Final answer:
Under the Articles of Confederation, environmental issues like acid rain would be managed by the individual states due to the lack of a strong federal authority to handle such affairs.
Step-by-step explanation:
If the United States were operating today under the Articles of Confederation, issues like the effect of acid rain on the environment would be handled by the individual states. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no separate executive branch or national judiciary, and Congress had limited powers. It could not regulate trade, tax the states, or enforce its laws without a national judiciary. Consequently, environmental issues such as acid rain would have fallen under state jurisdiction, as there was no overarching federal authority like the modern Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address such matters.