Green | May 16, 2008 | 4 comments

Bush May Ease Clean Air Rules For Nat'l Parks

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Future_America
The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan.

The new regulations, which are likely to be finalized this summer, rewrite a provision of the Clean Air Act that applies to "Class 1 areas," federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law. Opponents predict the changes will worsen visibility at many of the nation's most prized tourist destinations, including Virginia's Shenandoah, Colorado's Mesa Verde and North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt national parks.

The rewriting of air-quality rules would ease the way for the construction of 33 coal-fired power plants within 186 miles of 10 national parks, including Great Smokey Mountains, left, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
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