An environmental group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to list Washington coastal waters as impaired because carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic.
The Center for Biological Diversity says the EPA has failed to consider how ocean acidification is affecting water quality and marine animals. Ocean acidification is a change in ocean chemistry due to excess carbon dioxide.
The group had petitioned both Washington state and the EPA to list Washington ocean waters as an impaired water body, but neither did. An impaired listing would have required the EPA or state to set limits on pollutants.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in Seattle.
examiner.com, 14 May 2009. Article.
