THE ACID TEST MAY NOT BE VERY ACID

The second warning concerns the objections listed above. They are obviously serious, but it is not certain that they cannot be countered by some presently unknown, but perfectly valid counter-arguments in the future. Perhaps something in the weather, conducive to the acidity of rain, has changed since the 1950's. Perhaps California's acid rain does come from Mexico by some unsuspected atmospheric mechanism. Or¾ and this example seems less far-fetched as an explanation¾it could be that what has changed since the fifties is the severity of pollution control. It could be that acidic pollution used to be partially neutralized by alkaline pollution, and that presently enforced pollution controls remove too much of the neutralizers. That seems to be a distinct possibility, though at this point little can be said about its general validity. It would, however, be neat if it turned out to be true: it would show that far from being Ottinger-tamed, acid rain is actually Ottinger-engendered.

If some such explanation should prove valid, and coal-fired power plants should prove the culprits for acid rain after all, today's charlatans will, of course, triumphantly boast "We told you so!" This will promote them to the status of double charlatans, for they have no way of knowing beforehand, and it will reveal them as speculators whose "science" consists of guesses¾the tea leaves cooperating, lucky ones.