EMISSION REDUCTIONS AND ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE - MANAGEMENT MODELS FOR ACID-RAIN CONTROL

Presented in this paper is a series of optimization analyses for acid rain control in eastern North America. The analyses involve models tha t minimize cost or emissions removed subject to environmental quality restrictions at selected sensitive receptor locations. Site-specific c ritical loads are the measures of environmental quality, where critica l loads are roughly interpreted as levels of areal pollutant depositio n beyond which deleterious ecological effects are thought to occur. Ou r approach is demonstrated with an application that includes critical loads estimated for 768 lakes in the Adirondacks. As well, a stratifie d random subsample of 122 sites is modeled to assess the effects of sa mpling intensity on the control scenarios that are identified through the optimization procedures. Two different models for estimating site- specific critical loads are used and their effects on control strategi es are assessed. From a somewhat broader perspective, this work is a d emonstration of the feasibility and usefulness of large-scale integrat ed assessment and the role that operations research methods can play i n that process.