As Acid Rain Continues To Threaten The Adirondacks - Destroying Forests And Lakes - Schumer Fights To Restore Slashed Funding For Vital Acid-Rain Monitoring Program

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called on a Senate Committee to restore full funding for a key antiacid rain monitoring program that the Bush Administration seeks to cut. The program, the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET), is a critical federal program that works to combat acid rain across New York State and the country by establishing monitoring stations that provide scientists and legislators with detailed information regarding acid rain deposition. While the program has been historically funded at $3.9 million, it is set to be slashed by $1 million, or more than a quarter of its funding, for next year.

Today, Schumer, a longtime crusader against acid rain - which has already decimated scores of pristine parks, forests and lakes across the state - called on the Senate Committee in charge of the program's budget to immediately restore its funding levels.

"With acid rain already decimating so many of New York State's precious parks, lakes and rivers, it is inconceivable that we would now slash funding to a federal program that is vital to combating acid rain," said Schumer. "Acid rain is public enemy number one for the Adirondacks and parks across the state, and it is absolutely critical that scientists and environmentalists fighting this environmental scourge have the tools they need. We have made gains in the battle against acid rain, but we need hard data to win the war."

Schumer today sent a letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, under the Senate Committee on Appropriations, calling on it to restore funding at the $3.9 million budget. The bill is set to move to conference with its House companion bill. Schumer urged that the funding be restored during conference.

Air quality and ecosystems in New York and the Northeast have suffered significantly from emissions from Midwest coalfired power plants that produce acid rain. Due, in part, to its ecological makeup, the Adirondacks have endured the worst damage in the nation from acid rain.

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 highelevation red spruce and fir forests have been wiped out and mercury contamination exacerbated by acid rain has been documented in more than 20 Adirondack lakes, making the fish unfit to eat.

Schumer emphasized that acid rain is a statewide and national problem, with every region in New York possessing dangerously acidic rain. Catskill Park's forests and lakes have also been severely impacted by acid rain, as have the Great Lakes of Western New York and the Finger Lakes.

The CASTNET program is vital to fighting acid rain in New York State. The program is designed to give scientists, legislators and environmentalists the data and information they need to better combat acid rain. The program operates 80 monitoring stations throughout the country, including in New York State, and measures surface air quality. Within CASTNET, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) partners with state and local governments to operate monitoring stations that measure the amount of "wet acid deposition" - acid rain. Together, these two programs provide invaluable information to scientists and legislators.

CASTNET is the EPA's best source of information on the effectiveness of the nation's endeavors to curb acidity. Without it, scientists and policymakers will have no way to gauge the response of the environment to various policies, and no way to curb the acid rain that will continue to fall.

The program has historically been funded at approximately $3.9 million through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science and Technology Account, in the Air Quality and Toxins program area. But this year, the EPA is looking to slash the program by $1 million in funding and said the money will come directly out of CASTNET's budget.

"This proposed cut in funding would slash the legs out from under this crucial program," added Schumer

Twenty years ago, acid rain was devastating the Eastern half of the United States. Congress, the EPA, state and local governments acknowledged the damage that unregulated emissions of certain acidrainproducing pollutants were having on the environment. They took decisive action to curtail those emissions, and today, acid rain is not as bad as it once was. However, in certain parts of the country, acid rain continues to be a major ecological problem. The Northeast is the region most affected by this problem, with the Adirondacks in Upstate New York being brutally hit. CASTNET, and its subsidiary program NADP have been integral to the EPA's response to acid rain.

Acid rain has been attributed to sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), chemicals that can be transported in the wind, causing environmental and health problems hundreds of miles away. Fine particles can pose serious health risks, especially for people with heart or lung disease (including asthma) and older adults and children. Groundlevel ozone can irritate the respiratory system, aggravate asthma, reduce lung capacity and increase people's susceptibility to respiratory illnesses like pneumonia and bronchitis.