Remedy for air woes at hand, not in hand

Remedy for air woes at hand, not in hand

By THOMAS FRASER
The Maryville 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 number of pollutants across the nation, including 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-private sector undertaking ... not excessive mandates that would destroy capitalism."

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman will 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 president of the United States, to striking an appropriate balance between the environment and the economy," Frist said. The initiative, 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 administration 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.

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.

"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 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."