business, and industry pay closer attention to a far greater range of alternatives and potential consequences when they make environment-affecting decisions than they have in the past. Finally, it needs to be recognized that the declaration of a national environmental policy will not alone necessarily better or enhance the total man-environment relationship. The present problem is not simply the lack of a policy. It also involves the need to rationalize and coordinate existing policies and to provide a means by which they may be continuously reviewed to determine whether they meet the national goal of a quality life in a quality environment for all Americans. Declaration of a national environmental policy could, however, provide a new organizing concept by which governmental functions could be weighed and evaluated in the light of better perceived and better understood national needs and goals. This report was prepared for the use of the Senate Interior Committee by Prof. Lynton K. Caldwell, Department of Government, Indiana University, with the assistance of Mr. William J. Van Ness, special counsel to the committee, and the Natural Resources Division, Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress. Professor Caldwell's contribution was, in part, made possible through an arrangement with the Conservation Foundation. 1. What are the dimensions of an environmental policy and how are they distinguished from other areas of national concern?__. 2. Upon what considerations and values should a national environ- "Scientists from this country and the Soviet Unionand from 50 other countries-have already begun an international biological program to enrich our understanding of man and his environment. "I propose that we make this effort a permanent concern of our nations. I propose that the United States scientists join with the scientists of the Soviet Union and other nations to form an international council on the human environment."-From President Lyndon B. Johnson's Commencement Address at Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J., June 4, 1968. (92) PREAMBLE It is a major function of the Congress to propose and consider policies "to provide for the common defense and the general welfare of the United States." Today, a challenge to the safety and welfare of the United States and of the American people has arisen. The challenge is the rapid deterioration of the environmental base, natural and manmade, which is the indispensable foundation of American security, welfare, and prosperity. Congress has recognized this challenge, and in accord with its responsibilities is preparing a response. Numerous proposals are now before the Congress to deal with what some of our best informed scientists and political leaders describe as an "environmental crisis." The purpose of this report is not to "view with alarm," but to raise the issue of whether there is a need for a national environmental policy and to discuss some of the major elements which might be considered for inclusion in such a policy. This report is intended to bring the issue of environmental policy into as sharp a focus as the complexity of its subject matter permits, and to identify some of the basic questions that would be encountered in shaping a national policy. The threat of environmental deterioration, which the President of the United States has described as "a crisis of choice," is largely the result of the unprecedented impact of a dual explosion of population and technology upon limited resources of air, water, land, and living space. This challenge has not occurred before in American history nor in the history of civilization. Today the threat this challenge presents is widely recognized. Calls for action have come from many sectors of American society: from labor, from business, from agriculture, from science, from civic bodies, from religious, cultural and ethnic groups, from public agencies and from the elected representatives of the people. Symbolizing the national concern, the Department of the Interior entitled its 1968 Conservation Yearbook "Man-An Endangered Species?"; and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States has issued a call for action in a pamphlet bearing the headline "The Need: To Manage Our Environment." These publications, together with many others listed in appendix A, document the evidence and provide an understanding of the dangers and costs of environmental deterioration. When these dangers and costs are understood, the need for a continuing effort to refine and establish a countervailing policy is apparent. Therefore, the issue before the American people and their elected representatives is the kind of policy that will meet the need. To be effective, a national policy for the environment must be compatible and consistent with many other needs to which the Nation must respond. But it must also define the intent of the American people toward the management of their environment in terms that the Congress, the President, the administrative agencies and the electorate can consider and act upon. A national policy for the environ 98-999-68-7 ment-like other major policy declarations-must be concerned with principle rather than with detail; but it must be principle which can be applied in action. The goals of effective environmental policy cannot be counsels of perfection; what the Nation requires are guidelines to assist the Government, private enterprise and the individual citizen to plan together and to work together toward meeting the challenge of a better environment. At the risk of some oversimplification, the task may be summarized in these terms: (1) To arrest the deterioration of the environment. (2) To restore and revitalize damaged areas of our Nation so that they may once again be productive of economic wealth and spiritual satisfaction. (3) To find alternatives and procedures which will minimize and prevent future hazards in the use of environment-shaping technologies, old and new. (4) To provide direction and, if necessary, new institutions and new technologies designed to optimize man-environment relationships and to minimize future costs in the management of the environment. The challenge of environmental management is, in essence, a challenge of modern man to himself. The principal threats to the environment are those that man himself has induced. A national policy for the environment is thus above all else a national policy for the welfare and survival of man. It is one more step in the journey of the American people from political independence toward knowledgeable selfdetermination in its most fundamental and democratic sense. |