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Re: Acid Rain

I feel properly lectured to; in this tirade I noted no mention of Killifish!
erny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wright Huntley" <huntley1 at home_com>
To: <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 11:22 AM
Subject: Re: Acid Rain


> Mach Fukada wrote:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Doug Karpa-Wilson" <dkarpawi at indiana_edu>
> > To: <killietalk at aka_org>
> > Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 12:58 PM
> > Subject: Re: Acid Rain
> >
> > >
>
> In response to my:
>
> > > >Burning high-sulphur fuels probably has some pretty serious effects
on
> > > >precipitation downwind from it. Of course the world magnitude is
utterly
> > > >trivial when compared to a major volcanic eruption, but that still
> > doesn't
> > > >mean some people should have any right to mess up other peoples'
> > property.
> > > >Arranging proper means of compensation tends to have far better end
> > results
> > > >than forming up another army of jack-booted thugs to "plan and
regulate"
> > > >things.
> > >
> > > And who but the government has the force to ensure this?
>
> Aha, Doug! You found the true purpose of government that the founders
> understood so well, as expressed in the US Constitution. Preventing me
from
> harming you is exactly *why* we delegate (and should restrict) the right
to
> initiate use of force to the government.
>
> It's when we try to "do good" with that force that we invariably get a
> tyranny. We solve the "Jewish Problem" or the "Gypsy Problem" or the
> "Homosexual Problem," as Hitler did in the 20s and 30s. Mussolini used it
to
> get the "trains to run on time." [No, Ross Perot didn't invent that
> expression. :-)] The whole history of socialism over the past century is a
> great example of how using good intentions paves the road to hell. Who
likes
> how we are solving the "Education Problem?" "Let no child be left behind"
> says it all.
>
> Read the Federalist Papers for a great discussion of the differences. It
is
> *not* just a democracy, and it is *not* just a republic -- it is a
> constitutionally limited government, lest we forget it.
>
> > > As it is
> > > compensation virtually never happens.
>
> Any wonder, when the fox guards the hen house? ROTFL! :-)
>
> > > Also, major volcanic eruptions are
> > > one offs which disappate over time, unlike coal plants.
> > >
> >
> > How about on going in the USA for the past 17 or so years?  Vast amounts
of
> > Sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid are being produced everyday that the
> > lava enters the ocean in Hawaii...
> > MTF
>
> Not to mention countless hot sulphur springs and geysers all along the
> Pacific Rim spewing tons of sulphates into the air continuously. This is
one
> of the very few times in recent history that we *haven't* an active
volcano
> also working along the Left Coast of the US, BTW.
>
> No. The "acid rain" mythology is a pure tool of politics, and has little
> relationship to physical reality. I may think of congress as particularly
> brainless, but even they aren't so stupid they will try to regulate Moana
> Loa.
>
> Our responsibility, as citizens, is to garner enough understanding that we
> can quit admiring the Emperors new wardrobe, once in a while.
>
> The whole environmental movement, particularly since _Silent Spring_, has
> been an exercise in increasing government power to "solve the pollution
> problem," in the very best of classic fascist style. My fear is just that
> the EPA, et al, will do to the whole country what the "War on Poverty" has
> done to our inner cities.
>
> In a private communication with Bruce S. (who has a *lot* of expertise on
> this subject -- and doesn't agree at all with me on govt's. role), he
> reminded me of why we really need to be concerned about the pH of poorly
> buffered water. I had just changed water on some wild Bettas and noticed
> their water's pH was 3.5, yet they were happily building bubble nests.
>
> Fish don't feel pH very much between about 4 and 10. What they usually
feel
> is the consequences of the acid chemistry acting on *other stuff in their
> environment*. [Barry Cooper has pointed out to me that some species are
> susceptible to blood acidosis, but I have not encountered an obvious case
of
> that.] Heavy metals tend to be soluble in acids. They are usually toxic as
> hell. Nitrite is pretty harmless at pH above 6, but deadly as pH goes
lower.
> [I rarely try to cycle a new tank of soft water with any added peat, to
> avoid that problem.] Ammonium starts turning to deadly ammonia as pH
starts
> to go above 7, and is 50 times as deadly at pH of 9 as at 7.
>
> I once killed a big tank of growing FIL because I let it get a bit acid. I
> had a bunch of lead plant anchors in there. I'm not proud of the obvious
> deaths from nerve damage that resulted. It was a sad thing to see.
>
> This is what can happen in the Adirondacks where a small addition drop in
pH
> can leech heavy metals out of the (usually inert) glacial deposits and
> poison the native inhabitants. A small addition of cheap limestone could
> mitigate the problem in many cases with minimal outside impact, but that
> doesn't satisfy the desire of some to shut down all industry in a fantasy
> desire for a return to more pastoral times. The road to hell really is
paved
> with...
>
> Wright
>
> --
> Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntley1 at home_com
>
>         "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide
> for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated."
>                                       --Thomas Jefferson
>
>                 Did you try the quiz at:
>
>           http://www.self-gov.org/index.html ?
> ---------------
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>


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