of existing regional authorities, and Clean Air Act legislative options. necessary to reduce the threat of acid precipitation. It is difficult sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide control strategies. The results of these analyses will most likely form the basis for the development of an acid rain control strategy. The Department of Energy, EPA, and industry are conducting substantial research to develop and improve technologies to remove sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from combustion gases. DOE and EPA are jointly analyzing our RD&D activities to ensure that these efforts are fully coordinated. Research on new combustion techniques, including fluidized bed combustion, combined cycle gasification facilities, coal-fired magnetohydrodynamic generators and staged combustion will provide the means for reduced emissions from all coals. Decreases are projected in nitrogen oxide emissions from mobile sources as a result of tighter standards, an increasing number of vehicles equipped with nitrogen oxide control devices and conservation measures by the public; however, stationary source nitrogen oxides will increase In the near term. 6 In response to the President's 1979 Environmental Message to Congress the retevant Federal agencies have formed the Acid Rain Coordination Committee. The Committee is chaired by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture. Policy level membership, is drawn from ten agencies, Including DOE; the Executive Secretary is vested in the Council on Environmental Quality. The Committee is charged with developing a Federal Acid Rain Assessment Plan that will support monitoring and effects research The Acid Rain Coordination Committee is also required to submit an annual report to the President: this report will present the results of the acid rain assessment program, and make recommendations as appropriate. The report will serve as a planning document that will help ensure agency programs meet the objectives of the Acid Rain Research Program. The first report is scheduled for completion in late August or early September. The President's Environmental Message also established a ten-year national Acid Rain Research Program. The program will hopefully provide new understanding on the causes and effects of acid precipitation. This month, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are in the process of establishing joint working groups to: o Coordinate acid rain (and technology-related) research and development programs and plans of the two agencies; and, O Coordinate activities that could lead to regulations or policies on acid rain. - 7 This action resulted from a commitment made by DOE's Deputy Secretary Sawhill during his discussions with the President on the utility oil backout legislation. The working groups, in conjunction with the Interagency Acid Rain Coordination Committee, should prove a mechanism whereby current concerns, research and policy are considered in the development of national energy policies. This concludes my testimony. will be happy to respond to any questions you may have. Senator TSONGAS. Mr. Harris. STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT H. HARRIS, MEMBER, COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Chairman, in the interest of time, I would like to submit my written comments for the record and at this time summarize them for you. Clearly, we must recognize that acid rain is a problem and there is evidence, although somewhat circumstantial in certain areas, that the acid rain problem is growing worse. We know, for example, that the acidity of rainfall has increased over time and that visibility, particularly in the eastern part of the United States, has declined. Back in the 1950's, most of the Eastern States experienced summer visibility greater than 10 miles. Now, there are large areas, in the East where average visability is less than 10 miles. We know that the lakes in the Adirondacks and elsewhere have suffered from increasing acidity, and we know, from some recent studies, that soil structure in New England appears also to be adversely influenced by the acidity of rainfall and dry acid deposition. The Council on Environmental Quality began in earnest its work on acid rain in early 1978. As was mentioned by a previous witness, CEQ convened a distinguished panel of scientists to evaluate the acid rain problem with a view toward future research needs. This panel was composed of James Galloway of the University of Virginia; Ellis Cowling, whom you heard from earlier, from North Carolina State University; Eville Gorham from the University of Minnesota; and William McFee from Purdue University. Their report, which Dr. Cowling has already submitted to the record documented our state of knowledge at that time and led to an ad hoc interagency committee that began discussing the problems the research needs, and the approaches that should be taken to the acid rain problems. And then, on August 2, with the President's environmental message, he directed the Inter-Agency Acid Rain Coordination Committee to investigate in depth the problems of acid rain and to develop a comprehensive acid rain assessment plan that would lay out the approach for dealing with this issue over the next 10 years. The agencies involved are the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior, State, EPA, NSF, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and, of course, the Council on Environmental Quality. The Tennessee Valley Authority was added later. EPA and the Department of Agriculture cochaired this committee and CEQ acts as the executive secretary. The committee proceeded by convening three expert panels: First, a panel that focused on the questions of chemistry and transport, a second panel that focused on the effects of acid rain on sensitive ecosystems and materials, and a third panel that focused on monitoring of wet and dry deposition. We are now in the process of finalizing a draft which we hope to have available to the full Acid Rain Coordination Committee within the next month and to the Congress, interested public, industry, and environmental groups, soon thereafter. Just very briefly, the components of this plan will deal first with the problems of atmospheric processes and transformations both in space and in time, how emissions are translated into acid deposition, and the kinetics or the rates of these reactions and how these are influenced by the presence of other pollutants and by weather patterns. Second, the plan will discuss monitoring requirements necessary to track this problem over time. Of course, monitoring wet deposition is quite a bit easier than monitoring dry deposition and understanding what influence dry deposition has on plants, aquatic and terrestrial productivity is more difficult than understanding the influence of wet deposition. Third, the plan will discuss the research needs on the biological and ecological effects, the subject of the previous witnesses. Fourth, the plan will address the effects of acid deposition on materials, the potential destruction of buildings, other edifaces, and the effects on monuments which are of increasing concern. Fifth, the acid rain control options will be a part of this assessment and will be intensively researched over the near future. And, then, finally, coping with the international problems-the contribution to acid deposition in Canada and vice versa, as well as the transboundary problems with Mexico will be part of the plan. As I indicated, we hope that within 1 to 2 months this plan will be available for public comment. This concludes my brief remarks. I would now be happy to answer any questions. [The prepared statement of Mr. Harris follows:] STATEMENT OF ROBERT H. HARRIS, MEMBER COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the potentially very serious problem of acid rain. This is a problem about which President Carter and his administration feel strongly. In my very brief remarks today, I will address myself to but one manifestation of that concern Committee and its activities. - the Acid Rain Coordination I leave it to David Hawkins and Ruth Clusen to discuss, respectively, possible EPA initiatives to deal with the problem of acid rain, and provisions of the Administration's Utility Oil Backout plan that may be relevant to the control of the emissions of sulfur dioxide that are one of the precursors of acid rain. Before turning to the activities of the Acid Rain Coordination Committee, let me review briefly for you CEQ's interest in acid rain. It dates back to early 1978, at least. At that time, CEQ asked four distinguished scientists associated with the National Atmospheric Deposition Program one of whom, Professor Ellis Cowling, you have heard from this morning to document the then current state of - knowledge about acid deposition. We also asked them to - |