Senators Carper And Alexander Introduce Clean Air Planning Act
In May, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), and cosponsors Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Judd Gregg (RNH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced the Clean Air Planning Act of 2006 (CAPA), a bill to cut emissions of four harmful pollutants from coalfired power plants. CAPA will help alleviate some of our nation’s most pressing air pollution-related health and environmental problems including respiratory disease and asthma attacks, mercury-contaminated waters, damaged forests, hazy skies in our national parks, and global warming.
America’s coal-fired electric generating plants are its largest industrial source of air pollution harmful to people and ecosystems. Nearly three-quarters of all power plant boilers operating today are more than 30 years old and most continue to operate without modern pollution control technology. Through its combination of tighter pollution caps and “birthday” provision requiring modern pollution controls by 2020 or upon the plants’ 50th year of operation, CAPA will ensure that every one of these plants installs modern emissions controls, thus offering far greater protection to people and parks than provided by current regulations.
Pollution from coal-fired power plants affects the health of visitors and the parks across the southeast. In the Great Smoky Mountains, these pollutants can reduce the park’s summertime vistas by up to 80 percent. On average, rainfall in the park is five to ten times more acidic than normal rainwater; clouds hanging over sensitive spruce-fir forests at Clingmans Dome and other high elevation sites are often as acidic as vinegar. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the park with the highest ozone exposure at levels harmful to plants. Thirty plant species in the park are at risk of damage from ozone pollution, including black cherry and yellow poplar trees, and ozone levels in the park often exceed levels that are healthy for people.
