U.S. Environmental Policy and Politics: A Documentary History

Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Thematic Table of Contents......Page 16
Overview of Coverage......Page 22
Organization of the Book......Page 23
Acknowledgments......Page 24
Introduction......Page 25
The World They Found......Page 28
Rationalizing Land Acquisition......Page 30
Escalating Pressure on Indians and Resources......Page 31
Exploitation of Land and Peoples in the South and West......Page 32
Epidemics and Changing Land Use in America......Page 34
Land Development Policies in the Colonies......Page 35
Subduing Nature......Page 36
America’s First Resource Conservation Policies......Page 38
Private Property Rights in the Colonies......Page 39
Early Public Health Policies......Page 40
Notes......Page 41
1.1 A Pilgrim Describes the Struggle for Survival at Plymouth......Page 43
1.2 An English Fur Trader Purchases Indian Land in Massachusetts Colony......Page 46
1.3 Game Hunting Regulations in Rhode Island Colony......Page 48
1.4 A Planter Takes Stock of Indian Tribes in Virginia......Page 49
1.5 England’s Broad Arrow Policy in Colonial America......Page 50
1.6 Benjamin Franklin Rails against Industrial Pollution in Philadelphia......Page 52
1.7 Indians and Colonists Argue over Land Rights and Deeds......Page 54
1.8 A Naturalist Decries Wasteful Resource Use in America......Page 57
1.9 A Petition by Mohegan Indians to the Connecticut State Assembly......Page 60
1.10 An Act to Prevent the Spreading of Contagious Sickness......Page 61
A Whirlwind of Territorial Expansion......Page 64
Exploring the Lands beyond the Mississippi......Page 66
Indian Lands No More......Page 67
Indian Removal in the South......Page 68
From Sea to Shining Sea......Page 69
Arrival of the Industrial Age......Page 70
The Transportation Revolution......Page 72
Arrival of the Iron Horse......Page 73
Moving Public Lands into Private Hands......Page 75
Vanishing Wilderness and Wildlife......Page 76
Notes......Page 77
2.1 Thomas Jefferson Requests Funding for the Lewis and Clark Expedition......Page 79
2.2 The Louisiana Purchase......Page 81
2.3 Tecumseh decries Land Cessions......Page 84
2.4 An Act to Protect “Useful” Birds in Massachusetts......Page 86
2.5 De Witt Clinton Heralds the Opening of the Erie Canal......Page 87
2.6 Congress Establishes Federal Forest Reserves for Naval Use......Page 90
2.7 Andrew Jackson Hails the Benefits of Indian Removal......Page 91
2.8 Henry Shreve on Western River Improvements......Page 95
2.9 An American Newspaperman Unfurls His Vision of Continental Conquest......Page 99
2.10 An American Warns of Human and Ecological Disaster on the Great Plains......Page 101
2.11 The Swamp and Overflow Act......Page 104
2.12 A Blunt Warning about Unsustainable Farming Practices in America......Page 105
From Public Domain to Private Enterprise......Page 110
Opening the West through Railroad Land Grants......Page 112
Propaganda Trumps Reality......Page 113
Natural Resource Management in the Land Rush Era......Page 114
Early Mining Laws......Page 115
The Fight over Timber in the Public Domain......Page 117
Conservation Voices Break Through......Page 118
Rallying Government Resources to the Conservation Cause......Page 120
The Forest Reserve Act......Page 121
Halting the War on Wildlife......Page 122
Opposition to New Wildlife Conservation Laws......Page 123
States Take the Lead......Page 125
Sportsmen Champion the Lacey Act......Page 126
Notes......Page 127
3.1 The Homestead Act......Page 129
3.2 The Pacific Railway Act......Page 132
3.3 George Perkins Marsh Discusses......Page 136
3.4 The General Mining Act of 1872......Page 138
3.5 Yellowstone Becomes America’s First National Park......Page 140
3.6 The Free Timber Act......Page 142
3.7 John Wesley Powell’s Cautionary Report on Settlement of the West......Page 143
3.8 Chief Joseph Asks the U.S. Congress for Justice......Page 148
3.9 A Montana Resident Praises Territorial Policies against “Destructive WildAnimals”......Page 152
3.10 William Hornaday Laments the Extermination of the Bison......Page 155
3.11 An Act to Protect Salmon Runs in Alaska......Page 160
3.12 A Former Interior Secretary Calls for a “Rational Forest Policy”......Page 161
