Utility Study Denies Acid Rain

WASHINGTON —  There is no Western acid rain emergency, and isolated cases of elevated acidity in the region’s lakes and streams are due to natural ecological processes, researchers said in a utility-sponsored study today.

“Acidity in Western rain and snow falls generally within the range of natural levels,” said the study, conducted for Western Energy Supply & Transmission, a research group made up of rural electric cooperatives and municipal, public and private utilities in the West and Southwest. The study differs from those conducted by other scientists, who blame sulfur and nitrogen emissions from electric power plants, factories and other sources for causing acid rain.