Smokies Are Nation's Most Polluted Park

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Study: Smokies Are Nation's Most Polluted Park

Air Quality Improves In Many Places

September 24, 2002

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- In the Great Smoky Mountains, with all the air

pollution, you might think you're in Los Angeles.

An environmental group, the National Parks Conservation Association, says

the Smokies are the nation's most-polluted national park. The park on the

Tennessee-North Carolina border is the most popular in the country, with

more than 9 million visitors a year.

The association says mountaintop clouds in the Smokies can be as acidic as

vinegar, and mountain views that should stretch 77 miles average just 14

miles in the summer.

Still, the National Park Service says air quality has improved or at least

stayed the same in more than half of 32 parks monitored since 1990.

But the environmental group says ozone levels in the Smokies violated

federal health standards more than 175 times since 1998, rivaling air

quality in Los Angeles

Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press.