|
|
|---|
Spring 1996 |
The following article is an excerpt taken from the Spring 1996 issue of the Colorado Plateau Advocate,
a publication of the GRAND CANYON TRUST.
|
The authors of a report released by the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission speculate that visibility on the Colorado Plateau is not getting worse and it will not degrade during the next forty years if we simply wait for the Clean Air Act to be implemented fully. The report is based on the results of an air-quality modeling effort undertaken by the commission.
The Grand Canyon Trust strongly disagrees with the report, and has pointed out that the conclusions rest on data gathered at a single place (Hopi Point at the Grand Canyon), while ignoring the other sixteen Class I airsheds on the Colorado Plateau. (Class I airsheds are the "non-degradable" airsheds by the Clean Air Act.) In addition, the prediction that air quality will not degrade during the next forty years is based on other questionable assumptions. For instance, it is assumed that all western states will attain national air-quality goals by 2010 and all coal-fired power plants will be replaced by low-emmision plants by 2040. |
|
|
Limitations in the report's mathematical model also raise concerns about the accuracy of the predictions. The effects of cars and trucks are not included in the model, although auto air pollution blowing in from distant metro areas may be the largest source of haze. The effects of topography are too complicated to model, even though canyons and mountain ranges profoundly effect pollution movement.
Michael Collier, a pilot, professional photographer, and twenty-five year resident of the Colodado Plateau, joins the Trust in emphatically disagreeing with the commissions findings. Speaking at a Flagstaff meeting hosted by the commission, Collier described the brown clouds of urban pollution that he regularly sees while flying across the plateau. Collier states that the spectacular aerial photography he once did for his book, Arizona: A View From Above, would now not be possible on many days due to the degraded visibility. The National Research Council estimates that visibility is now about one-half of what is was naturally on the plateau. |
Trust staff member Rick Moore, who sits on the commission's Public Advisory Committee, has also disputed the findings. Besides pointing out flaws in the technical model, he wants to represent Trust members who care about air quality, and especially those who are long-time plateau residents who have observed decreasing visibility. Public meetings on the issue have been poorly attended -- Moore and a handful of citizens sprinkled among an ample array of industry representatives. You can help by writing a letter to the Commission at GCVTC, Western Governor's Association, 600 17th Street, Suite 170 5, South Tower, Denver, CO 80202-5452, or by attending future public meetings.
Many GCVTC committee meetings are also open to the public.
Photos courtesy of National Park Service
|
|
|---|
|
|---|
