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PRESS RELEASE |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| Date: |
August 10, 2001 |
| Contact: |
Joy Oakes, Director, Mid-Atlantic Region, NPCA, 202-454-3386
Elise Russell, Government Affairs, NPCA, 202-223-6722 |
Public Hearing to Decide Future of Metro D.C. Air Quality
- WHAT: Public hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule to require older power plants and industrial polluters to reduce emissions that cause haze in the parks and unhealthy air in Washington, D.C.-area neighborhoods.WHEN: Tuesday, August 21 at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Crystal City Metro Stop/1489 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia
WHY: The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comment on its recently published national park visibility protection guidelines, known as the B.A.R.T. (Best Available Retrofit Technology) rule. B.A.R.T. benefits the national parks by helping states control emissions from older power plants.
INFO: The public can call 202-454-3385 for directions and information.
Beyond ruining the views in Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Mammoth Cave, and other national parks, toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial polluters contribute to ground-level ozone, acid rain, and premature death among thousands of people each year. In the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2001 report, the Baltimore-Washington area received an "F" for poor air quality and ranked the seventh-most ozone-polluted metropolitan area in the nation; Virginia's Richmond-Petersburg area ranked twenty-third.
The National Parks Conservation Association included Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee and Texas' Big Bend National Park on its 2001 list of America's Ten Most Endangered National Parks because of poor air quality.
