March 1999 Volume 6, Number 2
You could practically hear Scott Anaya shaking his head in
frustration. He was calling from Alaska, and he was talking about
the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest - his glorious backyard.
"The Tongass is America's largest national forest and the heart
of the continent's coastal rainforest," said Anaya, a member of the
Club's Wildlands Campaign Committee. "It's got gigantic spruce
trees, brown and black bears, and salmon runs so prolific that the
streams turn bright red when the fish return to spawn. Tourism
brings in money for the small towns near the forest. But
clearcutting jeopardizes this in many parts of southeast Alaska."
What frustrates Anaya is that, as expected, the Tongass and some
other national forests were not included in the 18-month
roadbuilding moratorium announced by Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman on Feb. 11.
The moratorium is nearly identical to a plan that was proposed -
but never implemented - by the Clinton administration in January
1998. It temporarily blocks roadbuilding on roadless parcels of
5,000 acres or more in about 33 million acres of national forests,
until a permanent long-term strategy is developed.
But the proposal exempts the Tongass and 25 other national
forests that are managed under existing forest plans, leaving 15
million acres of forests susceptible to road construction. Also, the
moratorium applies only to roadbuilding, so it continues to leave
all roadless areas unprotected from mining, logging and other
destructive activities.
"The moratorium is full of political loopholes that will leave
tens of millions of acres of America's forest wilderness wide open
to damage," said Sean Cosgrove, the Club's forest policy specialist.
"The loopholes must be closed or we will lose our last truly wild
places to development. About 440,000 miles of roads already
criss-cross our national forests. We want the administration to
permanently protect all roadless areas of 1,000 acres or more from
roadbuilding and all other destructive activities - with no
exceptions."
Roadless areas are the source of some of the country's clearest,
cleanest rivers and streams, which provide high-quality habitat for
sensitive fish species and are essential sources of clean drinking
water, he said.
"Our task now is to make sure Vice President Al Gore is paying
close attention to this process," said Cosgrove. "The short-term
policy is a good start, but it leaves too many of our wild areas at
risk. The immediate and permanent protection of these valuable
roadless areas is a sound step toward achieving our goals of ending
commercial logging on national forests and protecting and restoring
wild ecosystems."
To Take Action: Write a letter to Vice President Al Gore
or send a letter like this one.
For More Information: Contact Sean Cosgrove at (202)
547-1141; sean.cosgrove@sierraclub.org.
There are days so clear in the Grand Canyon that one's view is
limited only by the curvature of the earth.
And then there are days so hazy that it's impossible to make out
any detail in the opposite canyon wall - and that's only 10 or 12
miles away.
Rob Smith, the Club's southwest staff director, said those
dirty-air days happen when humidity is high and the wind blows from
the direction of tailpipe-heavy Los Angeles - and the Mohave
Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. The power plant burns coal
slurried in by pipe from the Black Mesa Mine located on the Navajo
and Hopi reservations in northern Arizona.
"A year ago we filed a lawsuit against the four companies that
own the plant for violating the federal Clean Air Act," said Smith.
"Among the emissions we sued over was sulfur dioxide - a producer of
haze. No other single smokestack contributes more to pollution in
the Grand Canyon than the Mohave plant."
The Grand Canyon isn't the only national park with a haze
problem.
"Air pollution caused by power plants, smelters, cars and a host
of other sources has spoiled the views in many national parks and
wilderness areas," said Ed Hopkins, conservation assistant on the
Club's Environmental Quality Team. In Big Bend National Park in
Texas, for example, visibility has plummeted due to sulfur dioxide
and particulates from power plants in the state and across the
border in Mexico.
Hopkins said that in the West, air pollution has cut visibility
by about one-half to two-thirds. The problem is even worse in East
Coast parks, where visibility is about one-fifth of that under
natural conditions.
The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to
address visibility in national parks. In July 1997, the EPA
announced a proposal that would require states to revise their
pollution-control plans to reduce air pollution in parks and
wilderness areas not only in their states, but in downwind states as
well. Cleanup plans would include measures like retrofitting old
power plants with pollution-control equipment, closing dirt roads to
cars and limiting agricultural burns. The requirements would also
establish a standard to determine whether the measures work.
"But under the EPA's current proposal, it would take over 200
years to clean the air in parks like Shenandoah and Great Smoky
Mountains," said Hopkins.
The agency sent the final rule over to the Office of Management
and Budget the first week of February, and now the OMB has 90 days
to comment.
"President Clinton must make sure the rules don't get weakened
during the approval process," Hopkins said. "The EPA rule should set
a clear requirement for states to clean parks within 60 years. Also,
a substantial amount of park pollution comes from old, dirty power
plants and other facilities that have not had to comply with new
controls required under the Clean Air Act. The new rule must ensure
that these sources clean up their acts."
"And the Mohave Power Plant should be the first in line to add
pollution- control equipment," said Sharon Galbreath, Grand Canyon
Chapter conservation chair. "They've run dirty for 20 years while
others have cleaned up. Now it's their turn."
To Take Action: Tell President Clinton to make sure the
EPA's rules set a clear, enforceable level of visibility
improvement, and that they make faster progress. And tell him to
clean up old, dirty pollution sources like the Mohave Power Plant.
The EPA must ensure that these major sources take responsibility for
their contribution to the pollution that clouds our national parks.
Write to: President Clinton, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, DC 20500. For More Information: Contact
Ed Hopkins at (202) 675-7908; ed.hopkins@sierraclub.org.
Go on to the next
article, "House Flunks First Environmental Test."
http://www.sierraclub.org/planet/199901/sprawl.asp
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