The Washington Post reported today that with very little fanfare, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rewritten a section of the Clean Air Act which will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas.

The rewriting affects Class 1 areas, the highest level of protection afforded parks and wilderness (short of the Witness Protection Program, but it’s really really hard to hide a forest).  The change is policy is subtle, but the effects substantial.  Basically, the policy now is to not allow pollution levels to ever go over a certain mark, even in short spikes.  The new policy would afford, you know, the ability to pollute more, and more often.  It acts like a cap and trade program, except the pollution is trading with itself.  Confused?  Let’s let the pros discuss:

For 30 years, regulators have measured pollution levels in the parks, over both three-hour and 24-hour increments, to capture the spikes in emissions that occur during periods of peak energy demand. The new rule would average the levels over a year so that spikes in pollution levels would not violate the law.

Put into simpler terms,

“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,’ ” said Mark Wenzler, director of the National Parks Conservation Association’s clean-air programs. “It allows you to vastly underestimate the impact of these emissions.”

Already the EPA has been taken to task for being politically compromised, so I suppose one way not to skirt the law is to simply change it.  By one estimate, this change in law could allow for almost 30 more coal plants within 190 miles of 10 national parks.  These plants would

emit a total of 122 million tons of carbon dioxide, 79,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 52,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury into the air over and around the Great Smoky Mountains, Zion and eight other national parks.

The only way I can think to on this is to once again contact your members of Congress and demand that policies such as these are not enacted.

Groups Fighting the Decision:

National Parks Conservation Association

Environmental Defense Fund