`Scientific uncertainty` scuttles new acid rain standard

Journal Article · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es00010a750· OSTI ID:121609

Renner, R

An EPA report to Congress due this month will report on the controversial question of whether the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) adequately protect sensitive areas of the United States from acid rain, and recommends against establishing a new `acid deposition standard` to protect sensitive areas of the United States from acid rain. Rebecca Renner reports on the scientific issues underlying that decision and the efforts of one state to overturn it. The report to Congress, required by the CAAA, asked the Agency to report on the feasibility of setting an acid deposition standard to protect sensitive areas. EPA missed the original 1993 deadline and is under court order to issue the final report by October 15. The draft report identifies the lakes and streams of the Appalachian mountains as sensitive resources that receive damaging concentrations of acidic deposition. Three areas where sensitive water resources have been well studied were selected as providing the best available data for modeling case studies: the Adirondacks; the mid-Appalachian region, including parts of Pennsylvania. West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia; and the Southern Blue Ridge in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Results are discussed. 6 refs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 121609
• Journal Information: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 29; ISSN 0013-936X; ISSN ESTHAG
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ACID RAIN
AIR POLLUTION
CLEAN AIR ACTS
DATA COVARIANCES
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
NITROGEN
NITROGEN OXIDES
SATURATION
STANDARDS
US EPA