Photo from Aschaf on Flickr through Creative Commons

Global warming is a two-for-one deal. Not only are we in the ride for more severe storms and melting glaciers that come from higher temperatures, we must also deal with the issue of ocean acidification. Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), has referred to ocean acidification as “climate change’s evil twin.”

Ocean acidification results from the ocean’s uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Many scientists have become increasingly concerned about the effect industrial emissions of CO2 are having on the chemistry of the world’s oceans and about the fallout for many species of marine animals.

Clown Fish are among the many animals threatened by changing ocean acidity. (Photo from TheBusyBrain on Flickr through Creative Commons

Now, legal attention is being drawn to the issue of ocean acidification. The EPA announced it will begin research on how to strengthen existing laws under the Clean Water Act (CWA), to better deal with the problem. The decision comes nearly three years after the Supreme Court deemed carbon dioxide a pollutant that falls within CWA regulations. 

The agreement, reached Thursday in the US District Court in Seattle, stems from a 2009 lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group based in San Francisco.

According to the Center,

…The acidity in Washington State’s coastal waters had increased sufficiently to violate EPA standards, but that the state and the EPA failed to list the waters as “impaired.”

Labeling the waters as “impaired” would set the legal stage for creating a process aimed at reducing pollution levels. Miyoko Sakashita, a representative of the Center says the agreement “creates a public process for the EPA to prepare guidance for all the states with coastlines on how to address ocean acidification.”

That includes helping states assess and monitor the chemistry of their coastal waters, working with them to determine acceptable daily maximum levels of acidification, and providing support as they try to develop regulations controlling [carbon dioxide].

Like global warming, the issue of ocean acidification is not a recent phenomenon.

“I’ve been monitoring these changes for the past 30 years,” says Richard Feeley, a marine scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. “There’s no doubt these changes are occurring and that they are man-made changes.”

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What you can do right now:

The Coral Reef Alliance has a list of things you can do on their website. Head over there now and do something about ocean acidification!

Related TenthMil Articles:

It Isn’t Rocket Science: The Evidence for Ocean Acidification
Ocean Dead Zones are Spreading
Video- Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification