Frequent Questions
This page provides commonly asked questions and links to answers. Questions are organized by audience type. If you cannot find the information that you need, please Contact Us.
General Public (including students and teachers)
What is acid rain? What causes it? How is it measured? What does it affect?
Acid rain is a serious environmental problem that affects large parts of the United States and Canada. Acid rain is particularly damaging to lakes, streams, forests, and the plants and animals that live in these ecosystems. Visit EPA’s Acid Rain Website to find basic information about acid rain and links to educational resources.
Where can I find maps of acid rain?
Visit the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). This network of monitoring sites measures wet deposition, better known as acid rain, and produces maps of pH and other chemical characteristics of rain (e.g., the lower the pH, the more acidic—read more on the pH page). These maps are called isopleth maps.
What can I do to help reduce/mitigate acid rain?
There are several ways to reduce acid rain—more properly called acid deposition. Visit the "What is Acid Rain?" page.
How does allowance trading work?
A market-based regulatory program called “cap and trade” can effectively regulate emissions and improve air quality. Visit the Allowance Trading Basics page.
How can my students or I buy allowances so they won't be emitted?
Under trading programs, such as the Acid Rain Program, anyone can trade allowances, including members of the general public without any affiliation with a regulated source. Some individuals and groups purchase allowances as an environmental statement, because withholding allowances from the market prevents those allowances from being used by utilities. Visit the Allowance Markets page to learn more.
Do you have experiments for students to learn more about acid rain?
Yes! Check out EPA's Acid Rain Teacher's Guide for science experiments related to acid rain.
Do you have suggestions for activities, both inside the classroom and out?
Yes! See our Acid Rain Teacher's Guide, and our Kids' and Student's websites.
How much sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and other gases do electric power plants emit (i.e., release) into the atmosphere?
Visit our Data and Maps to view charts, maps, and data. The Emissions Query Tool provides facility and unit emissions data.
Academic Researchers
What is acid rain and what are its effects?
Visit EPA’s Acid Rain website to find basic information about acid rain including links to additional information on state and national data and statistics, acid rain legislation, and U.S. and international initiatives.
How does allowance trading work?
EPA’s Clean Air Markets Programs use a market-based regulatory program called “cap and trade” to regulate emissions and improve air quality. Visit the Allowance Trading Basics page.
How does EPA keep track of who owns what allowances?
Visit EPA’s Allowance Trading page for more information.
How do I find information about allowance accounts, how many allowances they hold, and allowance trades?
Visit our Clean Air Markets Program Data (CAMPD) website.
What are the emissions from power plants?
Visit our Clean Air Markets Program Data (CAMPD) website to view charts, maps, and data. Also visit EPA’s eGRID system—a comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the U.S.
Are companies complying with the regulatory programs?
EPA publishes a Progress Report summarizing the progress made towards achieving compliance and the goals of the Clean Air Power Sector Programs.
How do EPA’s Clean Air Market Programs work?
Clean air markets include various market-based regulatory programs designed to improve air quality. These programs focus on lowering outdoor concentrations of fine particles, ozone, and other air pollution. The most well-known of these programs are EPA’s Acid Rain Program and the NOx Trading Programs, which reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), compounds produced by fossil fuel combustion.
Utilities
Where can I find the regulations that apply to each program?
Visit the Clean Air Markets' Programs page for more information.
How do I query the allowance tracking system?
Visit our Clean Air Markets Program Data (CAMPD) website.
What is necessary to comply with a program?
Visit the CAMD Business System (CBS) page to learn more.
Where can I find forms for each program?
Generally, it's best to read about a particular activity—transferring allowances, reporting emissions, completing annual reconciliation, etc. Forms will be linked from there. Start with the Doing Business with Us page. However, if you know the specific form you need, visit our Forms page.
How do I keep up with monitoring requirements?
EPA’s emissions monitoring requirements ensure that the emissions data collected is of a known, consistent, and high quality, and that the mass emissions data from source to source are collected in an equitable manner. Visit the Emissions Monitoring and Reporting to learn more.
How do I keep up with emissions reporting requirements?
Regulated sources must report all emissions as measured by continuous emissions monitors. EPA has established standard reporting procedures, and has developed standardized software for such reporting. Visit the Reporting Data using ECMPS to learn more.