Acid rain Northeast, causing the high acidic readings in those states. Scientific uncertainty fosters political and economic debate and exacerbates the predictable differences between industrial, environmental, and governmental views.
Government proposals In his August 1979 environmental message to Congress, President Carter characterized acid rain as one of the two most serious existing environmental threats. H e directed that $10 A 1975 survey of 214 lakes in the million per year be redirected to its Adirondack region of Yew York found research and that a “Federal Acid that over 50% had a pH which imperRain Assessment Plan” be devised. iled fish survival (less than 5.0) and that 82 were in fact fishless. By 1979, Produced by a “coordination committee” headed by EPA and the Dethe number of fishless lakes in the area had grown to nearly 200. Recent . partment of Agriculture, the plan is to outline how the federal government studies reveal that the problem is not will cope with the acid-rain problem unique to the Northeast. The Great and is due to be promulgated this Lakes region is receiving precipitation month. that is 5-40 times more acidic than “pure” (pH 5.6) precipitation. EPA Administrator Costle in turn Similarly, documentation of impact recently stated, “The time has come to make the transition from research to in the southeast and western United action.” While EPA research conStates is growing. The problem has tinues, this month the agency is long been recognized in Europe; in scheduled to publish an analysis of its 1974, Scottish scientists recorded a existing authority to regulate Acid rain storm in which the rain was the acidic equivalent of vinegar. The culprit under the Clean Air Act and to detail “acid rain” is thought to be largely the by this fall any new statutory initiaresult of sulfur and nitrogen oxide tives it feels are necessary. This comes emissions produced by burning fossil a t a time when the “oil backout” legfuels. islation now under consideration in Congress would cause, Costle claims, Symptomatic problem of the 1980s a 15-20% increase in acid rain in the Acid rain typifies the more pressing Northeast. environmental problems of the 1980s. Environmental initiatives I t is not limited to a particular area and its effects are worldwide and impact an While EPA ruminates about its entire ecosystem. Further, they are statutory authority, the environmental cumulative and may not be detected community insists that the problem for decades. calls for immediate action and that The scientific community not only EPA already has adequate short-term cannot agree on a solution, but it can- authority. Both the Environmental not with any certainty define the Defense Fund and the Natural Reproblem, predict the effect upon sources Defense Council have recently human health, or even agree that written Costle, claiming that adoption power-plant emissions in the Midwest of tall-stack regulations and noncomare transported, as alleged, to the pliance penalties, both called for by the 0013-936X/80/0914-0657$01 .OO/O @ 1980 American Chemical Society
act, would significantly alleviate the problem. Similarly, while the act provides for national ambient air quality standards, a fine-particulate standard has not been promulgated. Nor, they argue, have adequate emission standards for existing fossil-fuel-fired power plants been set.
Industrial response Industry, in particular the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the research arm of the utility industry, has studied the problem as comprehensively as any group and has recently received funding for that effort from both EPA and DOE. EPRI argues that scientific evidence does not verify either the nature of the relationship between the amount of sulfur or nitrogen dioxide emitted into the atmosphere and the amount of acid rain, or that acid rain is increasing. The American Petroleum Institute asserts that billions of dollars would be required to control “supposed” sources of acid rain and that the evidence does not support such substantial expenditures. A solution? EPA’s David Hawkins recently expressed what appears to be an increasing prevalent analogy: “When a truck is bearing down on you, you don’t stop to calculate the mass and velocity. You move.” Just what direction that movement will take is still unclear. However, it is plain that the response from industry, environmentalists, and state officials to EPA’s announcements of this month, and to its subsequent actions, will indicate whether these countervailing constituencies can work toward a timely solution. In that sense, acid rain serves as a precursor to our society’s ability to grapple with the increasingly complex environmental and energy problems of the 1980s. Volume 14, Number 6 , June 1980
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