33 



the picture on the left shows what a visitor on another 30 to 50 

 days of the year might encounter, probably during the summer 

 when most visitors are there. 



Mr. SYNAR. Let me ask you this: Isn't it true that the Park Serv- 

 ice has detected some air quality problems in almost every park? 



Ms. Steinhardt. Yes, it is. 



Mr. Synar. Professor White, I understand that today you will be 

 speaking, and that you spoke, from your findings contained in the 

 protecting visibility in national parks and wilderness areas, which 

 is a report which was issued by the committee on haze in national 

 parks and wilderness areas from the National Academy of Sciences 

 National Research Council. 



I want to start with a quote from that report. 



The slowness of progress to date is due largely to a lack of commitment to an ade- 

 quate government effort to protect and improve visibility and to sponsor the re- 

 search and monitoring needed to better characterize the nature and origin of the 

 haze in various areas. The Federal government has accorded the national visibility 

 goal less priority than other clean air objectives. Even to the extent that Congress 

 has acted, EPA, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Agriculture 

 have been slow to carry out the regulatory responsibilities or to seek resources for 

 research. 



That quote pretty well sums up the problem. 



First, let me ask you this: What do we mean when we talk about 

 visibility impairment? 



Mr. White. We mean loss of blue skies, we mean loss of distant 

 views, we mean the degraded view of things we can still see, loss 

 of color in the scene, general deterioration of our ability to enjoy 

 our surroundings. 



Mr. Synar. Now, the pollutants that impair this visibility are dif- 

 ferent in the East and the West of the United States; is that not 

 correct? 



Mr. White. They are a different mix, yes. In the East, they are 

 dominated by sulfates that are formed by sulfur dioxide emissions. 

 In the West, they are a more heterogeneous mix of sulfates and or- 

 ganic material from fires, vegetative burning, motor vehicle emis- 

 sions, soot from diesel engines, and dust from human activities. 



Mr. Synar. So in the West, we need to look at more than just 

 power plants; correct? 



Mr. White. That is correct. 



Mr. Synar. All right. 



Since that report endorsed using different strategies in the East 

 and West based upon different emission patterns and different air 

 quality, do you think the strategies worked out by the group, such 

 as the one we have been talking about here, the Grand Canyon 

 Visibility Transport Commission, is appropriate for the East? 



Mr. White. No, certainly not the technical part of it. The focus 

 on the large scale, though, is appropriate for the East, the 

 multistats interstate coordination. 



Mr. Synar. Your report states, "Emission control measures al- 

 ready adopted or planned will not solve the Nation's visibility prob- 

 lems." What would be the effect of applying all the commercially 

 available controls in the regions studied by your model? 



Mr. White. You would have some improvement, but you would 

 still have substantial man-made visibility impairment. 



