Frist vows to keep close eye on Clear Skies

Frist vows to keep close eye on Clear Skies

By Thomas Fraser
of The Daily Times Staff

KNOXVILLE — U.S. Sen. Bill Frist told
dozens of East Tennesseans Tuesday he
will closely monitor Bush Administration
plans to implement a pollution reduction
plan called the Clear Skies Initiative.

The plan would gradually reduce a num-
ber of pollutants across the nation, includ-
ing two that have a severe impact on the
air quality of the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park.

The administration plan, according to
Frist, would cut emissions of sulfur dioxide
by 73 percent and levels of nitrogen oxides
by 63 percent. Both are predominantly
emitted from fossil fuel-fired power plants,
though vehicle emissions are also a source.

Frist said the plan would be a "public-pri-
vate sector undertaking ... not excessive
mandates that would destroy capitalism."

Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Christine Todd Whitman
will likely be in the Park around July 1 —
the Frist family takes an annual summer
hike up Mount LeConte — to see firsthand
the Great Smokies air quality problems.

"She is committed, along with the presi-
dent of the United States, to striking an
appropriate balance between the environ-
ment and the economy," Frist said. The ini-
tiative, he said, "will be spelled out in detail
in the next several weeks or months."

Several agencies will be watching closely.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has taken
heat in recent years over the amount of
nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide it emits
from regional coal-fired power plants.

Emissions from these plants play a role in
the Smokies' chronic air quality problems,
which have been quantified to include
impacts on dozens of species of plants and
the decline of higher-elevation aquatic life.

One of TVA's three directors, Skila Harris, was on hand for Tuesday's event.

"Obviously we will be closely monitoring what that policy is going to look like," she said. "It's not in the shape of legislation right now. The president has only given a very broad outline."

While Harris acknowledges TVA is "a contributor" to East Tennessee air quality problems, TVA researchers are trying to ascertain why there is no correlation between ongoing TVA emission reductions and improving air quality in the mountains.

"As our emissions have gone down, the relative air quality in the Smokies has not had a proportional improvement," Harris said.

Advocates skeptical

Air quality advocates voiced skepticism for the Bush initiative, maintaining its target reductions and timeline are inadequate to fully protect the mountains and public health.

"In general, we are not supportive of the president's plan because we don't feel the timeline or reduction of pollutants are enough to get the clean air we need now," said Ulla-Britt Reeves, of the Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

She said the Clear Skies plan could merely be a smoke screen to roll back current Clean Air Act regulations.

"There are already programs (within the Clean Air Act) to protect national parks and require reductions of more stringent levels than Clear Skies does," she said.

She said models have suggested that the pollution reductions sought under the Bush plan would result in "little to no improvement in aquatic ecosystems," such as those affected in the upper elevations of the park by acid rain.

SACE and other air quality advocates would prefer to see the target reductions made by 2008, rather than 2018, as proposed by the administration, she said.

"We're not looking for zero emissions," Reeves said. "We're looking to return to a more normal ecosystem balance (between pollutants and ecosystems, and pollutants and human health). Right now, it's completely out of whack."

Park officials optimistic

Park officials present Tuesday for Frist's speech had a more optimistic outlook.

"I think it's really encouraging. The air quality issue is being fleshed out even more," said Assistant Park Superintendent Phil Francis.

"It mentions specific reductions that will take us a long way to meeting the goals we are interested in," Francis said. "We've said all along we need reductions of up to 75 percent (in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide) in both those areas."

Park Superintendent Mike Tollefson was equally upbeat, but cautioned a true solution to the Park's — and East Tennessee's — air quality problems is still down the road.

"The acknowledgment of the problem is really good," Tollefson said. "It bodes well for the future. But we have to keep it in front of us. We can't become complacent about the problem. The solution is at hand, not in hand."