CLEARING THE AIR AT GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL-PARK

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located in the southern Appalachi ans on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, was designated by C ongress in 1977 as a Class I area, where resources are to be protected from damage due to air pollution. The National Park Service, Air Qual ity Division, collected and then used data on levels of pollutants and response of sensitive resources in the park and found that forests, s oils, surface waters, and visibility in the park were experiencing adv erse impacts from air pollution. We reviewed the data and process that supported this finding as well as the legal tools available to federa l land managers confronted with evidence that sources of air pollution outside the boundaries of Class I areas are affecting resources. We p repared this case study to describe how the National Park Service has used scientific information in regulatory arenas to address air pollut ion problems at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Based on this cas e study we show that the requirement for Federal Land Manager review o f permits for new stationary sources of air pollution is not sufficien t to protect the parks from what has become a regional air quality pro blem.