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Show f f From Prostaent Certor a JTF3 . Basic Themes Ten years ago, at the dawn of the environmental decade, we landed on the moon. For the first time people could stand on the surface of another world and look at the whole earth. The sight of earthrise was It was also sobering. From that moment awesome. we could no longer avoid understanding that all life must share this one small planet and its resources. Presidsent Environmental limited Carter. Message. President Carter his submitted has second Environmental Message to Congress. It is a package of proposals and plans which build upon the foundation established in May, 1977 when President Carter four : months after taking office-submi- tted his first Environmental Message. The latest message sets out the Administrations environmental priorities for the 96th Congress and announces new initiatives in 12 areas. The President is taking action to address emerging resource problems such as the need to increase .our commitment to public transportation, improve the protection and management of coastal resources, vigorously enforce laws to protect wildlife, and reduce farmland loss and erosion. : In the Message the President also reiterated the necessity of reducing oil imports by a program of energy conservation and productions. This program was proposed by the President in his speech to the American public on July 15. Enivironmental The Message makes it clear that the Administrations commitment to environmental quality remains strong and that the environmental risks associated with some of the energy ' production be will technologies monitored and carefully controlled. The Carter environAdministrations -' mental initiatives have five basic themes: Our great natural heritage should be preserved for the enjoyment and use of all Americans. (2) Our farmlands and forests, water, wildlife and fisheries natures rene(1) ' wable resources are the basis of our material wellbeing and strength and must be carefully conserved. (3) The environmental quality of our human settlements must be nurtured by wise, decisions because hasty, unplanned actions can spoil our cultural or scenic heritage forever. (4) Clean air and water are essential goals and the Carter Administration intends to achieve them in the most efficient and effective ways possible. well-plann- ; : (5) We have a responsibility to help protect the long-ter- global we health m of the environment share which with all humankind. NEW INITIATIVES We have had some accomplishments in the last two years.. some notable But we accomplishments. have a long way to go. We cannot take for granted any to or to Americas the environment in which we live. President Carter. Conservationist of the Year Award. element of threat President Carters 1979 Environmental Message announces a series of new initiatives covering the following four subjects: (1) Land and Resource Management (2) Agricultural servation Con- (3) Urban Quality (4) Global Environment Here is a more detailed look at the initiatives in those four subjects. I. LAND AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Coastal Protection The problem t The nations coastal tone faces pressures from both natural causes and human activities. on Demands coastal resources often threaten the destruction of essential, fragile which natural systems are of tong-ter- economic and ecological Specifically, the President importance. For example, nearly half of our multibillion dollar fishing industry depends directly on nearshore waters, yet more than 50 percent of the Atlantic shellfish beds have been closed due to pesticide, oil, directed that: (1) The Secretary of the Interior establish a brood new planning process which will take a comprehensive took at all the resources on all lands under BLM stewardship, set long-rangoals to ensure balanced ge and fecal contamination. Man has significantly altered of our barrier islands, and in many cases have destroyed these effective natural coastal storm buffers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. two-third- protection, Increased development and private, second home construction have created barriers to public access. The Presidents program: President Carter announced that he supports designation of 1960 as Year of the Coast and that he will: (1) Submit legialstion to i federal assistance to state coastal zone management programs under the Coastal Zone Management Act. This would guarantee each state a total of five years of federal assistance at current levels after a state management program is approved and before federal support is down. .(2) Submit new amend- gradually phased ments which establish a national coastal protection policy and emphasize the protection of national interests by encouraging states to programs to: implement protect wetlands, estuaries, beaches, dunes, barrier islands, coral reefs, fish and wildlife manage coastal development to minimize loss of life and property from floods, erosion, saltwater intrusion and subsidence provide predictable siting processes for major defense, energy, recreation and transportation facilities increase public access to the coast for recreation purposes coordinate and simplify government decision making to ensure proper and ex- -' pedited management of the coastal zone. preserve and restore and cultural historic, aesthetic coastal resources. Public Land Resources Hie problem: Many of the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management