At Least 8 National Parks Fail New EPA Air Quality Standards - LA Times

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON — "The Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce next week that the air quality in areas that include at least eight of the nation's most popular national parks, including Yosemite, is in violation of a new and more protective federal smog standard, National Park Service officials said Wednesday.

Yosemite would join a roster of national parks — including Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Joshua Tree in California — listed as having unhealthy air. The air quality in those three parks already violates the EPA's old and less stringent smog standard, which was based on a one-hour measurement of air quality. That is being phased out in favor of an eight-hour measurement.

Other popular national parks to be newly designated as having dirty air include Rocky Mountain in Colorado, Great Smoky Mountain in North Carolina and Tennessee, Acadia in Maine, and Shenandoah in Virginia, National Park Service officials said.

"The fact that the behavior of society is messing up the cities we have learned to expect, but to have the same effects occur in areas that are supposed to be special national treasures is disturbing, to say the least," said Christine Shaver, chief of the air resources division of the National Park Service."

EDIT

[amazona]

1. can't speak about the others...

...but absolutely the Great Smoky Mountain area has hazardous air. They cleaned up the crap you can smell, which is almost worse, because now people come outside and exercise, and end up with heart disease.

[UrbScotty]

2. My brother is taking a job at Yosemite

I'm going to see what he says about this article.

[AbsolutMauser]

3. What else is new?

The principle problem with the CAA standards is that they routinely go unenforced. Deadlines are pushed back and standards are lowered. Technology forcing doesn't work if you never force anyone to improve the technology.

Shendandoah isn't as bad as a lot of places I've visited and lived. I'm not sure exactly what the new EPA standards are, but I assume that whatever pollutants are above the required levels aren't the stinky ones. hehe.

This is also indicative of the problem of paying too much attention to the long view (global warming) and not enough attention to the short view (people getting lungfuls of SO2).

~AbM