PO Box 531  •  Durham,NC 27702  •  Telephone: (919) 419-8311  •  Fax: (919) 419-8315

Friday, April 22, 2005

Bush's Polluted Photo-Op

The Raleigh News & Observer follows up on our post yesterday about President Bush's Earth Day photo-op at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today:
Spring wildflowers and dogwoods are just blooming in the Smokies. Yet nature guide Erik Plakanis already has warned hikers about exerting themselves at high elevations because of bad air.

Three days of unhealthy air so far this month equals the number of ozone alert days in the Smokies for all of last year. And ozone season has just begun.

"It's discouraging, really discouraging," said Plakanis, who doesn't take hikers out on high ozone days because of the risk of respiratory harm. "It gives the lining of your lungs something akin to a sunburn."

Famed for its natural bluish mists, the Smokies are gaining notoriety for an unnatural white haze that often reduces the famous 100-mile views to less than 20 miles in summer.

The question is, will the cameras be able to get a good visual on Bush through all that haze, made worse by the adminisration's evisceration of the Clean Air Act?

UPDATE: Our friend South Knox Bubba is on the case in Knoxville, closer to where the action is.

posted by Chris Kromm at 7:05 AM | Email this post | Post a Comment
1 Comments:
Anonymous skb said...

See here also:

http://www.southknoxbubba.net/skblog/archive_2005_04.php#4165

4/22/2005 10:05 AM  

Post a Comment

Return to Facing South's main page

Southern News Update

Sign up for Facing South, our free biweekly progressive update.

ENTER YOUR EMAIL HERE:

Who Are These Folks?

CHRIS KROMM blogs three days a week for Facing South. Chris is Executive Director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute’s award-winning magazine, Southern Exposure.

SUE STURGIS blogs four days a week for Facing South. Sue is the Institute’s Editorial Director and a former reporter for The Independent Weekly and The Raleigh News & Observer.

DESIREE EVANS blogs four days a week for Facing South. Desiree is a Research Associate at the Institute and former policy analyst for TransAfrica.

The views expressed on Facing South are those of the authors and not necessarily represent the views of the Institute for Southern Studies. The editors reserve the right to reject comments that are abusive, offensive, misleading, or that promote commercial goods and services.

Previous Posts