Office of the Secretary

For Immediate Release: August 21, 2000

Contact: Christine Shaver (303) 969-2074 John Bunyak (303) 969-2818

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR REQUESTS AIR QUALITY PROTECTION RULE

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- Persistent and worsening air pollution problems in national parks and wilderness areas have prompted the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to ask the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop new regulations to protect those areas from being harmed or threatened by air pollution. In a notice published in the Federal Register on August 9, 2000, EPA is seeking comments on the Interior request until December 7, 2000.

In a July 19 letter to EPA, Stephen Saunders, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, wrote: "Twenty three years after Congress declared that a purpose of the Clean Air Act is to preserve and enhance air quality in national parks and wilderness areas, we have documented serious and growing damage from air pollution in those special places. Recent actions by EPA to deal with nationwide and regional air pollution problems will help, but we don't think they will be enough. New measures, designed specifically to protect the special values of parks and wilderness areas, are necessary to accomplish the goal Congress set."

Adverse effects from air pollution have been documented in numerous national parks and wilderness areas (e.g., acidification of streams, surface waters, and/or soils at Shenandoah, Sequoia, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks; eutrophication of coastal waters in Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge; visibility impairment in all parks and wildernesses areas, and damage from ozone at a number of parks and wilderness areas, including Great Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah, Sequoia, and Yosemite National Parks, and Cape Romain and Mingo National Wildlife Refuges). The Department of the Interior has asked EPA to adopt a general regulation that would provide authority for protecting resources and values within national parks and wilderness areas from the adverse effects of air pollution.

Because of the serious, existing air pollution problems at Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah National Parks, DOI has also asked EPA to take more immediate actions to mitigate documented adverse impacts on park resources and reverse deteriorating air quality trends. "Although we are grateful for the progress that has been made so far, we must do more now if we hope to protect the resources of parks like Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah," said Saunders. "Pollution levels continue to increase and are harming our natural environment and could be putting at risk the health of some park visitors."

Several northeastern states, citing similar air quality concerns, petitioned EPA to promulgate revised secondary national air quality standards. In response to the DOI and States' requests, in the August 9, Federal Register notice EPA solicited additional information and public comment on an appropriate course of action. "We know EPA shares our concern about air pollution problems in national parks and wilderness areas, and we are pleased to see that EPA has initiated action regarding our rulemaking request," said Saunders. "Soliciting public input is an important first step, and we look forward to working with EPA and the states to identify better ways to integrate ecological concerns into air quality control programs. "-DOI-

  U.S. Department of the Interior