ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to follow the political resolution of uncertainty within the science of acid rain in relation to science policy processes in the United Kingdom (UK). It explores two contemporary concepts drawn from the domain of environmental policy analysis: epistemic communities and ecological modernization. The acid rain debate was one of the dominant environmental themes of the 1980s in the UK and, as such, gained widespread currency in most strata of society. The debate surrounding a critical loads-based approach to EC acid rain policy has been ongoing since December 1995 when the Environment Council requested the Commission to develop an acidification strategy by early 1997. The critical load concept had its origins in Canadian acid rain policies of the early 1980s, where 20 kilogrammes of wet sulphate deposition per annum was set as an overall 'target load' to protect the most sensitive aquatic ecosystems.
