Hikers, Campers and Wilderness Enjoyers
Coal-fired power plants can prevent our enjoyment of many of the beautiful places and amazing wildlife that makes parts of our country unique. The plants affect visibility in national parks through their emissions of sulfate particles and nitrogen oxides, which cause haze. In addition, due to their contribution to global warming, coal plants are causing endangerment and extinction of plants and animals, as well as changing the landscape of many of the West’s national parks.
In the Interior West, we are blessed with spectacular views and natural miracles that have been preserved and protected through the National Park Service. But, in many of our precious national parks, visitors to the parks can no longer see the distant mountains, lakes and other natural phenomenon due to visibility problems.
While the air quality in some parks is improving due to efforts from the National Park Service, there is no general trend of improvement. In fact, in the Interior West, nine national parks have worse air quality in 2004 that they did in 1995.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and pictures provided by the National Park Service of national parks on days of good and bad visibility definitely demonstrate the harms caused by pollution.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Glacier National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
While there are other, naturally occurring compounds that contribute to haze in our parks, we can reduce haze and improve air quality by demanding that coal plants do not pollute our revered wilderness areas.
The other effects that coal plants could have on the West’s national parks are equally dramatic and frightening. Here is a sampling of what the future of our national parks might be
- All the glaciers in Glacier National Park could be gone by 2030
- The snow-covered mountain peaks of Rocky Mountain, Glacier, Yosemite and other national parks could be free of snow in the summertime
- Higher temperatures could cause a sharp reduction in meadows and wildflowers
- The characteristic plants of many areas could change as the mercury rises, with grasslands replacing forests and forests being pushed upslope
- Warmer temperatures allow more invasive species, which threaten the health of plants and cause environmental and economic damage
The upset of fragile ecosystems has a massive effect on wildlife. Globally, climate change is expected to cause one million extinctions by 2050. Here in the West, some species are already feeling its effects. Here are some examples of what we are seeing today and what we may see in the future:
- Populations of the white-tailed ptarmigan, a small bird that lives in the tundra, in Rocky Mountain National Park have been cut in half in the past two decades, and the bird may go extinct by mid-century
- Desert big-horn sheep in national parks throughout California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada are in danger of extinction due to higher temperatures
- The pika, a cousin of the rabbit, is in serious danger because its habitat is being destroyed by warmer temperatures. In Yosemite, pikas used to live as low as 7,500 feet and now cannot be found below 9,500 feet. In Great Basin National Park, eight of 25 pika populations are already extinct.
From left to right, the pika, the desert big-horn sheep and the white-tailed ptarmigan
It is important to protect the American legacy of conservation and love of nature. Coal plants are threatening our national parks and many of our unique species of plants and animals. It is possible and profitable to address growing energy needs in the West through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures.
For more information on the connection between global climate change and the West’s national parks, see Losing Ground: Western National Parks Endangered by Climate Disruption (pdf), a report by the National Resource Defense Council.
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