Page 195 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

You will encounter most of them in later chapters of this book, Control Acts of 1965 and 1972, and then the Clean Water Act
and they have already helped to shape the quality of your life. of 1977, U.S. waterways finally began to recover. The Clean
Water Act (pp. 431–432) regulates the discharge of wastes,
Clean Air Act By the 1960s and 1970s, air pollution in especially from industry, into rivers and streams. It aims to
the United States from automobile traffic and industry had protect wildlife as well as human health, and it established a
become severe, and was contributing to tens of thousands of system for granting permits for the discharge of pollutants.
deaths every year. The Clean Air Act of 1963 and its major
amendments of 1970 and 1990 turned this situation around. Soil and Water Conservation Act Although U.S. farm-
This legislation sets standards for air quality, imposes limits on ers and policymakers learned lessons about the importance of
emissions from new sources, enables citizens to sue violators, conserving topsoil during the Dust Bowl (pp. 242–243), soil
funds research on pollution control, and established an emis- erosion and water pollution in agricultural areas worsened
sions trading program for sulfur dioxide. These measures have again later as production intensified on farms and rangeland.
improved air quality markedly; the air we breathe today is far The Soil and Water Conservation Act, passed in 1977, directs
cleaner thanks to the Clean Air Act (pp. 476–480). the U.S. Department of Agriculture to survey and assess soil
and water conditions across the nation periodically and pre-
Endangered Species Act Habitat loss and other pres- pare national plans for conservation. Results have been mixed,
sures had driven a number of species extinct and were threat- but the country has seen many success stories in soil and water
ening many more. The Endangered Species Act was passed in conservation as a result.
1973 to protect species threatened with extinction. It forbids
the destruction of individuals of listed species or their habitat CERCLA (“Superfund”) By 1980, the United States was
on public and private land, and it provides funding for recov- spotted with thousands of sites where years of unregulated
ery efforts (p. 314). Subsequent agreements allowed for nego- pollution had severely contaminated land and water. Highly
tiation with private landholders.
publicized instances of buried hazardous waste threatening
people’s health in locations such as Love Canal, New York
Safe Drinking Water Act While surface waterways like
the Cuyahoga River were being fouled with pollution, ground- (pp. 644, 645), led Congress that year to pass the Comprehensive
water in aquifers across the nation was likewise becoming Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CER-
contaminated from industrial waste and other sources. The CLA), commonly called the Superfund Act (p. 645). This law
Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 authorized the EPA to set provides a funded program to clean up hazardous waste from the
quality standards for tap water provided by public water sys- nation’s worst polluted sites. Costs have been staggering, but the
tems, and to work with states to protect drinking water sources EPA continues to progress through the many sites that remain.
from contamination. Throughout the 1980s Congress strengthened, broad-
ened, and elaborated upon the laws of the 1970s. For example,
Toxic Substances Control Act As industrial chemistry major amendments were made to the Clean Water Act in 1987
advanced during the 20th century, we began producing more and to the Clean Air Act in 1990. Today thousands of federal,
and more novel chemicals for industrial and consumer use, state, and local laws and regulations help protect health and
even though virtually none were being adequately tested for environmental quality in the United States and abroad. Public
potential health effects. The Toxic Substances Control Act of enthusiasm for environmental protection remains strong, with
1976 (p. 401) directs the EPA to monitor thousands of indus- polls repeatedly showing that an overwhelming majority of
trial chemicals manufactured or imported into the United States Americans favor environmental protection.
and gives the agency power to ban them if they are found to
pose too much risk. However, the number of chemicals contin- The social context for policy
ues to increase at a pace far too fast for adequate testing. evolves over time
Resources Conservation and Recovery Act As Historians suggest that major advances in environmental pol-
population and consumption grew, so did the generation of icy occurred in the 1960s and 1970s because several factors
solid waste—and with industrial development, hazardous converged. First, environmental problems became widely and
waste proliferated. The Resources Conservation and Recovery readily apparent and were directly affecting people’s lives.
Act (p. 631), passed in 1976, is the primary federal law per- Second, people could visualize policies to deal with the prob-
taining to the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste. It lems. Third, the political climate was ripe, with a supportive
sets standards, mandates permitting procedures, and requires public and leaders who were willing to act. In addition, pho-
that hazardous waste be tracked “from cradle to grave” as it is tographs from the space program allowed humanity to see,
generated, transported, and disposed of. for the first time ever, images of Earth from space (see photos
on pp. 20 and 689). It is hard for us today to comprehend
Clean Water Act Prior to passage of federal pollution the power of those images at the time, but they revolutionized
laws, water pollution problems were left largely to local and many people’s worldviews by making us aware of the finite
state governments or were addressed through lawsuits. The nature of our planet.
flaming waters of the Cuyahoga, however, indicated to many By the 1990s, the political climate in the United States
people that tough federal legislation was needed. Thanks had changed. Although public support for the goals of envi-
194 to restrictions on pollutants by the Federal Water Pollution ronmental protection remained high, many citizens and policy

M07_WITH7428_05_SE_C07.indd 194 12/12/14 2:57 PM