Park's Air Dirtier Than NYC's

Five national parks — led by the Great Smoky Mountains Park in Tennessee — have been named as the nation's most polluted in a report issued Thursday by national environmental organizations.

The Smokies, named for the naturally occurring blue haze that attracts visitors to the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, topped the list of air quality violators in "Code Red: America's Five Most Polluted National Parks," a report put out by environmental groups National Parks Conservation Association, Appalachian Voices and Our Children's Earth. The other parks named were California's Sequoia in the Sierra Nevada and King Canyon, Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, Virginia's Shenandoah and Maine's Acadia.

The report examined ozone levels, haze and acid precipitation in 13 parks which have extensive air quality monitoring programs. Several of these parks violated the ozone standard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set to protect human health.

The report indicates that ozone pollution in the Great Smoky Mountains rivals most cities, and is even higher than in New York City or Washington, D.C.

Almost all the pollution affecting these parks comes from power plants, cars and industries outside the parks, the researchers said.

The polluted air that can obscure views in California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks drifts up from the San Joaquin Valley, a 25,000-square mile bowl that extends from Bakersfield to Stockton.

Dirty air also hurts people — 13 percent of the valley's residents suffer from a breathing disorder like asthma.

Local air officials are working with the EPA to bring down pollution in the state.

"As we address the high ozone levels in California, the process of bringing those levels down will improve the air quality in those parks, which are downwind," EPA spokesman Tom Webb said.

Sequoia is the second-oldest national park in the country, and the towering trees that gave the park its name invite 1.5 million people to the area every year. In 2004, the EPA designated Sequoia-Kings Canyon as an area in which ozone pollution was a risk to human health.

Park visitors with health concerns need to check on the air quality before beginning a hike in the area. The park has issued advisories warning visitors to avoid outdoor activities during unhealthy air periods.

"This is a wake-up call," said Laura Whitehouse, the Central Valley Field Representative for NPCA. "What we are doing here in the valley has repercussion in the parks."

For Whitehouse, who lives in Fresno, the issue also has personal repercussions. Her three children — a 20-month-old, an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old — all have asthma, something that worries Whitehouse when the family plans a trip in the nearby national parks.

"My kids love both Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Yosemite, but I have to really do my homework before I go, to make sure it's not a bad air day, and I have to take their asthma medication," she said. "It's important that families don't stop taking their children to the parks, but it's important that they prepare and medicate their children appropriately."