Keeping Pace with Science and Engineering Case Studies in Environmental Regulation (1993) / Chapter Skim
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Acid Deposition
Acid Deposition
Pages 165-188
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From page 165... ...
In a number of instances, environmental statutes incorporate explicit procedures for revising regulations to accommodate new data. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L.
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From page 166... ...
The acid deposition control program authorized by Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 signaled the end to more than a decade of acrimonious debate. However, before these regulations were passed acid rain was one of the most prominent, complex, and divisive environmental research and policy issues of the 1980s (see Regens and Rycroft, 1988~.
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From page 167... ...
, 1983, 19861. Interestingly enough, the first scientific studies attempting to delineate the processes producing acid rain date back to the late 1800s (see Figure 3~.
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rejects Canadian proposal for joint 50 percent reduction in SO2 emissions FIGURE 3 Timeline of significant scientific, technical, and regulatory developments in acid rain. (Figure continues on next page.)
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From page 170... ...
The Swedish case study prepared for the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm asserted that acid rain was due primarily to sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from man-made sourcespredominately coal-fired, steam electric power plants and industrial facilities and that it adversely affected ecosystems and human health (Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Swedish Ministry of Agriculture, 19721.
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From page 171... ...
Responding to such findings, in 1978 the United States and Canada established a Bilateral Research Consultation Group on the LongRange Transport of Air Pollutants to coordinate the exchange of scientific information about acid rain. In 1980 the two governments took further steps to cooperate in the exchange of scientific, technical, and economic information about acid deposition when a set of three bilateral work groups composed of government experts in each of these areas was created to support negotiations under the U.S.-Canada Memorandum of Intent (MOI)
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From page 172... ...
, it is useful to describe briefly the federal government's efforts to develop and synthesize information about acid deposition under the umbrella of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. The Acid Precipitation Act of 1980 (P.L.
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According to its original operating plan, NAPAP was to provide an initial damage assessment with preliminary estimates of acid rain impacts by 1985, focusing on the northeastern United States, and two additional integrated assessments in 1987 and 1989 to support policymaking. In addition, NAPAP's legislative mandate called for providing annual reports to the President and Congress on the status and significance of the continuing research effort as well as recommending specific policy actions to deal with acid rain.
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From page 174... ...
OVERVIEW OF THE REGULATORY STRATEGY Figure 3 identifies the key events in the development of the regulatory strategy for managing the environmental consequences of acid deposition. The first air pollution control legislation adopted at the national level in the United States was passed in 1955 (Air Pollution Control Act of 1955, P.L.
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From page 175... ...
In 1977 the CAA was reauthorized with a new series of amendments that had implications for acid deposition control (Clean Air Amendments of 1977, P.L.
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From page 176... ...
In 1979, then President Carter referred to acid precipitation as a global environmental problem of the greatest importance in a message to Congress asking for expanded research and development as well as possible control measures under the CAA (Carter, 1980~. The U.S.Canada memorandum of intent to negotiate an agreement to control transboundary air pollution and the Acid Precipitation Act of 1980 (P.L.
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From page 177... ...
The EPA proposed Acid Rain Rules in December 1991 that cover allowance trading, excess emissions, permits, and continuous emissions monitoring. The public comment period closed in February 1992 and the final rules were released in late 1992.
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Only three years later, a Harris poll found that 63 percent of those questioned were aware of acid rain and approximately 66 percent favored stricter controls on SO2 emissions. In essence, in the early 1980s, scientific inquiry had transformed the acid in,.
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From page 179... ...
While they did not say so explicitly, the 1983 and 1986 National Research Council reports, especially the water chemistry data presented in the 1986 report, fostered the impression that other human activities have much more substantial effects on soil and water chemistry than those producing acid rain, except in a very few high-elevation watersheds that are otherwise undisturbed by humans. The NAPAP National Surface Water Survey conducted during the mid-1980s also yielded late-summer, water chemistry data that reinforced the conclusion that addressing lake acidification ought not be the primary motivation for legislation (Landers et al., 1987, Linthurst et al., 1986~.
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From page 180... ...
The report's recommendation of a 50 percent reduction in H+ ion deposition to protect sensitive aquatic ecosystems was used to justify proposals for a corresponding 50 percent reduction in SO2 emissions. The 1983 draft critical assessment review papers requested by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of EPA's Science Advisory Board (EPA, 1983a)
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From page 181... ...
tend to produce roughly comparable results when used to estimate the control costs of emissions reductions, basic conclusions about cost curves were reinforced. Figure 4 shows that the models agree on the general shape of the cost curve as well as on a dramatic increase in marginal costs (in terms of their magnitude and relative uncertainty)
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From page 182... ...
It most likely is due some credit for acid deposition policy to the extent that the work to produce useful information was funded under its interagency budget, especially in developing the emissions inventories that form the basis for allocating reductions. It is worth remembering that the original mandate for NAPAP was to produce policy-relevant assessments of the causes and effects of acid deposition as well as to recommend specific policy actions to deal with acid rain.
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From page 183... ...
Several reviews of NAPAP concluded that the lack of well-defined information needs coupled with a decentralized management approach tended to make agencies willing to seek funding under NAPAP but precluded the timely collection of valid, reliable data for risk-benefit analyses as a basis for designing a national acid deposition control strategy (EPA, 1983b; NAPAP, l991c; U.S. General Accounting Office [GAO]
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From page 184... ...
By the time the post-Kulp leadership reestablished the more open decision processes that characterized NAPAP's first few years and enhanced the program's assessment capability, a three-month extension was necessary in order to complete the final 1990 integrated assessment and it was too late for the final assessment to influence legislative outputs. Ironically, the final assessment was released in early 1991, several months after acid rain control legislation was signed into law on November 15, 1990.
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From page 185... ...
The heightened significance of the acid deposition issue generated pressure for political action and, when the Bush administration proposed acid deposition legislation in 1989, the question of deferring a policy decision until NAPAP's final assessment was released became moot. LESSONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICYMAKING Sensitive environmental issues, by their very nature, create controversy.
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From page 186... ...
Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP)
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Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program.
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From page 188... ...
1989. Congressional Cosponsorship of Acid Rain Controls.
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