The Newport Plain Talk

KNOXVILLE-As visitors flock to national parks for the busy July Fourth weekend, small businesses, citizens, and advocacy groups are today holding press conferences in Knoxville and near three other national parks nationally, calling on the Administration to abandon a proposed rule that would further degrade air quality in the Great Smoky Mountains and other national parks, and threaten public health and local economies.

"Great Smoky Mountains National Park already suffers from poor air quality and today has an 'orange alert' pollution warning," said Cocke County Mayor Iliff McMahon, Jr., who spoke at a press conference in Knoxville today. "Poor air quality affects the experiences and health of summer visitors, which affects our economy. It doesn't make sense for the Administration to encourage more polluting coal-fired power plants to build in the Smokies' backyard. Especially when we are already doing everything possible to improve our air quality."

Under current regulations, one in three national parks already suffers from air pollution levels that exceed federal health standards. Much of that pollution comes from burning coal, yet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to finalize rules that would significantly weaken pollution standards and make it easier to build even more coal-fired power plants near national parks.

In June, the National Parks Conservation Association's Dark Horizons report named Great Smoky Mountains as one of ten national parks most at risk from pollution from new coal-fired power plants.

"Our national parks were set aside as symbols of our national heritage and freedom," said Don Barger, senior director of the National Parks Conservation Association's southeast regional office. "Instead of opening the door to more pollution in national parks such as Great Smoky Mountains and Zion, the EPA should be working to secure a legacy that preserves America's treasures for our children and grandchildren."

McMahan added, "Over 200 years ago, my ancestors settled in Southern Appalachia Mountains in what is now the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They cultivated the land, grew their vegetables and grain, harvested their meat and carved out a life for their families.

"They could have traveled north and west, but they chose to settle here. They faced incredible hardships, but they persevered because they felt this was their destiny. They knew God led them here for a reason.

"The result has been 200 years of truly remarkable and rich history of cultural heritage traditions steeped in a deep reverence for our precious natural resources, our rivers and streams, our fields and meadows...our forests and mountains.

"Their 200 years of deep devotion, their love and their commitment to a heritage of mountain life has carried over to our greatest resource here, our Great Smoky Mountain National Park. That is their legacy.

"As generations of families have continued to create a life here, we are carrying on the legacy of our families who settled here first. For three decades, we have been working extremely hard on air quality, water quality, transportation and quality of life issues here in East Tennessee.

"As the first Tourism Director for Cocke County 13 years ago, I knew that we had a wonderful story to tell and we wanted to share our experience will all the world through a progressive, proactive Eco-Tourism program.

"Now as a county mayor, I know the challenges we face to keep our mountain heritage alive and our county's economy viable and sustainable so our folks can continue to raise their families as their ancestors have done for generations.

"Our economy is global and our challenges are regional. We have been, and must continue to be, progressive and proactive in our efforts to clean up our air. For three decades, we have been working collaboratively with our neighbors to do just that. And for the last few years, we have seen a progressive turn-a-round for the better.

"Our efforts are paying off in cleaner air and a stronger commitment to protecting our environment on all fronts.

"Now is not the time to engage in regressive regulations that would destroy our strong, hard-fought efforts to clean our environment.

"This regulation is bad for business. It is bad for the environment, and it makes no common sense.

"Our ancestors had a legacy. What will be ours?

"A great Tennessee historian and fine lady who made Cocke County her home, Wilma Dykeman, once spoke to this matter. She spoke for all the people in the Southern Appalachian Mountains when she said: 'The term Sense Of Place is not an abstract concept, but an awareness as deep and as pervasive as Breath.'

"That should be our legacy."

According to the most recent federal data, park visitors spent $10.7 billion in the gateway towns and regions surrounding national parks in 2006, supporting about 213,000 jobs. For gateway communities that depend on these parks, worsening air quality could have devastating local economic impacts.

The EPA's proposed changes would allow large polluters such as coal-fired power plants to manipulate their data to mask pollution spikes and make it appear as if the air in the region surrounding national parks is cleaner than it actually is.

National Park Service scientists have criticized the proposed rules as providing "the lowest possible degree of protection" for park air quality. EPA scientists have also objected to the rule change, calling it "grossly inadequate," and opening the door to "totally frivolous documentation" of emissions from coal-fired power plants that would "seriously underestimate" pollution increases at affected national parks.

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