EPA: Clean Water Act could be used to slow ocean acidification

Ocean acidification significantly impairs shell-formation in marine calcifiers, including coral reefs and shellfish.

NEW YORK TIMES: States bordering water bodies that are becoming more acidic from the absorption of carbon dioxide should list them as impaired under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency declared in a memo this week.

Carbon dioxide emissions are considered a threat not only because of their heat-trapping properties in the atmosphere but also because of their ability to change ocean chemistry. The world’s oceans act as a sponge for carbon dioxide, and as the gas dissolves in seawater, it changes into carbonic acid. Read full article…..