Growing Importance of the Environment

Question 1

Public Opinion in 1970s

Answer 1

1969- 1% felt environment was the greatest domestic problem, by 1971, 25% did
Membership of environment organisations grew (125,000 in 1960 to 1 mill in 1970, 2 mill in 1980) eg Sierra Club or National Resource Defence Council
Congressional action heavily influenced by environmental pressure groups + individual activists taking a direct approach

Question 2

Policy Before Carter- Kennedy

Answer 2

Jan 1961- appointed Stewart Udall as Secretary for the Interior. He improved the Park Service + expanded National Parks, 3.85 mil acres in total
Clean Air Act (1963)- limited pollution emissions from cars + factories
Advisory committee on pesticides (after Silent Spring)

Question 3

Policy Before Carter- Johnson

Answer 3

Wilderness Act (1964)- protected 9.1 million acres of federal land
Added 50 new areas to National Parks Service + expanded existing ones, 3 new National Parks set up, inc. Redwood National Park in California
Water Quality and Clean Air Acts (1965) + Clean Water Restoration Act (1966)- gave gov. authority to act against air + water pollution

Question 4

Policy Before Carter- Nixon

Answer 4

Congress established Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970). Asked car manufacturers to cut down exhaust emissions.
Introduction of catalytic converters + unleaded gasoline in 1975, cut air pollution by 75%
Clean Air Act (1970) + Endangered Species Act (1973)

Question 5

Policy Before Carter- Ford

Answer 5

Toxic Substances Control Act (1976). Went a long way to deal with America’s environmental problems- pollution in cities reduced considerably.

Question 6

Carter- Love Canal

Answer 6

1978, Love Canal, near Niagara Falls, upper NYS. Full of industrial waste, residents nearby suffered chromosomal damage
Outcry led to a Senate enquiry and NYS gov. spent $30 million to clean up the canal

Question 7

Carter- Three Mile Island

Answer 7

March 1979- Most serious American nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania
Nuclear reactor nearly exploded, 10,000 people evacuated
No new nuclear power stations built, existing continued to operate

Question 8

Carter- Dam

Answer 8

Plan to build dam on the Little Tennessee River, Tennessee was opposed by environmentalists- threaten wildlife + snail darter fish could become extinct
Using Endangered Species Act (1970)- Supreme Court declared against dam in 1978, but it was built

Question 9

Carter- Legislation

Answer 9

Renewed Clean Air and Clean Water Act (1980) + sought alternative energy sources
Alaska Lands Act (1980)- doubled land for national parks + wildlife refuges
More developed, inc. Elk Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming
Fund created by Congress- $1 billion a year to clean up toxic sites
Strengthened powers of EPA to act on pollution

Question 10

Political Impact of Environmentalism- Congress/Party Conflict

Answer 10

Congressional conflict- Energy programme of 1977 failed as Americans hated paying more for petrol + resented by trad. Democrat labour unions
Intra-party (m/c libs vs blue-collar workers) + inter-party conflict

Question 11

Political Impact of Environmentalism- Federal + State Conflict

Answer 11

Tension between fed. gov. + states- ‘Sagebrush Rebellion’
Arizonan businessmen demanded state-control over wilderness for economic activities (mining, ranching, real-estate etc)
Criticised economic impact of fed. gov. land conservation policies from 1964