You are an environmental attorney whose client, a New Hampshire trout fishery, i

Question

You are an environmental attorney whose client, a New Hampshire trout fishery, is seeking restitution from a power plant consortium located in southwestern Pennsylvania. Your client’s lake has become dangerously acidic and can no longer support fish. Your client is convinced that acid rain deposition from these power plants created this condition. a. Using the maps below, briefly describe an argument that you could use on behalf of your client: b. Find and briefly describe a REAL-LIFE example of the hypothetical situation described above: Acid Deposition in North America, 1994 and 2011 /20

Explanation / Answer

Emissions of SO2 from coal-based power plants situated in Southwestern Pennsylvania have caused a major impact on the hydrometeorology of the New Hampshire region. The above-average concentration of Hydrogen, i.e. more than 0.5 kg/ha, in the atmosphere over North-Eastern USA since 1994 has caused an extensive amount of wet deposition over the years. Acidity in rainfall has been exacerbated by burning of coal in thermal power plants as they have been emitting above-average concentrations, i.e. around 100,000 tons of SO2 in the atmosphere. The combined effect of rainfall and acid formation in the atmosphere has led to falling of acid rain in the lakes causing severe losses of fisheries in the New Hampshire region where my client is based. The pH levels of those fishery-based lake waters have dropped so much that the reproductive cycles of fishes have become inefficient and the skin of fishes have suffered major burns leading to their deaths. Increased emissions of harmful gases from power plants since 2011 have thus caused the waters to become toxic through chemical changes within the water cycle. The case of New Hampshire trout fishery needs urgent action through a reduction in activities of power plants in SW Pennsylvania.

Caputo et al. (2016) documented the impacts of lake acidification on the fisheries of lakes in the Adirondack Mountains. The value of fisheries was $4.41 angler per day as the pH of the lake dropped below 4.5 due to acid deposition. Conversely, with a recovery in pH of more than 6.5, the value increased to $38.40 angler per day. This real-life example shows that with mitigation strategies, the pH of lake waters can increase which can lead to an increased value of a fishery.  

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