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Air too dirty at preserves in N. Dakota, EPA says

Mon Sep 16, 7:17 AM ET

Traci Watson USA TODAY

It has no bright lights or big cities, but at least North Dakota can boast of its bright stars and big skies -- and views that stretch into tomorrow.

Now the federal government has cast a pall over that reputation. Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency ( news - web sites) say North Dakota is the only state in the nation where the air in federal preserves has gotten more polluted than the Clean Air Act allows.

In a few months, the EPA will decide whether to follow through on its threat to require a cleanup, which could cost North Dakota's industrial facilities hundreds of millions of dollars. The state's position: The EPA got its math wrong. ''It's an honest disagreement,'' says Tom Bachman of the North Dakota Air Quality Division. ''We're a very clean state.''

''No matter what we do, we're always going to be criticized by one side or another,'' says Kevin Golden, a meteorologist in the EPA's Denver office, in the agency's defense. ''We're trying to keep pristine areas pristine.''

The EPA's case is about air quality in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, federal preserves in western North Dakota. At both, the EPA says, levels of the pollutant sulfur dioxide frequently violated federal law in 1999 and 2000.

Sulfur dioxide contributes to acid rain. It also turns into a haze called sulfate that blocks visibility. The sulfur dioxide in the park and refuge comes from a group of coal-burning power plants in central North Dakota. The plants burn a dirty and low-energy type of coal. Many of them have antiquated pollution controls, or none at all.

In 1977, Congress decreed that in federal preserves, sulfur dioxide levels could increase from a 1970s level by no more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air. That's the equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar in a swimming pool of coffee.

Even the EPA admits that amount is minuscule. Sulfur dioxide poses a health hazard only at levels greater than 80 micrograms per cubic meter. Air at the preserves in North Dakota is far from that. For example, the EPA says levels at Theodore Roosevelt National Park have been about 20 micrograms. But ''part of the Clean Air Act is to keep clean areas clean,'' says Larry Svoboda of the EPA's Denver office. ''It's important to keep those (vistas) looking the way they do.'' His colleagues estimate that on bad days, pollution cuts park visibility in half.

Although there are federal preserves outside North Dakota with more air pollution, other states have kept it from rising above the limits Congress set 25 years ago, according to Park Service officials.

North Dakota officials say their own calculations show that sulfur-dioxide levels in the park and refuge never got as high as the EPA claims. More than 90% of the time, there's so little sulfur dioxide in the national park's air that monitors can't detect it, Bachman says.

The EPA is now redoing its calculations. If it confirms its findings, the agency will require the state to put new pollution-control technologies on its power plants.

Those who spend a lot of time in the park say they haven't noticed anything wrong with the air.

''We're sitting right in the middle of the park, and the air's just fine,'' says Neil Tangen, who offers horseback rides there. ''The only Code Red we have is that new Mountain Dew pop.''

Officials at the national park decline to take sides. But they say that some days, the park's majestic buttes are veiled in haze, and that tourists love the days that are haze-free. ''Our visitors comment on how clear it is when they go out on a hike on land where Teddy Roosevelt rode his horse,'' park superintendent Noel Poe says. ''We don't want to lose what we've got.''