For all who are concerned about the air quality around the national parks in the U.S., recent news concerning a revision to a provision in the Clean Air Act will not come as breath of fresh air. Under this revision, Class 1 areas, being federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law, will have their air quality levels judged by a yearly polution level average rather than by individual incidents of levels exceeding legally established limits.
What will the effect of this change be? Well, it will likely worsen the overall air quality of many national parks. Aside from the assumable environmental damage this will likely cause, the visibilty of the natural wonders that so many travel to U.S. national parks to witness will be reduced. Then of course there is the question of whether pollution-emiting power plants and other industrial facilities might be allowed to be constructed closer to park boundaries. If the measurement of air quality standards is only considered as a yearly average, days in which these industrial facilities are not even operating will be averaged against days when they would be vastly exceeding the previous measurement criteria, so it will theoretically be easier to meet the new measurement rules and thus be located much closer to the parks themselves.
Those, like myself, wishing to dig deeper into the full implication of what this change in the Clean Air Act might mean are encouraged to visit the website of the National Parks Conservation Association and read their Dark Horizons report. Backroom changes such as this present one become law as a result of the citizenry failing to learn about them and object. While such objections do not always yield results, sometimes merely the light of public discovery is sufficient to put things right. Let your voice be heard.
Peace and good bird watching.
