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Show K Inside S Washington 1 wfi Senator Jake Gam The Interior Department, on June 14, announced its intention to study the air over Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Na-tional Park, to ascertain its suitability for Class I status under existing EPA regulations. regula-tions. I have been approached approach-ed by a number of individuals asking my reaction to the Interior In-terior announcement. Apparently, Ap-parently, it is widely thought that I should oppose such a study, and the eventual Class I designation which might re -s ult from it. A s I stated m any times on the floor of the Senate, Sen-ate, I do not oppose the concept con-cept of pristine air. While I remain convinced that our present rush to a national policy of non -deterioration was inspired by the Federal courts, and not the result of m ature consideration by the Congress, I am sufficiently convinced of the need for clean air over certain areas of the country that I will no longer try to fight the policy. Specifically, the areas of the country which have been set aside as National Parks ought to have the best possible air. That includes C apitol Reef National Park. How does that belief square with my support for the Intermountain Power Project? The fact is, that the Intermountain Power Project will not jeopardize air quality quali-ty over Capitol Reef. Computer Com-puter projections indicate that on perhaps 13 days a year, the plume from the Intermountain Power Project m ight be blown over Capitol R eef , though even that is far from certain. But even if it did, the plume would impact on only one or two of the highest peaks, in the remotest remot-est section of the Park, and during the months when the Park is least frequented. There would be no lasting impacts, and when tourist season came again, all would be as it was before. We have seen power plants built in Utah to that degree of cleanliness, clean-liness, so we know it can be done. Therefore, a Class I designation des-ignation is not inconsistent with the construction of IPP, provided sufficient flexibility flexibili-ty is retained to permit local officials to exercise their common sense and good - judgment. The Breaux Amendment adopted by the House of Representatives provides exactly that sort of flexibility; myAmendment would have done so in the Senate, but it was, unfortunately, unfor-tunately, defeated. The air |