137 



TESTIMONY OF 



MARY NICHOLS 



ASSISTANT ADMINISTRA TOR 



OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIA TION 



U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 



BEFORE THE 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 



OF THE 



COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERA TIONS 



U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTA TIVES 



April 29, 1994 



Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here today to discuss the 

 Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) programs to protect the air quality in 

 our national parks and wilderness areas. I share the Chairman's and this 

 Committee's longtime interest in preserving the natural beauty and splendor of our 

 national parks. As you know, the Clinton Administration is committed to fully 

 implementing the Clean Air Act (Act) and to improving the air quality in our parks, 

 forests, wilderness areas, and other public lands. Mr. Chairman, I also want you to 

 know that this is an issue to which I am personally committed, as well. 



Mr. Chairman, as you know, most of our national parks and wilderness areas 

 are subject to some visibility impairment from distant sources which combine to 

 form regional haze. This has been well documented by monitoring conducted by 

 EPA, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service since 1977. We also 

 know that the causes and severity of regional haze vary greatly between the West 

 and the East. In addition, the Forest Service and the National Park Service have 

 documented damage to sensitive plant species as a result of exposure to ground- 

 level ozone (smog) in many of our parks and wilderness areas. In several areas like 

 Acadia National Park and Shenandoah National Park, we have even monitored 

 levels of ozone that have exceeded the EPA-established national ambient air quality 

 standard to protect human health and welfare effects. In addition, we see damage 

 to the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in several of our national parks. Most of 

 these conditions are not caused by one single source or group of sources near each 

 park or wilderness area, but by the mixing of emissions over a broad region. We 