of the Interior Department (totaling 417 million acres) were once lands no one wanted. Now, some of them are highly valued for their energy and natural resources and scenic values. However, we now find that much of the renewable resources base of the public lands is in less than satisfactory condition. For example, overgrazing in some areas has had and natural serious impacts. Vegetation size bn 50 million acres-t- he of Utah is largely depleted. Actual and potential soil erosion is substantial. The lack of moisture-retaininvegetative cover, in turn, g has caused downstream flooding, and Ices of more soil. Some productive grasslands are becoming deserts. Thousands of acres of wildlife habitat are declining. Current public land management efforts may not assure the survival of 33 species of endangered wildlife living on public lands. Conflicting demands for use of public lands with a growth In continues recreation users ranging from backpackers to motorcyclists. The Presidents pregram: The Administration has already taken several steps to combat these problems and bring these lands under effective management In . - 'V their lands which are identified in the National Inventory prepared by the Interior Departments Heritage Conservation and . Committee. (3) A task force chaired by the Agriculture Department will be established to investigate the illegal trade in plants and to prosecute where appropriate. (4) These specific steps will be made by agencies: The Department Commerce the and Customs Service will raise the priority of wildlife enforcement cases. The Agriculture will place Department greater emphasis cm coordinating its wildlife enforcement program with its disease quarantine program and use special agents to investigate the illegal plant trade. The Department of Justice will establish a Midlife Section to be staffed by attorneys trained as wildlife law enforcement cultural and recreational resources are found within our nations river corridors. They are a nucleus of biologic diversity. Because of the action of the river on the landform, they offer a high concentration of scenic and geologic sites. They are valuable as transportation corridors and offer a concentration of historic Their sites. recreational value continues to increase, Implementation of the Wild and Scenic Riven Program, however, has been lagging. Reforms in our policies and programs for conserving our. riven and their shoreline resources cost-effecti- ve whether rivers on assess ..The Presidents program: needs and opportunities (1) The President will available particularly submit to Congress a bill to opportunities which are revise and strengthen the dose to urban centers. Lacey Act and several other laws controlling interstate The Presidents Program: and foreign commerce in The President announced that the Forest Service will illegal fish and wildlife. (2) Hie President will establish 145 additional direct the Interior Depart- Trails by January 1980 ments Fish and Wildlife reaching a goal of two the Serve, Treasury National Recreation Trails Departments of Agriculture, in each National Forest Commerce and Justice to System unit. In addition, he investigate aggressively this directed that: (1) Each Federal land illegal traade and to prosecute violators. The management agency follow interior Department will the example of the Forest coordinate the enforcement Service and announce by thrust through an in- January 1980 a goal for the of National teragency Wildlife Law number Enforcement Coordinating Recreational Trails to be branch commitment States; (c) make investments In protecting and snhandng these lands; and (d) make not avoid tough decisions on reoouco allocations in a agencies problem; specialists. purposeful management of the public lands resources administered by the Bureau of Land Management He is directing the Secretary of the Interior to administer these lands in accordance with four principles which require (he federal government to (a) bo a good steward of the land: (b) be good neighbors with special concent for the people and institutions of the Western management identified on the National Inventory for possible inclusion in the Wild and Wildlife Law Enforcement Scernic Riven System. The (4) In addition, the Investigations last year revealed that illegal trade in President expressed support wildlife and plants is for designation of segments widespread. In 1978, about of the following riven as additions to the Wild and 200,000 separate documented shipments of wildlife were Scenic Riven System: made into the United States. Gunnison River, CO Thousands contained Encampment River, CO wildlife species listed on the Priest River, ID Convention on International Bruneau River, ID in Endangered Trade Dolores River, CO Illinois River, OR Species. Consequences of the Upper Mississippi River, illegal trade include the threat to survival of hun- MN Salmon River, ID dreds of endangered species, a threat to Americas National Trails The problem: More than 61 agriculture and pet industries, a staggering cost to million Americans go nature the taxpayers resulting from walking and mom than 28 of disease million Americans hike or outbreaks stemming from illegal backpack at least five times imports, and the rise of white a year. The 1968 National collar crime. Enforcement is Trails System Act directed generally under the Lacey that a National Trail System and Blade Bass Acts. As be established. This has written, however, these acts proceeded at a