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ACID
RAIN-FIGHTING ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION URGES
SUPPORT FOR PROPOSED INTERSTATE AIR QUALITY RULE
If Approved, the Regs Would Stop Acid Rain Damage
in Adirondacks & Improve Human Health Nationwide
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-489-4186 (home)
Released, Wednesday,
February 25, 2004
PHILADELPHIA
- The Adirondack Council today praised the US Environmental Protection
Agency's proposed Interstate Air Quality Rule, telling federal
officials hosting a hearing on the rule that the cuts it requires
would stop acid rain damage in the Adirondack Park and help Philadelphians
breathe more easily.
At six million acres (more than 9,000 square miles), New York's
Adirondack Park is the largest American park outside of Alaska.
It was the first place in America to show signs of acid rain
damage, beginning in the 1970s. The Adirondack Council, the park's
largest environmental organization, has been fighting for a solution
ever since.
If approved, the new rule for electric power plants in 29 eastern
states would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 50% from 2002
levels by 2010; and by 71% by 2015. Nitrogen emissions from power
plants in the region will also be reduced in two phases, to levels
65% below current emissions by 2015.
Adirondack Council Communications Director John F. Sheehan told
the US Environmental Protection Agency hearing panel today that
the organization was pleased with the deep cuts proposed in the
new rule. He urged Philadelphians and others in attendance to
support the proposed rule. The hearing was held at the Wyndham
Hotel, at 17th and Race Streets. The hearing will continue on
Thursday, February 26.
"It is appropriate that we should testify today in Philadelphia,"
Sheehan said. "One of our early allies in the fight to stopsop
acid rain was the historic preservation community. Preservationists
and historians alike were alarmed to learn of the rapid deterioration
of the Civil War battlefield monuments at Gettysburg.
"The limestone markers, copper plaques and bronze statues
are literally melting from the acidic rainfall caused by the
emissions from distant upwind power plants. These are some of
the same power plants that are wreaking havoc in the Adirondacks.
"Acid rain has been recognized as a threat to historic structures
from the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to the Statute
of Liberty. Philadelphians along with the citizens of New York,
share the human health consequences of the long-range transport
of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Asthma cases in our children
continue to climb each year and millions suffer the consequences
of ozone pollution in the summertime. Ironically, in the remote
Adirondack Park, the unhealthiest air is at the top of one of
our highest peaks," Sheehan explained.
"The Adirondack Council welcomes and strongly supports the
proposed Air Quality Transport Rule Interstate Air Quality Rule.
. The rule is intended to address the inability of downwind states,
such as New York, to come into compliance with national ambient
air quality standards, when power plant emissions from outside
their borders are a substantial contributor to their pollution
problems," Sheehan said.
"The Interstate Air Quality Rule will result in substantial
public health benefits, far in excess of its cost. Tens of thousands
of premature deaths of our citizens with respiratory illnesses
may be avoided each year. We applaud these steps on behalf of
all New Yorkers. But we take a special interest in the secondary
benefits of the reduction in acid deposition throughout the eastern
portion of the nation and in the most sensitive area, the Adirondack
Park," Sheehan noted.
He testified that there is still room for improvement of the
proposed rule, either by shortening the timelines, or by deepening
the proposed emissions cuts. He said the Council would ask EPA
to do both.
The new cap and trade program envisioned in the proposed rule
and the target reductions in emissions meet or exceed the recommendations
in the Report to Congress by the National Acid Deposition Assessment
Program in 1998, and is consistent with the recommendations of
several other similar reports.
In January, the National Research Council of the National Academy
of Sciences recommended that EPA address the regional transport
of pollutants with a multi-pollutant approach for similar sources.
The NRC recommended a cap and trade strategy where feasible.
In December of 2002, Environmental Defense issued a publication
calling on the EPA to adopt a new cap and trade program year
round for nitrogen with additional cuts in sulfur that would
focus on the eastern region. The EPA's proposed rule parallels
that report.
The rule echoes the recommendations of the Southern Appalachian
Mountains Initiative (SAMI), a collaborative effort to improve
air quality which involved a number of state agencies, environmental
organizations, and the scientific community. The SAMI report
was issued in August of 2003.2002. The proposed rule also meets
the goals of the acid rain platform adopted by the Association
of New England Governors' and Eastern Canadian Premiers at their
annual conference in 1999.
"Congress
has been deadlocked on clean air issues for so long, it is a
welcome change to see the decisive action to bring our acid rain
problems to an end," Sheehan later explained. "The
sooner we start making these cuts, the sooner our lakes and forests
will recover from decades of damage."
As a result of decades of acid rain, more than 500 of the Adirondack
Park's 2,800 lakes and ponds are too acidic to support their
native life. Thousands of acres of high-elevation red spruce
and fir forests have been wiped out and acid-rain-caused mercury
contamination has been documented in more than 20 Adirondack
lakes, making the fish unfit to eat.
Founded in 1975, the Adirondack Council is a privately funded
not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the ecological
integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. The Council
accomplishes its goals through research, education, advocacy
and legal action. The Council does not accept government support
of any kind.
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