PHOENIX (AP) -- Confirming what environmentalists have long contended, a federal study found that a coal-fired power plant is the single largest source of emissions clouding the view at the Grand Canyon.
The Environmental Protection Agency study found that the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev., 75 miles west of the national landmark, does not create the majority of the haze but is the largest single source of it.Rick Moore, air quality program manager for the Grand Canyon Trust, said the study backs what the conservation group has said all along. "Visibility at the canyon is made up of a bizillion things, but the largest single source of pollution is the Mohave power plant," he said.
Cars, lawn mowers, leaf blowers and industrial plants spew emissions into the air that combine with dust, pollen and other natural material to blanket the entire Colorado River plateau, including Grand Canyon National Park.
Most of the emissions responsible for the milky haze, which reduces how far visitors can see and gives the naturally red rocks a bluish tint, actually originate in Southern California, said Regina Spindler, the EPA study manager.