NPCA: Senate Rejects Bill for Research on Air Pollution; Approves Administration Measure That Will Increase Pollution 1/22/2003
From: Kate Himot of the NPCA, 202-454-3311 WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 -- The newly elected Senate, in its first major environmental vote, today narrowly rejected an amendment to the omnibus appropriations bill that would have delayed implementation of a Bush administration rollback of Clean Air Act regulations that threatens to increase air pollution in national parks and surrounding communities. "This administration weakening the Clean Air Act, which in turn worsens air quality in our beleaguered national parks," said Thomas Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). "In this way, the administration is dismantling our strongest protections against the environmental and health risks of air pollution." The administration last fall issued a radical rollback of regulations called New Source Review, designed by Congress in 1977 to require pollution reductions from power plants, refineries, and other industrial facilities. The energy industry fought these requirements for more than a decade before it found an obliging partner in the White House. NPCA last September released a study, called "Code Red: America's Five Most Polluted National Parks," which showed that national parks such as Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah suffer chronic levels of air pollution that rival those of Los Angeles, one of the nation's most-polluted cities. The administration's rollback would increase pollution in already beleaguered national parks, from Acadia in Maine to Kings Canyon in California. Senator John Edwards introduced an amendment that would have delayed for seven months the implementation of New Source Review changes finalized last December, allowing the National Academy of Sciences to analyze the effect of the administration rule. The Senate rejected the amendment today by a narrow vote of 50 to 46. Four senators who supported the Edwards amendment were out of town when the votes were cast. The Senate then accepted, with a vote of 51 to 45, an amendment proposed by Senator James Inhofe to implement the rollback immediately and in a year require the National Academy of Sciences to study the rule's impacts. "National parks across the country are threatened with air pollution," Kiernan said. "Air pollution affects plant growth. It affects the health of rivers and streams. It diminishes visitor experiences by reducing scenic views and jeopardizing human health. It is unusual for the Senate to vote on a specific regulation or rule, as it did here. That vote would not have been necessary had the administration done its job in protecting national parks and human health. It is a shame that the Senate, in the end, voted on the side of polluting industries and not on the side of our ailing national parks." --- NPCA: Protecting Parks for Future Generations(r) Founded in 1919, the National Parks Conservation Association is America's only private, nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated solely to protecting, preserving, and enhancing the National Park System. NPCA has more than 300,000 members. A library of national park information, including fact sheets, congressional testimony, position statements, and press releases, can be found on NPCA's Web site at http://www.eparks.org/media_center. |