Air Quality

The blue mists of the Great Smoky Mountains have given this area its name for centuries, but in recent years the park has become a little too smoky. That is, air quality is the worst of any national park in the U.S. The culprit is burning fossil fuels from cars, factories, and power plants that cut visibility in the park from a natural norm of 93 miles to about 25 miles, and also damage plants, soil, and mountain rivers and lakes. This pollution is visible as a white haze, especially during the summer. Rather than clean mountain air, park visitors often are subjected to ozone levels three times that found in Atlanta, and acid rain is threatening the ecosystem at the park's highest elevations; some streams have nitrate concentrations that almost make their waters unsafe to drink. Park administrators have moved to increase use of electric vehicles, but the problem of pollution is likely to remain unless broader societal issues related to fossil fuel use are addressed.