Left in the Rain

Fads aren't only for fashion

Story and photos by Ashlie Doran

It appears that acid rain monitoring research, like Captain Planet, might be so yesterday.

After fifty years and millions of dollars, we know acid rain is caused by air pollutants released from industrial and power plants. Polluted air harms trees, fish and humans' health. Also, tourist destinations like the Adirondacks and Great Smoky Mountains and monuments, such as those in Gettysburg and Washington, are deteriorating.

"Once the Clean Air Act of 1990 ended, the EPA walked away from acid rain."

Environmental laws can help. For example, the Clean Air Act of 1990 cut emissions of sulfur, one of many by-products created by fossil fuel burning that causes acid rain, by more than half its previous levels. Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, and the University of Maine all report some recovery in lakes and rivers in the Northeast. These researchers state that long-term monitoring is necessary. Not one claimed victory.

But the buck moved on.

"Once the Clean Air Act of 1990 ended, the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] walked away from acid rain," notes Kenneth Demerjian, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center in Albany, New York.

And so the funding faded.

"Unfortunately, scientists follow the dollar," laments Dr. Donald Bogucki, a former EPA acid rain researcher.

"To survive in this business, a scientist must have funding," Demerjian retorts. After five years of pushing for progress, his acid rain research ended abruptly without closure, he says. "It's frustrating."

Research enables the government to determine if environmental legislation is effective, explains Doug Wolfe, an acid deposition expert who has been involved with Whiteface Mountain's monitoring sites since the 1960s. Monitoring research lets scientists find trends by comparing current and past data, he adds.

"That's why CAST NET is so essential," U.S. Congressmen John McHugh (R-NY) says agreeing with Wolfe's explanation.

Nonetheless, on August 26 the EPA proposed major reductions to acid monitoring programs. It's one more drop in the torrential downpour of cuts.

"I think acid rain will get worse if monitoring is cut back."

The Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CAST NET), an EPA air monitoring program, was established under the Clean Air Act of 1990. It blossomed with a $20 million dollar budget. However, in 1995 its allowance shriveled to $7 million. Less than two years later, it shrunk to $4 million dollars. In 2004, CAST NET's budget waned to $3.9 million. Currently, the Bush Administration wants to slash the program's funds by another million dollars in 2008. As a result, several CAST NET monitoring sites would be eliminated.

Some see trouble ahead.

"I think acid rain will get worse if monitoring is cut back," says John Upham, a recently retired science teacher from Norwood-Norfolk Elementary School who led his students in acid rain monitoring experiments.

If this prediction is correct, a storm may be coming.

"Nowhere else has the U.S. felt the negative effects of acid rain more severely than in the Adirondacks," Congressmen McHugh says.

Glaciers scrapped top soil away in the Northeast around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago; thus, the land is more vulnerable to acid rain because there isn't enough soil to stop the acid rain from seeping into water bodies, Bogucki says.

Now, only one CAST NET air monitoring site exists in the Adirondacks.

Nonetheless, Congressman McHugh argued to restore $1 million to the program. After McHugh's statement, this amendment of the proposed Interior Appropriations bill was passed by the House of Representatives. It could become law by the end of this year.

Would you breathe easier knowing air pollution is being monitored?