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Poisonous Skies Poisonous Skies Acid Rain and the Globalization of Pollution Rachel Emma Rothschild The University of Chicago Press :: Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2019 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Published 2019 Printed in the United States of America 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 1 2 3 4 5 isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 63471- 5 (cloth) isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 63485- 2 (e- book) doi: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226634852.001.0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Rothschild, Rachel Emma, author. Title: Poisonous skies : acid rain and the globalization of pollution / Rachel Emma Rothschild. Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018054763 | isbn 9780226634715 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780226634852 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Acid rain—Research—History. | Acid rain—Political aspects. | Acid rain—Environmental aspects. | Air—Pollution— Research—History. Classification: LCC td195.42 .r67 2019 | ddc 363.738/6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018054763 ♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48– 1992 (Permanence of Paper). Contents List of Acronyms vii Introduction: A Rain of Ashes 1 1 Creating a Global Pollution Problem 9 Death- Dealing Fogs 12 From the Local to the Global 18 The Discovery of Acid Rain 23 2 The Science of Acid Rain 36 Acid Rain and the Development of Environmental Science 38 Crossing Boundaries: Constructing a Science of Acid Rain 44 The End of the “Heroic” Era 47 3 Energy Industry Research and the Politics of Doubt 58 Divesting from Pollution Control Technology 62 The Energy Industry Enters the Environmental Science Field 68 A “Silent Spring” for Acid Rain? 73 4 Pollution across the Iron Curtain 83 Overtures to Eastern Europe 85 Environmental Monitoring and the Limits of Détente 90 Pollution Modeling without Target Maps 97 COnTEnTS vi 5 Environmental Diplomacy in the Cold War 101 Economic or Environmental Catastrophe 103 Scientists as Diplomats 107 Thwarting a Convention with Teeth 112 6 An Environmental Crisis Collides with a Conservative Revolution 124 Ecology and the Question of Environmental Damage 126 Confronting Coal Industry Influence under Reagan and Thatcher 132 International Pressure Meets Domestic Politics 138 7 Acid Rain and the Precautionary Principle 149 Costs and Benefits of Precaution 151 A Scientific “Bribe” 157 Britain Joins the Acid Rain Club 165 8 A Warning Bell for a Fossil Fuel Future 174 The Last Holdout 176 A Pyrrhic Victory for Scientific Expertise 183 The Environmental Legacy of Acid Rain 187 Epilogue The Climate Change Reckoning 192 Acknowledgments 199 Notes 203 Sources 295 Archival Sources 295 Oral Histories 312 Published Sources 313 Index 315 Acronyms CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) CERL (Central Electricity Research Laboratories) CSCE (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) DAFS (Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in Scotland) EACN (European Air Chemistry Network) EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) IBP (International Biological Program) IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) ITE (Institute for Terrestrial Ecology) NAPAP (National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program) NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) NAVF (Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities, Norges almenvitenskapelige forskningsråd) NILU (Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norsk institutt for luftforskning) NTNF (Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Norges Teknisk-N aturvitenskapelige Forskningsråd) OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) OEEC (Organisation for European Economic Cooperation) OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) RAINS (Regional Air Pollution Information and Simulation) ACROnyMS viii SNSF ( Acid Rain’s Effects on Forests and Fish Project, Sur nedbørs virkning på skog og fisk) SWAP (Surface Water Acidification Program) UN (United Nations) WHO (World Health Organization) Introduction: A Rain of Ashes Direr visions, worse foreboding, Glare upon me through the gloom! Britain’s smoke-c loud sinks corroding On the land in noisome fume, Smirches all its tender bloom, All its gracious verdure dashes, Sweeping low with breath of bane, Stealing sunlight from the plain, Showering down like rain of ashes On the city of God’s doom.1 The earliest recorded reference to air pollution from one country harming the environment of its neighbors ap- peared in the above epigraph, written in 1865 by the Nor- wegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in his tragedy Brand.2 While Ibsen lacked our modern-d ay understanding of air pollution and its ecological effects, he was responding to a dramatic change in human society and its relation- ship with nature. The smoke-c louds of Britain’s industri- alization, powered by the country’s ample coal deposits, would soon spread throughout Europe and North Amer- ica. Over the course of the nineteenth century, coal extrac- tion grew ten- fold. By the end of the twentieth century, it had increased nearly seven- fold as developing countries like China and India sought to replicate the vast economic