Acadia park needs its breathing space

Editor’s Note: Student Union is written by students at Hampden Academy, Brewer High School, Old Town High School, Mount Desert Island Regional High School, Ashland Community High School and Schenck High School in East Millinocket. The weekly column is a joint effort among the schools, the Bangor Daily News and Acadia Hospital. This week’s column was written by Mount Desert Island High School students. Their adviser is Beth Blugerman.

Millions of visitors are drawn to Mount Desert Island each year by the beauty of Acadia National Park and opportunities to bike, hike, camp, swim, shop and just sightsee. The mystique and natural aura surrounding our small fishing communities attract visitors from metropolitan areas. They come from all over the world in the hope of glimpsing the natural splendor that is Acadia. They dream of returning home to their cities with lungs full of clean, fresh mountain air and images of our rocky coast engraved in their minds forever. They would never anticipate that the air, the rocky coast, and the national park are as dirty as most cities.

According to the Department of Environmental Protection, smog levels in Acadia and other pristine areas of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states are, at times, as high as in the urban areas in which many of our visitors reside.

When it was established as Lafayette National Park in 1919, it became our country’s first national park east of the Mississippi. It was renamed Acadia in 1929. Acadia encompasses more than 45,000 miles of rugged Atlantic shoreline, mixed forests, mountain lakes and islands. Along with all the geographical beauty, MDI is also host to many animals, large and small, with which we must share the limited space and resources. But now, this entire splendor is at risk from pollutants. A recent study by the National Park Conservation Association revealed that Acadia is the fifth most polluted park in America.

This is especially disturbing to long-term residents of Mount Desert Island and its surrounding communities. For centuries, the island has been nationally recognized for its natural beauty. However, in recent history, MDI’s image has been tainted by pollution, much of it transported from industrial centers by wind currents. This is most often seen as elevated ozone levels.

Ozone levels in the park are dangerously high. Two monitors, located on McFarland Hill and Cadillac Mountain, recorded unhealthful ozone levels 10 times in 2001 and nine times so far this year, and the season is not over. The 2002 total could increase. The monitors record certain problems in the air such as ozone levels, nitrogen oxides, visibility and other meteorological parameters. People who hike in our mountains are especially at risk, because the body uses more oxygen at higher elevations. Animal species are now experiencing decreased growth rates, also attributed to unhealthful ozone levels.

This pollution is being imported from more industrial areas. Three hundred out of 500 power plants nationally recently increased emissions of sulfur dioxide, and 263 plants increased emissions of nitrogen oxides. The sulfur dioxide is a trigger of asthma and lung cancer. Some statistics state that almost twice as any people die each year from air pollution than traffic accidents.

Thousands of visitors travel to the summit of Cadillac Mountain for the panoramic view from what is the tallest mountain on the eastern seacoast. Many years ago, it was estimated that on a clear summer day some could see for 110 miles all around. Now, however, there is a new force that envelopes even our Cadillac Mountain. Air pollutants, which come from many different states, have traveled up the coast, making the visibility only 33 miles. People come to Cadillac for a breathtaking experience, only to find their breath is literally taken away. This poses a local health concern, reduces visitor enjoyment, and ultimately could damage the local economy.

Along with hiking, biking and exploring our park, many people come to our lakes and ponds to fish and relax. They camp out, catch fish and fry them up on their campfire with their families. However, some of the fish caught in island waters have been tainted by mercury. This potent toxin has been documented in our lakes and streams since the early 1990s. It is very dangerous, and has no place in our national park.

Where does all of this pollution come from? Our island certainly doesn’t have the big industries that produce such pollutants: We are simply not big enough. In fact, few industries in the entire state burn fossil fuels. Coal-fired plants produce more than 90 percent of the air pollution in the United States, but they generate only about 50 percent of the electricity. Remember the mercury problem? Coal plants produce 33 percent of all the mercury pollution in this country.

Federal laws mandate that our parks should have the cleanest air in the nation. However, since the laws were set into motion, there has been little or no improvement to the quality of our air. The Bush administration is not putting air quality as a high concern, and has made little progress toward the health of our parks. This not only harms our environment, as it is the only one we have, it also jeopardizes public health.

Acadia is often lauded as the first place in America to see the sunrise. It is time for lawmakers to see the light and make necessary changes in air pollution standards before this beautiful place is ruined.