December is the 50th anniversary of the National Environmental Protection Act, which created the Environmental Protection Agency.
Did we need a new federal agency and has it done a good job? The answer is an unequivocable yes!
During the 1960s, we began to realize that Earth was in trouble. Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, which warned about the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Based on science and observation by experts, readers learned of the damage to animal populations, water resources and humans from pesticides. The book brought the environment into our thought process.
Another book was the Whole Earth Catalog, which sold millions of copies. Steve Jobs defined the catalog as “Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along.”
In 1969, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire with flames that witnesses said reached five stories in height. The Cuyahoga burned because a toxic stew of pollutants was drained into the river without concern by cities and factories along its banks. While the fire lasted only 20 minutes, the national publicity brought further attention to the need to do something.
Another example of pollution which created great public awareness was the thick smog from automobile and truck exhaust that blanketed Los Angeles. The Golden State turned grey when there was a temperature inversion trapping the smog. The same thing happened in Denver and other cities.
Congress passed the legislation, which was signed by President Nixon. There were 37 goals assigned to the first Administrator, William Ruckelshaus. Just a few include cleaning up the Great Lakes, removing lead from gasoline, investing in sewer plants and developing a plan to contain oil spills.
Coincidentally, 1970 was the year this columnist began his career as a management intern with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Atlanta. My assignment was to bring federal dollars for parks, water and sewer systems, public facilities, and historic preservation projects to municipalities and counties throughout Kentucky.
For some reason that escapes me – other than my brightly-colored shirts and paisley ties, while my colleague interns wore white shirts and red ties – the Area Director asked me to learn about HUD’s requirements to respond to Environmental Impact Statements that we received from other federal agencies. This was actually pretty heavy stuff.
The reality was, no one else wanted to do it.
One of the first Environmental Impact Statements received was from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The agency was being asked to approve “service roads” in the Ocala National Forest. The stated purpose was to assist in fighting forest fires.
I had attended the nearby University of Florida and remembered student outrage over a rumor that oil drilling was being considered. So, in my naivete, the response I wrote was that the project should be denied if the purpose of the “service roads” was to allow oil exploration. This comment was picked up by an enterprising reporter and a headline story followed causing the project to be denied.
It didn’t take long till my comments had to be approved by a higher-up.
There is a lot to protect in Graham County. Our forests, lakes and rivers
are the substance of our tourist industry. We should all be stewards of the environment, while being sensitive to the economic needs of sustainable forestry.
Roger Carlton is a columnist for The Graham Star. He is a council member for the Town of Lake Santeetlah.