Park visitors call for clean air

Friday, October 19, 2001

Park visitors call for clean air

by Erin Hudson
of The Daily Times Staff

Over 600 Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitors have written letters to U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Fred Thompson urging them to stand behind efforts for cleaner air.

The letter-writing campaign was part of the National Parks Conservation Association's summer activities. The campaign also included association volunteers setting up tables inside the park and at regional festivals where visitors signed petitions for reduced emissions from power plants, said Jill Stephens, Clean Air Campaign Coordinator for the association.

The status of the end of the summer campaign was announced at a press conference Tuesday in Knoxville.

Letters and petitions urged Thompson to write a letter to President Bush urging him to support clean air legislation, especially that which would benefit the Great Smoky Mountains, said Stephen Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE).

Sen. Bill Frist has been "deadly silent" to the letters and petitions, Smith said.

Since Frist has a strong relationship with the Bush administration, both the conservation association and the clean energy alliance feel Tennessee's junior senator should use his influence to keep the administration from rolling back some Clean Air Act provisions, Smith said.

"We expect Sen. Frist to stand up for clean air in Tennessee," Smith said.

Smith and Don Barger, senior director of the National Park Conservation Association, are going to Washington today to join in stakeholder meetings with other environmental organizations and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Smith said the meetings were originally scheduled for Sept. 11, but were postponed due to the terrorist attacks.

During the course of the meetings, Smith said he expects the committee to shape a clean air bill to send to the Senate floor, which he hopes Thompson and Frist will support.

Barger said the last several days have been clear enough to have a high visibility in the Great Smoky Mountains.

"This is the way it should be if we are looking through clean air," Barger said.

He said the visibility should be an average of 93 feet in the summer, but with the quality of the air in the Smokies, the average visibility is 25 feet.

Barger said many environmental groups are pushing for legislation that will get rid of the loophole in the Clean Air Act that allows older utility plants emit more pollutants than newer plants. Tennessee Valley Authority plants are included in this loophole.

"The old plants have to be cleaned up to deal with this issue," Barger said.