It’s vacation time, and the van is loaded up with camping gear. You head to the nearest (or farthest, if you’re adventurous!) national park, and set up the tent. When it’s all done, it’s time to smell the fresh air, away from all the grime and exhaust from the city. Only, the air might not be as fresh as you imagine. On Friday, EPA released an assessment with the news that 37 states aren’t doing their part to make sure that pollution doesn’t wind its way back to our nation’s preserved areas.

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The states haven’t submitted plans under the Clean Air Act to regulate pollution into the parks, EPA said. The submission program, though, is a little behind schedule in the first place. Originally, states were supposed to submit plans to decrease pollution by December 2007, but EPA didn’t enforce the rule. It was only when environmental organizations sued to have states come up with plans that EPA made stricter attempts at regulation.

But, as the numbers show, even that hasn’t made states comply, and pollution still remains a problem in national parks. Reports EarthNews, “In Western states, the average distance a person can see is between 60 and 100 miles, about one-half to two-thirds of what it would be without man-made air pollution.”

States still have two more years before punishment becomes serious and EPA has to come up with a federal program.

>>Read more about national parks from Green Options

Hopefully this will happen before a beautiful park like the Smokey Mountains is completely lost in haze. Rated in 2004 by a national parks conservation group as the park with the worst air quality, the mountains still appear washed out and have to fight for room in the polluted air.

Photo Credit: robjcamb at Flickr under a Creative Commons License