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GUEST EDITORIAL
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Acid rain.. What to do? Does the present state of knowledge about acid rain, its origin and extent, and its effect on the environment, warrant spending 2.5 billion taxpayer dollars on a program to reduce atmospheric SOz? There are plenty of good reasons to cut down on the amount of sulfur and other pollutants that pour into the atmosphere, but to use acid rain as an excuse and to intimate that if SOz is eliminated then acid rain will disappear is not only simplistic and unscientific, it is grossly misleading as well. Yet that is what President Reagan has called for. Urged on by his image-conscious staff and special envoy’s report on acid rain problems in southeastern Canada, and apparently motivated more by politics than by scientific evidence, the president would have us believe that if enough money were spent to devise ways to reduce SOz in the effluent from the stacks of midwestern coal-burning utilities, the acid rain problems would go away. Nonsense. In the first place, atmospheric SO2-which is widely assumed, but certainly not proved, to be the primary cause of acid rain-has been reduced by more than 15% since 1973. Yet the acidity of rainwater remains the same. Similar results with even greater SOz reductions (30% since 1970) are reported from Great Britain and Scandinavia. Second, most knowledgeable scientists agree that about half of all atmospheric sulfur worldwide comes from natural causes, including volcanic eruptions. Third, what are the established facts? We know that: Rainwater is naturally acidic, about pH 5.6. Whether it is becoming more acidic is speculative; historical data are unreliable. The natural pH may be reduced by pollutants. Sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen peroxide, formaldehyde, and a wide variety of organic compounds are all present and more important than was previously believed. Photooxidation and complex chemical reactions can lead to the production of strong or weak acids. The presence of particulates is important. Dry deposition of acidic particulates may occur. Acid deposition (wet or dry) is more significant than the pH of rainwater. The interaction between the acidity of deposits and the substrate (i.e., soils, water, organisms, and structures) results in environmental impact. 348 Environ. Sci. Technol.. Vol. 22. NO.4. 1988
The amount of acid deposition and the natural pH of soils differs widely across the United States. Naturally occurring limestone and the liming of agricultural soil buffer acid deposition, as do ammoniabased fertilizers. Finally, that the consequences of acid deposition can be adverse is well established, but they are local and regional, not universal. Results of extensive research by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has shown that “every source region affects itself more than any other region.” This is true also for New England and southeastern Canada. If those who insist that their acid rain problems come from coal-burning utilities in the Ohio Valley were serious about solving the problem, they would insist on proof. Proof could easily be obtained by adding small amounts of a tracer (sulfur-35) to the smoke of utility burners and see whether the sulfur-bearing plume actually reaches New England in significant amounts. If those who call for penalizing coal-burning utilities were really sincere, they would be campaigning vigorously for conversion to nuclear power. Nuclear power plants emit no sulfur, no nitrogen, no COz, no organic compounds, and only a tiny radiation dose of less than 10%of the natural level. Coal burners emit all of these, including unknown amounts of unregulated, uncontrolled radioactivity. What to do? The $2.5 billion, or however much is needed, should be spent on research-not on boondoggles to satisfy the mindless cries to “do something” from those who would substitute passion for science.
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M e Lee Ray is a senior scholar with the lnsrirurefor Regularo? Science in Alerandria. Va. The lnsrirure is dedicated ro rhc proposirion rhar laws. regularions. and judicial decisions should be based upon best available scientific data: it is also deeply involved in rhe question of who speaks for science. Ray is the retired former chairperson ofrhe U.S. Aromic Energy Commission and governor of Washington. She divides her rim? among wriring, consulring. and indulging in hrr wood-carving hobb\: 0013~938W88/0922-0348$01.5010
‘e) 1988 American Chemical Society
