Clean
Air Issues
Acid Rain
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PENNSYLVANIA
FOREST RECOVERY FROM ACID RAIN BY MID-CENTURY ACHIEVABLE;
NEW STUDY SHOWS STEEP REDUCTIONS IN SULFUR EMISSIONS FROM POWER
PLANTS REQUIRED
We can recover from the effects of “Acid Rain”, given commitment
and time. A study released yesterday
March 26 by nationally recognized ecological researchers demonstrates
that acid rain continues to significantly damage water bodies and
forests in the U.S. including Pennsylvania. Additional
reductions in power plant sulfur dioxide emissions of 80 percent beyond
current requirements would allow recovery of sensitive Pennsylvania
ecosystems by mid-century. The results are consistent with the pollution
reduction targets set in multi-pollutant power plant bills introduced
by a bi-partisan group of congressional leaders earlier this month. Findings consistent with pollution targets in national legislation The study by the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, “Acidic Deposition in the Northeastern United States: Sources and Inputs, Ecosystem Effects and Management Strategies”, was released in the March issue of BioScience. Drawing from research conducted at long-term monitoring sites in New England, New York and Pennsylvania, the team of ten scientists, including Dr. Gene Likens, Director of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York and Dr. Charles Driscoll, Distinguished Professor at Syracuse University found that in spite of present pollution controls, many lakes and streams remain acidic, and some are unable to support trout and other fish species. Acid rain also damages forests in Pennsylvania especially the sugar maple with 90% mortality on sites in north-central Pennsylvania . Tree growth is compromised when forest soils have been stripped of nutrients by acid rain. In analyzing sulfur reductions called for in bills before Congress, the report found that only sulfur cuts consistent with the most aggressive proposals would allow sensitive ecosystems like the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire and the sugar maple forests of north-central Pennsylvania to recover in about 50 years. “When ten of the country’s top scientists suggest that deeper cuts are needed to solve the acid rain problem, it’s time for Congress to pay close attention to their message,” said Nancy F. Parks, Chair of the Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter’s Clean Air Committee. “Now, the science is in and it is clear that nothing short of the most aggressive sulfur cuts called for in pending legislation will deliver the reductions needed to allow recovery of sensitive ecosystems.” The focus of this BioScience study is the northeastern United States, underscoring the existing body of research from Pennsylvania on the severity of impacts caused by acid rain. A 1998 Penn State report, “The Effects of Air Pollutants On Pennsylvania Forests”, from a September 1998 international symposia held in State College and organized by Dr. Bill Sharpe, brought European researchers to Pennsylvania to evaluate the state of Pennsylvania forests. What part of our vast tree regeneration problems here in Pennsylvania are due to air pollution? Scientists found in 1998 that forested sites in PA show strong acidification and forest stress; high levels of red oak tree mortality occur in southwestern PA, preceded by chronically reduced tree growth, and reduced levels of basic cations (nutrients). Acidified forest soils and lower soils water pH prompted higher insect populationsd damaging sites. Sugar maple regeneration is inadequate in high mortality sugar maple stands in PA. No seedlings were found on sites with high levels of available aluminum and low levels of soil nutrients. Mature northern red oak sites in SW PA in decline had low available calcium and high available aluminum. Statistical associations showed a correlation between red oak decline and mortality throughout many eastern states and ozone deposition, and increased mortality of white oak due to acid deposition. And finally, five forested watersheds on the northern Appalachian Plateau of Pennsylvania receive acid air pollution deposition that was evaluated over a six year period finding that nutrient losses (exported) from the forested ecosystem annually exceeded inputs of these nutrients by a factor of 4 to 1. On March 15, Senators Jeffords (R-VT), Collins (R-ME), Lieberman (D-CT), and Schumer (D-NY) and Representatives Bohlert (R-NY) and Waxman (D-CA) introduced multi-pollutant power plant pollution reduction legislation that would require power plants - among other things - to reduce their sulfur dioxide emissions 75 percent below the levels required by the 1990 Clean Air Act (Title IV, Acid Rain) law. The bi-partisan legislation, which also requires mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide (the chief climate change gas), received special notoriety because it was introduced the day after President Bush reneged on his campaign promise to support carbon dioxide reduction as part of the multi-pollutant power plant legislation. (The bills are available online at: www.cleartheair.org) Sulfur cuts do not just reduce acid rain. Sulfate is the primary component of small particles that degrade views and, when, inhaled over a number of years, can trigger respiratory and heart illnesses. Complications from these diseases shorten the lives of about 30,000 Americans each year, over 5300 premature deaths in Pennsylvania each year. “We are convinced that the growing body of research tells us that the benefits from sulfur cuts will be huge,” says Parks. “The time is ripe for Congress to take the next step and initiate the level of pollution controls we need to protect our forests, our streams and the health of our families.” The full article is available on the American Institute of Biological Sciences website at: http://www.aibs.org/biosciencelibrary/vol51/mar01special.ldml To view a companion report for a non-scientific audience: www.hbrook.sr.unh.edu/hbfound/hbfound.htm Contacts: Nancy F. Parks 814-349-5151
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