Smokies an issue in campaign

Smokies an issue in campaign

2002-10-26
by Thomas Fraser
of The Daily Times Staff

Accusations by the Lamar Alexander senatorial campaign that opponent Bob Clement voted for extension of the so-called "Road to Nowhere" through Great Smoky Mountains National Park are inaccurate, Clement press secretary Carol Andrews said Thursday.

The Alexander campaign issued a press release Thursday that read, in part:

"Bob Clement is no friend of the Smoky Mountains. The Nashville congressman doesn't understand the needs of the Tennessee Valley and Smoky Mountains. He recently voted to fund 'a road to nowhere' through the middle of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That park is already the most polluted in the country. We don't need another major road cutting through the park."

The Alexander campaign was referring to a federal Department of Transportation appropriations bill that came up for vote in 2000 for fiscal year 2001. North Carolina Rep. Charles Taylor attached funding for the controversial extension of the North Shore Road along Fontana Lake through the Park.

Andrews said the bill contained some "$58 billion for Department of Transportation and related agencies," including $31.4 billion in highway funding for the entire nation.

U.S. House vote

The vote passed the U.S House by a vote of 344-50, Andrews said. She said then-Rep. Ed Bryant was the only Southern congressman to vote against the bill.

"Bob Clement is not in favor of that road because it would hurt the Smokies, and he doesn't think it is needed," Andrews said.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokesman Bob Miller said Alexander's claim was a bit of a stretch.

It's politics, plain and simple," Miller said.I don't think Bob Clement had any knowledge of what he was voting for. It was to expand a road in Swain County, North Carolina. It didn't say anything about building a road through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was far from clear (the extent of) of what they were voting for. There was no mention of the Park in the legislation.

``Sixteen million dollars (the amount appropriated to begin planning for the road) in a Department of Transportation bill is tiny, tiny change," Miller said.

Miller said such appropriation bills ``include a huge number of different projects."

Andrews said such a tactic by the Alexander campaign was ``a knee-jerk reaction" to a variety of environmental groups providing endorsements of Clement, including the Sierra Club -- which is opposed to construction of the North Shore Road -- the League of Conservation Voters and the Tennessee Conservation League.

The League of Conservation Voters, which ranks politicians based on what the group perceive to be pro- or anti-environmental votes, gave Sen. Fred Thompson, who Alexander or Clement will be replacing, a 12 percent ranking, meaning he voted pro-environment 12 percent of the time. Rep. Van Hilleary, who is the Republican candidate for governor, received a ranking of 5 percent.

Clement received a ranking of 73 percent, which tied Rep. Harold Ford as the highest ranking of any of the Tennessee congressional delegation.

Clear Skies Initiative

Alexander also touted the Bush Administration's Clear Skies Initiative as a key to reducing air pollution in the Great Smokies, which by some estimates is the most-polluted national park in the country.

Some environmentalists have said Clear Skies offers far from adequate reductions in air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, and amounts to a disguised rollback of Clean Air Act protections. Andrews said Clement was opposed to the administration policy.

If Lamar Alexander supports Clear Skies because he's a rubber stamp for Bush, he's not going to help the Smokies," Andrews said.(Clear Skies) doesn't go far enough."

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Executive Director Stephen Smith said the reductions of sulfur dioxide proposed under Clear Skies are inadequate to offer a timely remedy for air pollution in the Smokies.

"It is misleading to the public for Lamar Alexander to represent that Bush's Clear Skies proposition is going to meet the air quality reduction guidelines we need to protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park," Smith said.

He said the timeline offered under the plan only calls for a 50 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions by 2010, and is unclear what additional steps will be taken after that point to meet the 70 to 80 percent reduction needed to restore natural vistas and air pollution- and acid deposition-impaired ecosystems in the national park.

Smith said other air quality improvement plans are being circulated in Congress that more aggressively reduce emissions from power plants, industrial sources and automobiles.

"Clement has said he understands the Bush plan doesn't go far enough. The question is: Is he willing to support something else?"