WASHINGTON, Dec 12, 2009 -- UPI


Acid rain-causing emissions have fallen in the United States by more than 50 percent from 1990 levels and already meet 2010 requirements, officials say.

Emissions of sulfur dioxide from U.S. power plants totaled 7.6 million tons in 2008, already less than the 8.95-million-ton cap going into effect in next year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported.

The Acid Rain Program established by the 1990 Clean Air Act set air quality targets for SO2, with the final 2010 cap being about one-half the emissions from the electric power industry in 1980, the EPA said Friday.

All 3,572 power plants subject to the program were in compliance in 2008, it reported.

Environmentally sensitive bodies of water in the East are already showing evidence of decreased acidification, the agency said, and air quality improvements have had significant impact on human health.

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