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To clear the air for parks and people, we are urging the following actions:
1. FEDERAL ACTIONS
Strengthening and Enforcing Our Clean Air Laws
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In April 2004, EPA proposed a draft rule to lessen park haze. The agency will set guidelines for some of
the oldest, dirtiest power plants and industries to install modern pollution controls to protect our parks. Congress first required these sources to clean up in 1977, but more than 25 years later only a handful of eligible plants have cleaned up through this program. We urge the agency to produce a strong, effective, enforceable rule by strengthening the current proposal and abandoning plans to allow other programs to serve as a substitute.
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Clearly, current and future administrations must fully enforce our existing laws, including those that protect our parks. Little of the pollution affecting America's parks comes from sources located within their boundaries. Instead, air pollution is an interstate problem requiring strong national solutions. At the same time, Congress must take further action to strengthen our air laws and establish an effective, comprehensive approach to reduce all power plant pollution-sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and small particles as well as toxic mercury that accumulates in fish and carbon dioxide largely responsible for global warming.
2. STATE ACTIONS
Benefiting Both Local and Regional Air Quality
States must also act to reduce pollution plaguing parks and people coming from within their own borders. Here are some of the steps they can take:
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States can strengthen their own policies to further reduce pollution from other sources. For example, Virginia is considering a proposal to require in-state power plants to significantly reduce pollution, modeled on North Carolina's "Clean Smokestacks" program adopted in 2002. That same year, California became the first state in the country to pass a law reducing greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. Proposals to increase fuel efficiency in motor vehicles also would reduce air pollution.
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Over the next few years, states will finalize state-
specific plans to clear the air in our national parks.
EPA's proposed park haze rule is a key tool that states need to move forward. States must make sufficient progress to begin to restore air quality in our parks to natural conditions.
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As states develop plans to restore air quality in areas that exceed federal health standards, they must develop workable solutions to reduce local sources of pollution for both communities and national parks.
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