Conference
Description
During the past fifteen years acid rain, formally referred
to as acid deposition, has been the focus of much political debate and
scholarly research. Acid deposition is an environmental problem that
crosses state and national boundaries, and is closely linked to energy
policy since much of it originates as emissions from fossil-fuel power
stations. The goals of this interdisciplinary conference are to summarize
scientific and policy lessons learned from the attempt to control acid
deposition, and to discuss the future of transboundary pollutants and
market-based emission systems. The conference will focus on important
ecological impacts of acid deposition, the transboundary nature of the
pollutants, and domestic and international policies designed to reduce
their emission.
Acid deposition occurs when important precursor pollutants,
such as sulfur dioxide (S02) and nitrogen oxides
(N0X), chemically mix with water vapor and oxidants
in the atmosphere and fall back to earth in wet or dry form. Wet deposition
comes in the form of dew, fog, snow or rain, while dry deposition occurs
as either gasses or dry particulates. Research has shown that acid deposition
adversely affects freshwater lakes and streams, coastal habitats, agricultural
production, forests, soils, human health and building materials. Fossil-fuel
power plants, refineries, and paper and pulp mills are the major sources
of SO2 emissions, while automobiles and other
vehicles are the primary emitters of N0X.
The Scandinavians identified transboundary acid deposition
in the 1950s, when they found themselves subjected to the upwind acid-producing
emissions flowing from Germany and Western Europe. The U.S. has struggled
to address inequities caused by the flow of emissions across state boundaries,
simultaneously working with Canada to find an equitable bilateral solution
to transmission across their international boundary. In 1979 agreement
was reached on a comprehensive, multilateral treaty to restrict the
transboundary flow of acid-causing emissions primarily in Western Europe.
A landmark in the evolution of international cooperation on the environment,
the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) came
into force in 1983. Its success is now challenged by the integration
of Central-East European countries into the newly defined Europe and
the antiquated, polluting power plants that dot the post-communist landscape.
Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA)
established a “cap and trade” program to reduce S02
emissions in the U.S. to approximately half of their 1980 level and,
as a consequence, to mitigate the impact of acid deposition on such
natural environments as lakes, streams, coastal habitats, forests and
soils. This law set a national cap of 8.95 million tons of annual S02
emissions for electric utilities, which was to be achieved by the year
2000. Title IV also established an emission trading market with the
allocation of tradable S02 emission allowances
to electric utilities, in order to concentrate S02
emission reduction among utilities with the lowest abatement costs.
This conference will provide a broad overview of our
current understanding of the environmental effects of acid deposition
and a survey of different approaches to reduce this problem. The mix
of speakers and topics should appeal to a wide audience of college students
and faculty, concerned citizens, NGO representatives and policy makers.
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