Op-Ed Articles

The Battle over Acid-Rain Legislation: Why Do We Ignore the Evidence?
October 28, 1984 | The New York Times

By Henry A. Waxman

Few environmental problems have been studied as much as acid rain. Fewer still have acid rain's ability to wreak widespread economic and environmental damage. And no problem is as much in need of immediate action.

More than 10 years ago researchers began to document acid rain's effects in the lakes in the Adirondack Mountains and warned of potential adverse impacts. Today, hundreds of lakes in New England, the Upper Middle West, the Mountain states and the Southeast that once teemed with fish have been stilled by acidification.

And acid rain is damaging more than just lakes. Forests are showing signs of a precipitous decline throughout large parts of the Eastern United States. Spruce and fir stands in many areas are now littered with dead or dying trees. Growth of many economically important pine species, including the loblolly pine vital to the economies of several Southern states, has declined dramatically. Not surprisingly, trees are also being damaged in the Middle West, especially in the heavilypolluting Ohio River Basin, where much of the acid rain in the Eastern United States originates.

Our nation's forest damage is not unique. In West Germany, pollution has injured an estimated 34 percent of that nation's trees.

Enormous economic implications accompany such extensive damage. Reduced forest yields will have a direct impact on the $49 billionayear forestry and forest products industry. And as might be expected, investment analysts are becoming apprehensive. In a recent report, Standard & Poor's warned that acid rain presents a clear danger to the forest products industry and cautioned that ''if acid rain kills an appreciable number of trees on the millions of acres owned by the forest products companies, the companies' stock prices will die faster than the trees.''

The economic costs involve more than just damaged forests. Our nation's fishing, recreation and tourism industries will face an unprecedented assault on their vitality.

Moreover, the health consequences of acid rain are especially staggering. A recent Office of Technology assessment estimates that these pollutants may be responsible for 50,000 premature deaths a year.

Despite acid rain's adverse health, economic and environmental consequences, President Reagan has joined with Middle Western coal companies and utilities in opposing any control program at the present time. Although the President originally argued that there was no acid rain problem, his Administration now asserts that it exists but is so complex and poorly understood that scientists cannot agree on a solution.

But this position ignores the scientific consensus that has emerged through thousands of acid rain studies. When objective expert panels have been assembled to evaluate the problem, they have reached the same conclusion: If we do not act now to reduce the sulfur and nitrogen oxide pollutants that cause acid rain, we risk widespread, irreversible damage to the ecosystems upon which our economy and wellbeing depend.

Our nation's most prestigious scientific organization, the National Academy of Sciences, has unambiguously recommended a ''prompt tightening of restrictions on atmospheric emissions.'' Even President Reagan's own handpicked panel of scientists affirmed the academy's call for control action. But the Administration suppressed the advisers' report last spring, while actively opposing Congressional efforts to enact a control program.

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In opposing legislation, the Administration argued that acid rain controls would unfairly penalize some states and favor one region of the country over another. In fact, just the opposite is true. The Administration's ''do nothing'' policy is environmentally and economically unfair to states with strong control programs, and favors polluting states that for over a decade have fought pollution reduction requirements. It is a policy that gives shortsighted protection to the profits of a narrow sector the utilities and coal companies at the expense of immense longterm economic and environmental costs. The refusal of coal and utility companies to act reasonably should not be allowed to threaten our health, environment and economy.

Legislation has already been drafted that would achieve significant reductions without causing Midwestern unemployment or expensive utility rate increases. According to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, a 10millionton sulfur dioxide reduction program, relying upon pollution control technologies that would protect the jobs of coalminers by institutionalizing the use of high sulfur coals, could be paid for with an average increase in electricity rates in the 48 states of only 3 percent. Scientists agree that such a program would reduce the threat to our health, lakes and forests.

The President's kneejerk opposition to controls ignores the thoroughness of acid rain research and reflects an ideology that equates environmental protection with bad economics. His inaction is causing human suffering and costing our economy billions of dollars in damage.