ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an economic-based incentive regulatory scheme intended to reduce sulfur oxide emissions. It reviews acid rain and the regional distribution of sulfur oxide producers. The chapter outlines an economic incentive strategy for controlling sulfur oxide causes of acid rain and examines how the proposal can be incorporated into the structure of the air pollution control program outlined in the state implementation provision of the Clean Air Act. Acid rain, the commonly used term for what is more properly called "acid deposition," is the result of sulfur and nitrogen oxides reacting with water vapor in the atmosphere and is usually desposited to the earth in rain or snow. Agricultural and forest declines due to acid rain are also distributed outside the New England region. In the context of the national acid rain controversy, the responsible jurisdiction would be states or air quality regions; for the United States-Canadian transboundary problem, responsibility would belong to the appropriate national government.
