Mercury Pollution in Hoh and other high Olympic Lakes

COAL PLANT HAZE HARMING PARKS
By Dedrick Allan 06/25/2009

Environmental groups are asking the U.S. Department of Interior to expand an earlier finding that pollution from a coal-fired plant in Centralia is causing haze and poor visibility in Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks. The National Park Service says emissions from TransAlta's power plant are a major contributor to the visual impairment of national parks in the state. The National Parks Conservation Association, Washington Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club and Northwest Environmental Defense Center want tougher control of smog-causing nitrogen oxide emissions. In 1995, the Interior Department certified that emissions from the plant were responsible for haze at the two parks.