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WE DID IT!!
I hope you will take personal
pride and join us in celebrating a major accomplishment that
your support and activism has made possible. On March 10 2005,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Clean
Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) with significant cuts to the emissions
that cause acid rain. A culmination of thirty years of steadfast
advocacy by the Adirondack Council and others, CAIR will provide
the cuts in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions necessary
to allow lakes, forests and soils in the Adirondacks to begin
the recovery process.
With your help, the
Adirondack Council has achieved one of its greatest successes
to date!
It has been a long and arduous
fight on acid rain. As recently as the 1980s policy makers and
industry leaders denied the connection between acid rain and
power plant emissions. Today, thanks in large measure to the
efforts of the Adirondack Council, policy makers, industry leaders,
and environmental organizations are supporting the new CAIR rule,
agreeing that the additional cuts in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides are economically feasible and will result in measurable
improvements to human and environmental health.
Thank you for your support, communication
with policy makers, and enthusiastic interest in the Adirondack
Council's acid rain efforts.
The issuing of CAIR is an historic
action that brings with it the reasonable hope that the Adirondacks
will begin to recover from the damage of acid rain. As predicted
by the EPA and independent scientists, the rule will also curtail
the damage to historic monuments and improve human health.
The Council led the
fight to stop acid rain and our hard work has paid off.
The hallmark of any effective
organization is tangible results. With your support, the Adirondack
Council has diligently led the effort to end the destruction
caused by acid rain in the Adirondacks, the Northern Forest and
along the entire East Coast. After successfully advocating for
the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, which established the first
sulfur dioxide reduction program and a federal program to monitor
the impacts of acid rain, the Council continued to fight for
further action when scientific studies determined that the damage
was continuing.
In 1998, the Adirondack Council
published Acid Rain: A Continuing National
Tragedy. The publication was widely distributed to educate
the public and policy makers about the ongoing damage caused
by acid rain. It made four specific recommendations. Today,
each of these four recommendations for ending acid rain has been
met.
1) Reduce the cap on sulfur
dioxide emissions by 50%.
CAIR reduces sulfur dioxide emissions in 28 eastern states (plus
the District of Columbia) by 73% by 2015. This will remove another
7 million tons of sulfur annually that will never reach the Adirondacks!
2) Create a similar cap and
trade program to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by 70%.
The CAIR rule establishes
the first year-round cap and trade program for nitrogen oxide
emissions and will cut nitrogen emissions by 61% from current
levels by 2015, resulting in an overall 70% reduction since 2000.
3) Continue biological and
chemical monitoring through 2020 to ensure that emissions cuts
have the anticipated effects. State
and federal budgets this year call for continued funding for
national and regional monitoring programs. The Council will also
be advocating for enhanced monitoring funds including the ecological
impacts of mercury.
4) Establish the authority
of the U.S. EPA Administrator to order new emissions cuts without
further Congressional action.
The Adirondack Council has implored the EPA to exercise the authority
provided within the Clean Air Act to make the needed cuts to
protect human health and sensitive ecosystems. When the EPA Administrator
came to the Adirondacks last summer, he announced his intention
to exercise this authority and issue new rules to reduce power
plant emissions. By finalizing CAIR, EPA has fulfilled its promise
to protect the Adirondack Park by using its existing ability
to further reduce power plant emissions.
There is still more
that needs to be done and we need your help.
The Adirondack Council's efforts
over the years have been costly. In spite of the relief CAIR
provides there is still more we need to do. The Council has a
continuing and unique role to play to make sure CAIR is implemented
and the Adirondack Park does recover fully. We will advocate
that the rule comes into effect as scheduled and the timelines
are not delayed by legal challenges from which regulations often
suffer. We will monitor the EPA to ensure it fully carries out
the requirements of CAIR and continue to advocate for federal
and state funding for biological and chemical monitoring programs
to be sure the rule has the desired result of stopping the damage
caused by acid rain.
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