A national association that protects and preserves U.S. national parks is calling on Congress to invest $3.3 million to fix air quality monitors that measure air pollution at the parks.
The National Parks Conservation Association in its 2021-2022 report “The Case for Fixing and Building Our National Parks Air Monitoring Networks,” recommends that Congress “allocate a one-time infrastructure investment of $3.3 million and $2.6 million annually for national park monitoring networks.” The report studied the impacts of poor air quality, legislative mandates for air monitoring and existing air-monitoring networks.
“The National Park Service has a legal responsibility to protect air quality and natural resources from air pollution. Air quality monitoring is crucial to this effort,” the report said. “However, our existing monitoring networks need repair, expansion, and modernization for which increased funding is critical to provide the most useful, accurate, and complete data possible.”
Ninety-six percent of U.S. national parks have significant air pollution, a May 9, 2019, report by Smithsonian Magazine said. Air monitors provide data on pollutants’ impact “on public health, ecosystems, and wildlife,” an NPCA press release stated.
“But many air monitors are old, in need of repair, or missing entirely from some parks,” the press release stated.
There are 423 national park sites in the U.S. National Park System, according to the National Park Foundation website.
NPCA’s report notes that 230 parks have air monitors outside their boundaries, 69 have monitors inside their boundaries, and 124 have none.
“Unfortunately, many parks have outdated or broken air monitors, and many others do not have them at all,” Stephanie Kodish, NPCA’s senior director and counsel of NPCA’s Clean Air and Climate Team, said in the press release.
“That’s why Congress must provide the crucial funding to fix and upgrade the air monitoring networks, to benefit our parks and visitors as well as local communities. This investment by Congress could lead to new local jobs as well as more readily available information about harmful air pollution,” she said.
