skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Clock Running to Clean Up Air in National Parks

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 7, 2010   

RAPID CITY, S.D. - The deadline for public input on how to clear the often hazy views in national parks and wilderness areas in South Dakota and neighboring states is Friday. The so-called "North Dakota Draft Regional Haze Plan" was mandated by federal clean air laws.

Jim Margadant, regional conservation organizer with the South Dakota Chapter of the Sierra Club, says there is no question where the haze comes from: coal-burning power plants. The good news is those power plant owners can help clean up the haze.

"They're going to have to put some technology in to scrub and clean up the matter that is being emitted from the plant. What you have to do is reduce the sulphur dioxides, and the nitrous oxides, and a good chunk of the particulate matter that comes out, too."

The North Dakota draft plan was created under the Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Haze Rule, which requires states to come up with air quality improvement plans to protect parks and wild areas. Margadant says it's a problem for all states in the region.

"It doesn't stop at the boundaries. That's why we in South Dakota are interested. We're suggesting to North Dakota that we would like to see them take responsibility and regulate, just as a good neighbor. This impacts, especially, our national parks. Those are designated as Class I airsheds, the highest protection under the Clean Air Act."

Several conservation and nature groups are banding together to urge tighter restrictions, which industry says go too far and could mean higher costs for consumers. Margadant points out that as energy production grows, public concerns do, too.

"The fear is that, as particulates and pollution increase from additional coal plants, that viewshed is going to decrease and be lost forever."

The plan is available at www.ndhealth.gov. Comments can be sent to Terry O'Clair, Director, Division of Air Quality, North Dakota Department of Health, 918 East Divide Ave., Bismarck, ND 58501, or e-mailed to toclair@nd.gov.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021