AN INTEGRATED MODELING APPROACH FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF A NATURAL GAS-FIRED POWER-PLANT ON SOIL ACIDIFICATION

Environmental impacts of a proposed natural gas-fired power plant was assessed by coupling an atmospheric deposition model with a soil acidi fication model. Long-term and short-term impacts of atmospheric disper sion and deposition of pollutants, especially NO(x), on the quality of air were estimated within the local scale using a short term dispersi on model. The long-term soil response to acid deposition was simulated by a model which predicts the number of years required to reach criti cal soil pH values.