give the lay person “a firm grasp on just what the key elements are, what the C. White, Ed. Elsevier, 52 Vanderbilt state of the art is, what are the primary Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1988. areas of uncertainty and how they affect our ability to predict the source-recep223 pages. $59.00, cloth. tor relationship.” In 18 pages this is an Reviewed by Jack G. Calvert, Atmo- impossible goal, but Hales has made an spheric Chemistry Division, National interesting attempt. Center for Atmospheric Research, I find fault, however, with a few Boulder, Colo. 80307. points within Hales’s presentation. For Acid Rain: The Relationship Between example, he describes one of the origiSources and Receptors consists of a nal chemical schemes that involves six collection of papers and discussions reactions and is used to model photofrom the third annual conference spon- chemical smog. Hales notes that he insored by the Acid Rain Information tended to show a more modern examClearinghouse. The conference, held in ple of reaction schemes but found it December 1986, was supported by the “impossible to depict these here in an Electric Power Research Institute understandable manner, owing to the (EPRI), the Gas Research Institute, and multiplicity of reactants.” Yet Hales inthe National Acid Precipitation Assess- cludes a figure labeled “Preposterous depiction of possible complexity of the ment Program (NAPAP). The book begins and ends with dis- atmospheric and surface receptor sites cussions of the legal and political as- of deposition,” which does not appear pects of the acid rain problem and as- to reflect his concern about complexity. sessment of policy options in light of Hales picks nitrogen chemistry as one current understanding. Neil Orloff and aspect of gas-phase chemistry that reLisa Byrns of Cornel1 University give a mains poorly defined. In my judgment, comprehensive review of the legislation nitrogen chemistry is probably better concerning the control of acid rain understood today than many other asprocesses at the national and state lev- pects of gas-phase chemistry, such as els. Charles Carter of EPA describes the organic chemistry of hydrocarbon from his agency’s legal perspective the oxidation in the atmosphere. The third section of the book adproblems currently associated with establishing an acid rain standard. Mi- dresses the information needs of terreschael Teague, a partner of the law firm trial, air, and water scientists. The terof Hunton & Williams (Washington, restrial aspect is addressed by J . D.C.), explains why it is inappropriate Laurence Kulp, the former NAPAP dito establish regulations concerning the rector. He presents some unusual concontrol of acid rain precursors now, in clusions in a rather cavalier fashion. light of uncertainties associated with For example, “SOz and NO, may be source-receptor relationships. David dismissed from serious consideration as Wooley of the New York State Depart- having major impacts on receptors exment of Law (Albany) expresses the cept in certain local situations such as view that scientists, legislators, and close proximity to a smelter where a judges must understand that scientific thousand parts per billion of SO2 ocuncertainty is not necessarily an imped- curred such as at Sudbury, Ontario or iment to regulatory action and that the Ducktown, Tennessee.” He also states, interaction between the two is on the “In general, acidity must be increased cutting edge of environmental decision below pH 3 before effects begin to be making. observed.” The second portion of the book is This reviewer is reluctant to parrot devoted to the scientific and technical the currently popular view that acid aspects of source-receptor relation- rain causes no ecological damage, but ships. Jeremy Hales of Battelle North- rather that hydrogen peroxide, ozone, west Laboratory briefly describes the metal ions, disease, and drought are to chemistry of acid rain in an attempt to be blamed. Can we now rule out the
Acid Rain: The Relationship Between Sources and Receptors. James
0013-936X/88/0922-0749$01.50/0
0 1988 American Chemical Society
synergistic influence of acid deposition on terrestrial exposures to H202, 03, and other oxidants? Simple physical chemistry suggests that the oxidation potentials of these oxidants increase significantly with increases in acidity, so the combined effect of acid and oxidants remain in my inventory of potentially important contributors to terrestrial effects. Gene Likens of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, New York Botanical Garden, discusses aquatic information needs. He notes that if the threshold is about 10 kg/ha of sulfate, then the deposition of sulfur in the northeastern United States is about 2 to 4 times greater than that which is thought to cause cherhical and ecological changes in sensitive aquatic systems. He further states that, although lakes will respond and recover chemically from acidification rather quickly, forests probably will respond more slowly, and soils, much more slowly. On the basis of years of experience, Likens expresses the view that the scientific input to environmental decision making-for example, with respect to acid deposition control-is not very important. Perhaps 5 2 0 % of a decision is based upon scientific understanding; the main factors are politics and economics. A large portion of the book is devoted to model simulations and development of control strategy. Perry Samson of the University of Michigan evaluates various models, particularly Lagrangian models based upon probability fields. He also discusses the various sources of error associated with many of the models currently in use. Lester Machta of the Air Resources Laboratory evaluates the potential use and accuracy of massive tracer experiments that might be associated with various SOz reduction scenarios, James Young of the Atmospheric Environment Service (AES, Downsview, Ontario) describes the Canadian experience in dealing with source-receptor relationships. He notes that in 1982 the Canadian government decided to base its acid rain control strategy on science; in spite of this emphasis, it is interestEnviron. Sci. Technol., Vol. 22, No. 7, 1988 749
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ing that the AES group does not use the state-of-the-art ADOM/TADAP model (nonlinear chemistry coupled with transport), which was developed with the support of the Ontario Environmental Services to optimize its selective reduction strategy. David Streets of Argonne National Laboratory points out that scientists are able to reproduce most of the features of measured wet sulfate deposition patterns by using state-of-the-art linear chemistry models for long time periods and over great distances. Combining these models with economic considerations, he states that a deposition-optimized strategy would reduce acid deposition in the Adirondacks by amounts specified in recent Senate bills, which describe different geographic scenarios for these reductions, with very impressive cost savings. Although the contrast between the comments of George Hidy of EPRI (then of the Desert Research Institute) and Michael Oppenheimer of the Environmental Defense Fund is striking, it reflects the logic of scientists with very different constituencies and perspectives. Oppenheimer’s view that “we don’t need to know any more to start controlling acid deposition” is certainly as logical as Hidys conclusion that “the scientific results now available have not ‘hardened’ information on possible ecosystem effects, particularly for terrestrial systems.” The action of Congress, rather than scientific input, will determine if and when additional controls on acid rain precursors are necessary. Rosina Bierbaum and her colleagues of the Office of Technology Assessment, however, pose a number of key questions related to acid rain precursor control that Congress must face to weigh the risk of ecological damage against the cost of controls. Bierbaum and coauthors assert that scientists must continue to play a constructive and useful role in bringing scientific input to bear on addressing these questions. A scientist probably will find Acid Rain: The Relationship Between Sources and Receptors somewhat simplistic because few of the articles discuss the technical issues in detail. In addition, the reader may be distracted by the inconsistencies in the formats of the articles (e.g., some have summaries, some do not; references may be given as footnotes or at the end of the article, and so on). Nevertheless, much of the book is instructive and may even be entertaining to the scientist. It also is a book that environmental scientists, politicians, and lawyers may wish to read. I do not believe, however, that it is a book that will find its way to many scientists’ bookshelves.
