter and in conjunction with other pollutants around Yellowstone. The division measured the plant's impact against a clean air background—air in its natural state, on a clear, pollution-free day, Jewett said. The study found that there would be seven days with greater than a 5-percent change in visibility and one day with greater than a 10-percent loss in visibility, which, said Jewett, "means that the Roundup plant alone will impair the park air shed under the Clean Air Act."
Bull Mountain Development Co., the New York City-based project developer, maintains that its studies indicate that the plant will have no significant effect on the air over Yellowstone. Roundup's project manager, Joe Dickey, has said that the pollution stems from existing sources, not the Roundup plant.
Montana's DEQ may not issue such a permit if it finds that the plant may harm air quality. But DEQ may issue a permit if analysis finds that visibility will not be adversely affected.
Paul Hoffman, Interior deputy assistant secretary, said project developers said that on the three days visibility had been identified as problematic, there was inclement weather—snow, rain, or fog—in the park, affecting an accurate report.
As a Class I air-quality zone, Yellowstone should have some of the cleanest air in the nation, yet Montana's DEQ is requiring minimal effort to control pollution from the proposed plant, allowing outdated burning technologies resulting in higher levels of pollution. The state is accepting comments on a draft environmental impact statement that is being fast-tracked by the governor's office to permit the plant.
"This is politics over policy," Jewett said. "Yellowstone deserves better than to have its air degraded for the sake of one company's profit margin."
