EPA sued over acid oceans - Center for Biological Diversity announces lawsuit against EPA over its failure to recognise threat from increasingly acidic oceans
EPA sued over acid oceans
Center for Biological Diversity announces lawsuit against EPA over its failure to recognise threat from increasingly acidic oceans
Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen, 19 May 2009
Mounting scientific concerns over the acidification of the ocean and its impact on marine life and fishing stocks could soon be voiced in court after non-profit environmental group the Center for Biological Diversity announced it is to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over ocean water quality levels.
The lawsuit, brought under the Clean Water Act, accuses the EPA of failing to include increasingly acidic oceans off Washington state on its list of impaired waters.
Oceans' acid levels rise as they absorb CO2 emissions from sectors such as transportation, electricity generation and manufacturing. The Center argues that this makes it difficult for sea life to form suitably strong shells, and can adversely affect the plankton that lie at the base of the food chain in the ocean.
The Center says that it originally asked Washington state to include acidic areas in its list of impaired waters in 2007, but that the state failed to do so. "The Center informed the EPA of its duty to add ocean waters not attaining pH standards when reviewing Washington's impaired waters list. On 29 January 2009, EPA approved Washington’s list without adding ocean waters affected by ocean acidification," it said in a statement.
Ocean acidification has been a concern for the fishing industry, as scientific consensus over the future of the oceans suggests that pH levels are changing faster than expected.
Following a meeting in Monaco last October, 150 marine scientists signed a declaration warning that fish stocks would be drastically affected by the acidification trend in the oceans.
The new lawsuit will also further increase pressure on the EPA to introduce wider legislation on carbon emissions in the wake of its landmark ruling that greenhouse gases present a threat to human health – a decision that gives it the authority to regulate against carbon emissions through the existing Clean Air Act.