Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.14
Emissions of SO
2
and NO
2
in Canada and the United States: 1970-89
Source:
Based on data in World Resources Institute (1992)
acid pollution, but added more than 4.5
million tonnes annually to the westerly air
stream (Park 1987). In the early 1980s an
estimated 25 per cent of the SO
2
leaving Britain
was deposited in the North Sea, 4 per cent
landed in Norway and Sweden and 6 per cent
continued on to fall in the USSR (Pearce
1982d). Between 1980 and 1985, SO
2
emissions from British industry fell by about
25 per cent, but levelled off or rose slightly
after that (Mason 1990). At that time, Britain
was the largest producer of acid pollution in
Europe after the USSR; Norway and Sweden
were among the lowest and made a limited
contribution to their own acid rain problem
(Park 1987) (see Figure 4.15). In the acid rain
falling on Norway, for example, the
contribution from British sources was twice
that from local Norwegian sources (Pearce
1982d). A considerable proportion of the acid
rain falling in Scandinavia originated in East
Germany, but it was to Britain that the
Scandinavians turned to seek help in reducing
the environmental damage being caused by
acid rain.
Much of the blame for the acid rain damage
in Scandinavia came to rest on the shoulders of
the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB),
the body which controlled electric power
production in England. Emissions from CEGB
power stations were responsible for more than
half the SO
2
produced in Britain (Pearce 1984).
Thus, any planned reduction in emissions
required the cooperation of the CEGB. The
Board, in common with most authorities in
Britain, argued that the problem required further
study, but that position eventually became
untenable. In 1986, for the first time, Britain
