i think the grand canyon is down there ...somewhere

[Guest guest]

EPA plans to loosen air-quality rules near national parks

 

Call us crazy, but rewriting the Clean Air Act to ease the way for new coal

plants near national parks seems to fly in the face of that whole " clean air "

thing. But sure enough, the U.S. EPA plans to make a change allowing the

government to calculate the average annual emissions of power plants near parks

and wilderness areas, instead of tracking (and potentially punishing) the spikes

in pollution spewed during peak energy times. " It's like if you're pulled over

by a cop for going 75 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, and you say,

'If you look at how I've driven all year, I've averaged 55 miles per hour,' "

explains Mark Wenzler of the National Parks Conservation Association. The NPCA

estimates that the rule change will ease construction of 28 new coal plants

within 186 miles of 10 national parks. And those parks are hazy enough as it is,

laments one National Park Service engineer: " It would really be a setback in

trying to make progress. "

 

[ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ]

 

sources: The Washington Post, Reuters

straight to the NPCA report: Dark Horizons

http://www.npca.org/darkhorizons/

 

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain

[Guest guest]

The thought of getting pulled over is enough to make me wanna cringe

P.S Out of sight out of mind.--- On Mon, 5/19/08, fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

fraggle <EBbrewpunx i think the grand canyon is down there ...somewhere"vegan chat" , "doomerism (AT) googl (DOT) com" <doomerism (AT) googl (DOT) com>Monday, May 19, 2008, 7:33 PM

 

 

EPA plans to loosen air-quality rules near national parks Call us crazy, but rewriting the Clean Air Act to ease the way for new coal plants near national parks seems to fly in the face of that whole "clean air" thing. But sure enough, the U.S. EPA plans to make a change allowing the government to calculate the average annual emissions of power plants near parks and wilderness areas, instead of tracking (and potentially punishing) the spikes in pollution spewed during peak energy times. "It's like if you're pulled over by a cop for going 75 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, and you say, 'If you look at how I've driven all year, I've averaged 55 miles per hour,'" explains Mark Wenzler of the National Parks Conservation Association. The NPCA estimates that the rule change will ease construction of 28 new coal plants within 186 miles of 10 national parks. And those parks are hazy enough as it is, laments one National Park Service

engineer: "It would really be a setback in trying to make progress." [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: The Washington Post, Reutersstraight to the NPCA report: Dark Horizonshttp://www.npca. org/darkhorizons /What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure that just ain't so.- Mark Twain