32 



ies that the State and Federal agencies thought were required to 

 make a BART case. In fact, the cost of just one of those tracer stud- 

 ies is almost the same as the Park Service's entire air quality 

 budget. 



Ms. Steenhardt. It is more than their budget request for 1995. 



Mr. Synar. Case made. 



I think that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agrees with my 

 view and we are going to explore that in some later panels. EPA 

 has blamed the lack of data for its failure to issue these regional 

 haze regulations, but isn't it true that the agency and the Park 

 Service are actually reducing their expenditures that might help 

 yield that data and that although the 1990 Clean Air Amendments 

 contemplate an increase in expenditures and efforts, that the num- 

 bers are still going down? Am I correct, that EPA has eliminated 

 atmospheric research for the 1995 budget request all together? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes. Well, it has eliminated the atmospheric re- 

 search directly related to visibility, yes. 



Mr. Synar. This was the research that was going to be helpful 

 in writing the haze regulations; right? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, that is true. 



Mr. Synar. At the same time, it is my understanding the Park 

 Service has reduced its air quality monitors by 40 percent since the 

 1990 hearings, and that the data from those monitors would have 

 also been helpful with the regional haze regulations; is that cor- 

 rect? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, it is. 



Mr. Synar. Finally, EPA has stated that they wanted to wait for 

 the results, as you say, from the Grand Canyon Visibility Trans- 

 port Commission before proceeding. Will the commission's finding 

 be appropriate for the whole country? I mean, is this such a land- 

 mark that we have to wait? 



Ms. Steinhardt. No, it doesn't seem that it would be appropriate 

 for the whole country. 



Mr. Synar. Is there any reason why EPA should wait for addi- 

 tional information before the issuing of the regional haze regula- 

 tions? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Well, we are convinced by the National Re- 

 search Council and the Park Service that the information is avail- 

 able now and they should go ahead with it. 



Mr. Synar. I agree with you. In fact, since our last hearing 4 

 years ago, it appears to this subcommittee that clean air for Ameri- 

 ca's crown jewels remain a very low priority and what really dis- 

 turbs us is the budget cuts that we are seeing proposed. 



Ms. Steinhardt, we have those three pictures right there from 

 you 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes. 



Mr. Synar [continuing]. Pictures on excellent, average, and poor 

 days in Shenandoah. Tell us about those three, would you? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes. The picture in the center shows I think 

 what a visitor to Shenandoah National Park might encounter most 

 times during the year, about 250 days, let's say, somewhat hazy. 



To the right, the picture showing excellent visibility is what a 

 visitor might encounter, say, 30 to 50 days during the year, prob- 

 ably during the winter when there aren't very many visitors. And 



