U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

David Barna 202/208-6843
Elaine Sevy 202/208-6844


For Release: June 10, 1996

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt today praised the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC) for recommending strong actions to reduce human-caused haze and to protect scenic vistas in the Colorado Plateau's national parks and wilderness areas.

Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990, establishing the GCVTC to examine the sources of air pollution emissions that contribute to haze in "Class I" air quality areas, including 16 national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas of the Colorado Plateau, and to recommend options for improving visibility. "Class I" areas are large park and wilderness areas given special protection under the Clean Air Act.

The recommendations were reviewed and endorsed by the Commission today for transmission to the Environmental Protection Agency for action.

"For years I have watched in dismay as the awesome vistas of my childhood faded to a smoky haze," Secretary Babbitt said. "The commission's courageous recommendations will begin a new era; one that ensures my future grandchildren will see these spectacular places as clearly and find them as inspirational as I did."

"The commission has produced an innovative, consensus-based approach to managing air pollution, drawing on the expertise and views of government professionals, Tribes, industry, environmental groups, academia, and local residents," Secretary Babbitt said. "The recommendations are wide ranging, drawing on the West's most comprehensive emissions inventory, and will make progress toward the national goal of preventing and remedying existing impairment of visibility in class I federal areas when that impairment results from manmade air pollution."

Babbitt was pleased especially that the commission had addressed the effects of fire on regional visibility, and had recognized that wildland forest fires are inevitable.

"The Commission has acknowledged that burning under prescribed conditions offers an opportunity to reduce impacts below what wildfires would produce," Babbitt said, "while reducing risks to health and property caused by wildfires."

The Commission includes the governors and designated representatives of eight western states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Four federal land management agencies including the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management are represented as is the Environmental Protection Agency.

Four Indian Tribes -- Navajo, Hopi, Hualapai and Acoma -- and one Tribal organization -- Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission -- also serve on the Commission, representing one of the first opportunities for Indian Tribes to participate as full partners in regional environmental management. Under the Clean Air Act, the tribes have the same responsibility as states for regulating air quality.

Key recommendations are as follows:

o Prevent and reduce per capita air pollution through policies based on energy conservation, increased energy efficiency and promotion of the use of renewable resources for energy production.

o Track emissions growth that may affect air quality in clean air corridors, which are key sources of clear air in Class I areas.

o Closely monitor stationary sources to determine the impacts of current requirements under the Clean Air Act and ongoing source attribution studies. Regional targets for sulfur dioxide emissions from stationary sources will be set, starting in 2000. If these targets are exceeded, this would trigger a regulatory program, probably including a regional cap and market-based trading.

o Continue cooperative relationships, established during this effort, and create new ones between local, state, tribal, federal and private interests to develop new strategies, expand data collection, and improve modeling for reducing or preventing visibility impairment in areas within and adjacent to parks and wilderness areas.

o Cap emissions at the lowest level achieved through improved control technologies, projected to decrease emissions through about 2005, and establish a regional emissions budget. Endorse national strategies aimed at further reducing tailpipe emissions, including the so-called 49-state low emission vehicle.

o Implement programs to reduce emissions and visibility impacts from prescribed fire and to educate the public about the continued need for prescribed fires to reduce the spread of dangerous wildfires. Federal land managers propose aggressive prescribed fire programs aimed at correcting the buildup of fuel due to decades of fire suppression.

The commission's proposals are available from the Western Governor's Association. Individuals interested in obtaining the report may leave their name and address by calling 1-800-659-5858, and the reports will be mailed. They will also be available on the commission's electronic bulletin board at (303) 446-0349 and at http://www.nmia.com/gcvtc on the World Wide Web.

-DOI-

Editor's Note: Additional information related to the Commission's recommendations and other NPS air quality matters as well as photographs depicting clear, moderately hazy, and hazy conditions at Grand Canyon National Park are available on the NPS Internet World Wide Web site at the following address:

http://www.aqd.nps.gov/ard/grcaimp.html