Water Pollution Is Bad, Shellfish Are Plentiful, and There Might Be Reasons To Be Optimistic About Acid Rain

Newsday’s editorial writers argue that it’s bad to pollute coastal waters such as Long Island Sound and the Gulf of Mexico. That's nice, of course, but the editorial might have had more punch if it had referred to Long Island communities and what they are -- or are not -- doing to upgrade their sewage plants.

Meanwhile, you can be sure that all the rain we've had lately has sent pollutants pouring into the Sound and its tributaries and made the clams and oysters in thousands of acres of shellfish beds unsafe to eat.

But safe or unsafe, there are plenty of them, in some places at least. Clams, especially soft-shelled clams (or steamers), appear to be unusually abundant in the salt ponds of Rhode Island, maybe because diving is better for the clams’ habitat than raking or dredging.

Further afield, Clean Air Act controls on emissions seem to be doing some good for lakes killed by acid rain in the Adirondacks.