Environmental Protection
Agency Warned to Address Ocean Acidification or Face Lawsuit |
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, November 14, 2008
--/WORLD-WIRE/--
The Center for Biological Diversity today notified the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency of its intent to file a lawsuit
against the agency for its failure to respond to the threat of ocean
acidification. Last year, the Center filed a formal petition asking
EPA to impose stricter pH standards for ocean water quality and
publish guidance to help states protect U.S. waters from ocean
acidification. Today’s notice of intent to sue urges EPA to promptly
respond to the Center’s petition.
The oceans cover about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and absorb
about 22 million tons of carbon dioxide each day. The absorption of
carbon dioxide is changing seawater chemistry, causing it to become
more acidic. This process, known as ocean acidification, impairs the
ability of marine animals to build the protective shells and skeletons
they need to survive.
Already, the pH level of the ocean has decreased 0.1 units on average
due to carbon dioxide pollution caused by human activity – especially
emissions from such sources as automobiles and electrical power
plants. If carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, seawater pH may
decrease an additional 0.4 units — more than a 100 percent change in
acidity. A recent article in the journal Science noted that rapid
changes in pH would have adverse effects on a number of marine
organisms and highlighted the need to update EPA’s water-quality
standard for pH, according to the authors of the July 4 Science
article, “Carbon Emissions and Acidification.” “The seawater quality
criteria of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency date back to 1976
… [t]hese standards must be re-evaluated based on the latest research
on pH effects on marine organisms,” the authors wrote.
The federal Clean Water Act requires the EPA to update water-quality
criteria to reflect the latest scientific knowledge. Since the agency
developed the pH standard back in 1976, an extensive body of research
has developed on the impacts of carbon dioxide on the oceans.
“Ocean acidification is global warming’s evil twin,” said Miyoko
Sakashita, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s
oceans program. “The EPA has a duty under the Clean Water Act to
protect our nation’s waters from pollution, and today, carbon dioxide
is one of the biggest threats to our ocean waters.”
According to the Center’s notice of intent to sue, the EPA’s current
water-quality criterion for pH is outdated and woefully inadequate in
the face of ocean acidification. A decline of 0.2 pH — allowed under
the current standard — would be devastating to the marine ecosystem.
Twenty-five leading scientists researching ocean acidification
concluded in a Sept. 25, 2007 commentary in the Geophysical Research
Letters that “a decrease of this magnitude would pose a risk to the
physiology and health of a variety of marine organisms.”
“Unless we take steps now to stop ocean acidification, it could cause
the collapse of our marine ecosystems,” Sakashita said. “EPA needs to
take prompt action to address this serious water-quality threat facing
our oceans.”
If the EPA strengthens the pH water-quality criterion for oceans, then
the Clean Water Act requires states to adopt a water-quality standard
at least as protective as the one established by the EPA. Here,
stronger water-quality standards for pH could translate into measures
that regulate pollutants such as carbon dioxide, which is causing
ocean acidification.
The notice of intent gives the EPA 60 days to correct the alleged
violations before the Center may pursue legal action.
More information is available from the Center for Biological Diversity
at
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/marine/acidification.html.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation
organization with 200,000 members and online activists dedicated to
protecting endangered species and wild places.
www.biologicaldiversity.org
Contact:
Miyoko Sakashita,
Center for Biological Diversity
(415) 436-9682 x 308
(510) 845-6703 (cell)
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