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Acid Rain Progress Mixed: Sulfur In NY Water Declines, NOx Rising

March 26, 2000-- The New York Times reports on a General Accounting Office study that found sulfur levels in Adirondack waterways have dropped substantially in recent years. However, the study also found that nitrogen levels have risen dramatically.

Sulfur levels decreased in 92% of the lakes examined. Nitrogen levels rose in 48 of 52 of the lakes tested despite the fact that the amount of nitrogen deposited during the 1990s was fairly stable. The study attributed the rising waterway nitrogen levels to a decline in the ability of forests and soils in the Adirondacks to neutralize nitrogen.

The falling sulfur levels are consistent with a U.S. Geological Survey study, reported in 1997, that found that sulfur deposition declined measurably in most regions in the eastern U.S. immediately after the 1995 imposition of sulfur dioxide emission limits on large emission sources. Electric power companies took advantage of the sulfur program’s market-based flexibility and cut sulfur emissions to levels below allowed limits every year since 1995.

While many officials have focused on emissions from coal-fired power plants as the likely cause of the nitrogen increase in New York, acid rain experts are pointing to automobile admissions as a large contributor to the nitrogen problem.

Faulting Midwestern power plants for the nitrogen increases, New York legislators have introduced federal legislation to cut nitrogen emissions to 50% below reductions mandated by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. However, many scientists are skeptical that a further reduction in emissions from power plants will solve the problem in the Adirondacks.

Gary Lovett of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies says that he agrees further power plant emissions reductions are necessary. However, he and others believe that the problem will not be solved without tackling the thorny problem of automobile emissions.

Acid rain occurs when sulfur and nitrogen emitted into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels react with moisture in the atmosphere to create nitric and sulfuric acid. The acid then falls to earth in the form of acid rain, snow or fog.