slow pace and there has not been an overall have enforcement problems. view of the nationwide trail his Environmental Message, the President is declaring for the first time an Executive, to The President's program: The President has directed that: land Federal (1) Recreation Service are suitable for inclusion in the Interior, emphasize Wild and Scenic Rivers protecting BLM lands with System and, if so, take nationally significant prompt action to protect the wildlife, natural, cultural or rivers values and or seek to An have them included in the resources. scenic example would be the Birds national system. of Prey area, located along (2) Within 120 days the the Snake River in the Idaho Secretary of Agriculture and desert. It has North the Secretary of the Interior Americas richest con- jointly revise their centration of birds of prey, guidelines which are used to such as eagles, hawks and evaluate wild, scenic and falcons. recrationsl rivers to ensure of river (3) The Secretary of the consideration Interior and Secretary of ecosystems and to shorten Agriculture coordinate their the time now used to study natural rivers for designation. departments resources programs as much (3) Each federal agency as possible and develop shall make certain that, as within six months a detailed part of its normal planning statement of coordination and environmental review objectives and a timetable of process, it takes care to how they plan to achieve avoid or mitigate advene effects on rivers which are them. meet the goals. (2) The Secretary of the industrial reauthorize and develop to alternative programs s are coming under increasing pressure are which cooperative spirit. m WUd and Scenic Rivers The problem: Many of our natural, established by each agency. A minimum of 75 shall be designated by the end of 1980 on public and other than National Forests by the federal land management agencies. (2) The Secretary of the Interior assist other federal agencies in surveying existing trails on federal lands to determine which can be made part of the National Trails System and to initiate a grass roots effort in every region to assess our nation-sid- e trail needs and effective recommend g and actions which could produce the types and numbers of trails needed. The President also: Announced that he will to submit legislation designate the Natchez Trace National Trqil through Tennessee, programs energy-conservin- 513-mi- le Alabama and --Said he Mississippi resubmit will legislation to establish the Trail Potomac Heritage through Pennsylvania, Marlyand, West Virginia, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Reaffirmed support for the 3,200-mil- e North Country Trail, extending from New York to North Dakota. Reaffirmed that Administrations commitment to assure the protection of the Appalachian Trail. i H. AGRICULTURAL CONIZRVATTON Sell and Agrlcaharal Lands third the ot nations erosion croplands. This degrades the quality of our lakes, rivers and streams. It slso reduces the soil ressource base for the future agricultural productivity of the nation. Since 1935, water and wind erosion have effectively destroyed about 100 million acres of potential cropland and decreased by half the top-so- il on another 100 million acres. Erosion has caused loss of plant nutrients. Agricultural runoff also seriously pollutes the waters. We have also seen the need to reassess methods of pest control, which in some cases have relied too heavily on chemicals. The Presidents program: The President announced initiatives which address what are generally regarded as the two most serious agricultural land issues today: the quality and quantity of the nations agricultural land. Soil Conservation Incentives Program Review In his message, directed President the the energy promote conservation, through such projects as special lanes for and carpools, vanpools transit vehicles conservation incentive techniques end programs. The study will build on the Con1980 Resources Act servation (RCA) program. to existing agricultural assistance programs can be modified so they work together to reduce soil erosion. The study also A major goal how identify will be will identify conflicts between farm income and soil conservation programs and make recommendations to resolve them A report along with specific administrative and legislative will be recommendations made to the President in January, 1981, to improve present programs. National Agricultural Land Study In addition, the President looks forward to completion on the Council by Environmental Quality and of the Department Agriculture of an study begun in June on the conversion of agricultural land to other uses. The agencies will submit a report to the President by January, 1981, recommending measures for federal, state and local agencies to protect agricultural lands, while recognizing appropriate the need for development. Pest Integrated Management (IPM) The problem: Use of chemical pesticides has become the predominant method of plant and animal pest control. Despite a tenfold increase in pesticide use over the past 30 years, annual U.S, crop losses from all pests appear to have remained relatively constant. Research has shown that multiple control techniques such as IPM can be more than cost-effecti- chemical control alone. The Presidents program: The President has directed the appropriate federal agencies to modify as soon as possible their existing pest management research, control, education, and assistance programs and to