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EPA Delivers 15 Years of Acid Rain Reductions

Release Date: 12/20/2010
Contact Information: Enesta Jones, [email protected], (202) 564-7873, (202) 564-4355 / Cathy Milbourn, [email protected], (202) 564-7849, (202) 564-4355

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report that shows 15 years of successful results from its nationwide effort to address acid rain. Since its inception in 1995 as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, EPA’s Acid Rain Program has earned widespread acclaim due to dramatic sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_X) emission reductions that are saving American lives and ecosystems. An analysis estimates annual public health benefits of the program in 2010 alone at more than $120 billion, about 40 times the estimated cost.

Some of the major accomplishments of the program through 2009 include:

· Power plants have decreased emissions of SO₂, a precursor to acid rain, to 5.7 million tons in 2009, a 67 percent decrease from 1980 levels and a 64 percent decrease from 1990 levels.
· Air quality has improved; the average amount of ambient SO₂ decreased 76 percent between 1980 and 2009. The largest single-year reduction in SO₂ since the start of the Acid Rain Program occurred between 2008 and 2009.
· Reductions in fine particle levels yielded benefits including about 20,000-50,000 lives saved annually.
· Many lakes and streams affected by acid rain in the east are exhibiting signs of recovery.