
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 10, 1990                   TAG: 9007100451
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CLEAN AIR ACT WON'T REDUCE ACIDITY

THE NEW Clean Air Act will force us to pay $4 billion to $7 billion a year to reduce the acidity of some lakes in the Northeast.

An 8-year, $600 million government study by the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program found that rain is not the cause of acidity of the lakes, and the proposed remedy will do little good. Of course, power-hungry politicians and self-styled experts chose more government regulation over the recommendation of NAPAP.

Soil experts say that all the acid lakes in the Northeast could be more effectively treated by liming them at a cost of $500,000 a year. The remedies of the Clean Air Act will cost up to 14,000 times as much and won't do the job.

NAPAP also found that acidic rain is not destroying forests, as we have been led to believe.

This alone is reason enough to keep the Clean Air Act in its present form from being passed. If passed, it should be vetoed.

\ ALBERT W. STEWART\ ROANOKE

by CNB