support and adopt integrated pest management plans which are practicable and within the limits of existing resources. He also is directing federal agencies to report on their programs and to coordinate their efforts through an interagency group. III. URBAN QUALITY Transportation Policy The problem: Tran sportation systems greatly affect the nations environment, especially in the cities. consumes Transportation over half of all in the U.S. Because of their major effects, transportation policies need to be reoriented to petroleum used ennational support vironmental, urban and energy goals. The Presidents program: The President declared, for the first time, a broad new transportation policy which establishes an overall approach to transportation The problem: World forests and woodlands are disappearing at alarming rates. This is particularly true of tropical forests, to regrow, nor will the land support crops or pasture for more than a few years. transportation improve systems, as alternatives to constructing new facilities firm actions are taken to mitigate adverse effects of transportation projects on the natural and urban en- vironment and that en- vironmental commitments made in approving tran- projects are carried out when the projects are built. Economic Assistance sportation The problem: In a limited number of cases, some has detected 128 plant closings involving 25 or more employees that affect about An 24,000 employees. Economic Assistance Task Force established in 1977 by the President determined Another consequence tropical forest loss is international program for conservation and wise utilization of integrated World Forests are forests, once cut, will reviews not of ac- celerating extinction of species. There is some concern that forest loss may adversely alter the global climate. The Presidents program: The President has directed forests. tropical He also directed that the State Department support and encourage high-lev- el multinational conferences on forest problems in regions where losses are severe. on (4) The Council Environmental Quality and the Department of State report to him in six months on the best ways for the President to designate globally important resources under present Executive Order 12114. Acid Rato The problem: Acid rain is produced when rain removes sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide from the air, forming sulfuric and nitric acid. that: (1) All relevant federal These oxides come from all forms of fossil fuel comagencies give priority attention to world forest issues bustion which goes into our in their budget and program air. The acid rain then falls on the earth and our waters. planning. (2) An interagency task Acid rain has become a force established last fall major environmental and chaired by the State problem on both sides of the Department report to the Atlantic Ocean, affecting President in November 1979 crop productivity, forest on specific goals, strategies yields, fish and wildlife. and programs that the U.S. The Presidents program: should undertake. The President directed that: A (3) The Department of comprehensive State, Agriculture and the federal acid rain assessment Council on Environmental program be established, to Quality, and other relevant be planned and managed by federal agencies give full a standing Acid Rain support and assistance to Coordination Committee. efforts of the Governing The Committee will prepare Council of the United Nations a plan for review by Environment Programme, .the end of the year. 10-ye-ar federal that existing assistance programs for such cases appear to be adequate, but that the government needs to take practical steps to let people know about the programs and make sure help is delivered where it is needed. The Presidents program: The President directed the Administrator of EPA to create an Economic Assistance Program in his agency and to designate economic assistance officers at headquarters and in the field to take the practical steps called for. He also directed agencies that federal publicize and coordinate their closely programs of economic adjustment assistance. Urban Noise Program The problem: Since World War II, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of noise sources in our cities. There are more cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles on streets and highways than ever before, and more industrial and construction activity. The Annual Housing Survey of the Bureau of the Census showed that noise is the most frequently identified undesirable characteristic of more so neighborhoods even than crime. When compared with other neighborhoods conditions, noise ranked second only to crime as a reason for moving out of a neighborhood. The Presidents program: The President announced a program to reduce urban noise by directing EPA, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Transportation, Commerce, and Defense, and the General Services Administration to take a number of actions to improve noise abatement programs, including: programs to achieve soundproofing weatherization and of noise sensitive buildings, such as schools and hospitals use of quiet-desig- n features in transportation projects affecting urban areas measures to encourage the location of housing developments away from major noise sources purchase of quiet equipment and products and assistance to state and local agencies to do likewise support for neigh- borhood efforts to deal with noise problems. , vironmental, energy and