Danielle Gonzales: Protect Mesa Verde cliff dwellings

In seventh grade, I visited the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings in Southern Colorado for the first time. The beautiful and ancient Puebloan structures were awe-inspiring for me and awakened my interest in Native American history, particularly those in Mesa Verde.

From that day on, I wanted to know everything I could about the previous inhabitants of Mesa Verde, how they lived, worked, ate, socialized.

In my opinion, the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings are Colorado's greatest landmarks, which make an impression on thousands of tourists annually. However, their allure may wane in the near future as a result of damage from air pollution.

The 1977 amendment of the Clean Air Act was put into place to protect the air quality of various national parks. The amendment designated certain areas around the country as Class I areas, including Mesa Verde National Park, which receive the highest protection from air pollution1.

However, now the EPA is trying to change the air regulations, which will ultimately lead to greater amounts of pollution in national parks. This attempt must be stopped if we want future generations to experience the pristine national parks that we can experience today.

Under the Clean Air Act, Congress created the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program that was meant to protect the air quality in national parks from harmful pollutants. It did this by preventing long-term increases and short-term"spikes" in pollution, particularly during the day and the summer.

In theory, these limitations make it especially difficult for a new plant to be approved near a national park. Before a plant is built an incremental analysis must be done to show how much pollution is already in the Class I area and how much pollution the new plant will contribute.

If the analysis shows that the plant will greatly increase the amount of pollutants in the area, which is usually the case, the plant may not be built....