EPA: Sit Back, Relax and Breathe in Some Coal Smoke at National Parks

Once again, the EPA is failing in what’s supposed to be their main goal: protecting the environment. You just fell over with surprise, right? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

The EPA will soon be allowing coal-fired power plants to set up shop next to national parks, lowering the protection of these areas from the highest level to “the lowest possible degree of protection” against spikes in pollution. The proposed changes would act to hide pollution from regulators, according to Mark Wenzler, clean air director of the National Parks Conservation Association.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Despite blunt internal criticism by its own staff experts, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proceeding with a plan by year’s end to revise regulations under the Clean Air Act that currently safeguard areas with some of the nation’s cleanest air.

Across the United States, 156 national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges have been designated by Congress as Class-1 areas, granting them the toughest legal protection.

Officially, the EPA says it is proposing “refinements” to regulations that measure Class-1 air-quality standards.

But federal air-quality experts at the EPA and the National Park Service say the planned changes would be a backward step for air quality.

Naturally, what we all want when visiting national parks is to choke down black smoke and have formerly beautiful views obscured. Because, we aren’t there to enjoy the meager tracts of somewhat-untouched land that are left in America – no, we’re there to be poisoned and polluted.

Link [Christian Science Monitor] via [Treehugger]

Photo credit: Flickr user OneofThem

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