urban revitalization goals. Presidents new initiatives are in two areas. made of any proposals which would encourage urban sprawl (a major cause of high energy consumption) consideration is given to improving and rehabilitating existing facilities, or using nonconstruction methods to careful which recently called for a of experts to develop proposals for an The meeting the tropical forests, environmental damage from deforestation can be extreme. Many tropical programs intended to bring about a healthier and more agreeable environment have been a factor in contributing to the closure of marginal industrial plants and loss of some jobs. Since 1971, EPA (CEQ), to develop and complete a detailed and systematic study of possible harm others, or the global environment. is given to using federal transportation funds for public transportation projects encouragement Environmental Quality have erosion funds transportation Programs destroyed or reduced by one-ha- lf the topsoil of about one- - water Wind and federal Secretary of Agriculture, in with the Chairman of the Council on consultation decisions and expenditures to meet the nations en- The problem Hie President is directing the Secretary of Transportation to act immediately to assure that: IV. GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT The President believes that environmental protection efforts cannot be confined to our national InThe boundaries. terdependence of nations in environmental concerns is more vital than ever and each nation has a responsibility to avoid action which $ FEDS GUILTY OF rj REGULATORY POLLUTION ii By Edwin Feulner The U.S. economy is suffocating under a complex web of federal regulations which is increasing consumer costs dramatically, and stifling the productivity advances necessary to sustain the American way of life. That is one of the timely themes Jay Van Andel will be carrying around the country for the next year from his platform as chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Van Andel is uniquely qualified to tell the story. Hes an innovative businessman who, with his partner Richard started from scratch just twenty years ago, pioneering direct selling of his Amway products line into a $500 million a year international success story. His company, it also should be noted, has suffered immeasurably from the heavy hand of government, and was involved for ten out of its twenty years in wrangling with the Federal Trade Commission. The company spent a reported $4 million defending its unique way of doing business against FTC harrassment. The result: the FTC has concluded that Amway (short for American Way) is a vigorous new competitive presence in a market dominated by a few giant companies. Van Andel still likes to think that you and I could do the same, but has become increasingly skeptical as he has watched the almost plague-lik- e spread of regulation. T think the business community has a tremendous responsibility to help change the governments economic policy to make the future more optimistic for all citizens, he says. His and DeVoss commitment to this needed change has included construction of a $3 million Center for Free Enterprise, a unique education facility at company headquarters just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan. When Van Andel complains of governmental pollution which is stultifying the economy and rendering our basic freedoms unsafe, he is not just whistling Dixie in the dark. In terms of dollars and cents, the growth of regulation is staggering, and will cost U.S. consumers an estimated $122 billion in 1 979, according to a recently published study by the Center for the Study of American Business at Washington University in St. Louis. There are other costs as well. Industry must spend so much time doing defensive studies, filling out endless reports and paperwork, in many cases duplicating studies for different agencies, that basic research and development is sadly ignored. Figures from just one important industry, the producers of farm chemicals, tell the story. According to the National Agricultural Chemicals Association, it now takes on the average some ten years and an investment of $20 million or more for a single new product to reach the market, an increase of five hundred percent since 1969. The odds against a new discovery ever reaching the market, according to NACA, are now greater than one in 15,000 largely due to tightening governmental regulations and a demand for more and more testing. The answer, said another industry spokesman in recent testimony to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, is to require all government rulemakers to demonstrate that the benefits of proposed regulations are reasonably related to the costs of compliance. Speaking for the American Industrial Health Council, Jackson Browning suggested the following approach to regulation: that the most cost effective alternative should always be followed; that in the case of health and safety regulations the government should conduct objective and scientifically valid health risk determinations" before taking final action; and that in every case the government should be required to show that the benefits of a regulation are reasonably related to its costs. This is good common sense, to which, I am sure, Jay Van Andel and most of the American people will say Amen." (Feulner is president of The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-base- d public policy research organization.) De-Vo- s, |