Click the image to view an interactive map of how the new EPA clean air rules will allow 33 new coal-fired power plants to pollute our national parks

Under this White House, the EPA isn't so much the Environmental Protection Agency as it is the Energy Protection Agency. With Clean Air Act rules already relaxed for mercury emissions by power plants near highly populated areas, the EPA now says they're likely to relax the rules near our nations most pristine lands, the National Parks so they can pave the way for even more polluting power plants.

The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan.

The new regulations, which are likely to be finalized this summer, rewrite a provision of the Clean Air Act that applies to "Class 1 areas," federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law. Opponents predict the changes will worsen visibility at many of the nation's most prized tourist destinations, including Virginia's Shenandoah, Colorado's Mesa Verde and North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt national parks.

Nearly a year ago, with little fanfare, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed changing the way the government measures air pollution near Class 1 areas on the grounds that the nation needed a more uniform way of regulating emissions near protected areas. The agency closed the comment period in April and has indicated it is not making significant changes to the draft rule, despite objections by EPA staff members. (emphasis added)

That last point is important to keep in mind. Many, if not most of the people who work for the EPA are good people who truly want to do their jobs. But at every turn, they're overruled by political flaks put in place by the Bush White House to make the rules as beneficial to big business as possible, especially big energy.

But here's the real problem with the ruling.

On Thursday, the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, issued a report estimating that the rule would ease the way for the construction of 33 new coal-fired power plants within 186 miles of 10 national parks. In each of the next 50 years, the report concludes, the new 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.

"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."

Unfortunately, the public comment period for the proposed rule changes ended in April, so there's pretty much nothing that can be done now. It seems like the changes will likely take effect, so this ends up being just one more thing added to the list of thousands that we hope the next President sees fit to undo.

You can click the image to view a map of how the new rules will impact our National Parks, or for more information visit the National Parks Conservation Association.