In the 1990s, the region was among the fastest-growing areas in the country, but with that growth has come a downside. And the demand for air conditioning, much of it made possible by coal-fired utility plants with tall smokestacks, has soared. The region's hot summers and often stagnant air encourage the smog to accumulate. It has compelled elected officials, state and federal agencies, worried residents and utility companies to put their heads together to seek solutions to a complicated problem that everyone concedes was not created overnight. The study will be completed next spring.
Utility companies continue to employ new technology to try to reduce pollutants.
In December, the agency also issued an order that will reduce emissions from new sport-utility vehicles. Beautiful as they are, the Great Smoky Mountains are uniquely situated to catch the most bad air much of the time. The national park straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border, and some of its peaks reach more than 6,000 feet. They tend to deposit into the trees, the soils, the streams. Summertime, which also brings the heaviest tourist influx to the mountains, is the height of the ozone season.