3.13 A Scientific Report Lays the Ground-work for the Forest Reserve Act......Page 167
3.14 William Gilpin Describes an American Empire Built on Railroads......Page 171
3.15 A Tourist Brochure Beckons Travelers to the Northwest Territories......Page 176
3.16 The Case of Ward v. Race Horse......Page 180
3.17 The Lacey Bird Law......Page 184
Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era......Page 187
The Reclamation Act of 1902......Page 190
Pinchot and the Nation’s Forests......Page 191
Roosevelt and the Preservationist Ethic......Page 193
Conservation Rhetoric and Public Policy in the Roosevelt White House......Page 194
The Backlash against Conservation......Page 195
Conservation Laws Exacerbate Class Divisions......Page 197
Immigration and the Conservation Movement......Page 198
Taft and the Ballinger-Pinchot Feud......Page 199
The Battle for Hetch Hetchy......Page 201
The National Park System Is Born......Page 202
Notes......Page 203
4.1 President Roosevelt’s First Annual Message to Congress......Page 205
4.2 The National Reclamation Act......Page 209
4.3 The Antiquities Act......Page 212
4.4 President Roosevelt’s Address at a Conservation Conference of Governors......Page 214
4.5 Pennsylvania Bars Immigrants from Hunting Wild Game......Page 219
4.6 A Western Governor Condemns Federal Conservation Policies......Page 220
4.7 A U.S. Forest Service Chief Defends Federal Forest Reserves......Page 225
4.8 The New York Times Covers the Ballinger-Pinchot Feud......Page 231
4.9 Gifford Pinchot’s Principles of Conservation......Page 237
4.10 Secretary Garfield Defends the Plan to Dam Hetch Hetchy Valley......Page 240
4.11 John Muir Calls for the Preservation of Hetch Hetchy Valley......Page 243
4.12 The Weeks Act Paves the Way for National Forests in the East......Page 247
4.13 The National Park Service Act......Page 250
Public Health in America’s Early Years......Page 252
The Industrial City......Page 255
Shifting Attitudes Bring Hope......Page 256
The Sanitary Revolution......Page 258
The City Beautiful Movement......Page 259
Environmental Health and the Progressives......Page 261
Alice Hamilton and the Dangerous Trades......Page 262
Notes......Page 264
5.1 Shattuck Report for the Promotion of Public Health......Page 266
5.2 John Griscom Comments on Sanitary Legislation, Past and Future......Page 268
5.3 A Grim Assessment of Sanitary Conditions in New York City......Page 272
5.4 Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act......Page 275
5.5 A Reformer Condemns Air Pollution in American Cities......Page 277
5.6 New Regulations Bring Incremental Change to City Life......Page 281
5.7 Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle......Page 282
5.8 A Call for Green Space in American Cities......Page 286
5.9 Jane Addams Fights for Clean Streets and Alleyways......Page 290
5.10 Health Hazards in the Chemical Trade......Page 294
5.11 States Rely on Voluntary Industrial Pollution Abatement......Page 298
Environmental Policy Trends in Postwar America......Page 299
Environmental Health in the Workplace......Page 301
Competing Visions and Agency Rivalries......Page 303
The Forest Service–Park Service Rivalry......Page 304
New Deal Conservation and the Civilian Conservation Corps......Page 306
Water Projects of the New Deal Era......Page 308
Responding to the Dust Bowl......Page 310
Changing Perspectives on Wildlife......Page 312
Notes......Page 314
6.1 The Colorado River Compact......Page 315
6.2 An Ethyl Industry Consultant Tries to Relieve Fears about Lead Poisoning......Page 320
6.3 Euclid v. Ambler Realty Bolsters Zoning Laws......Page 323
6.4 Bob Marshall Calls for a New Era of Wilderness Advocacy......Page 327
6.5 The National Park Service Changes Its Policies on Predators......Page 335
6.6 President Roosevelt Explains the Purpose of the Civilian Conservation Corps......Page 337
6.7 Hugh Bennett Describes Erosion as a “Costly Farm Evil”......Page 339
6.8 President Roosevelt Dedicates Hoover Dam......Page 343
6.9 The Flood Control Act......Page 347
6.10 Report of the Great Plains Drought Area Committee......Page 350
6.11 Interior Secretary Ickes and the Publisher of Mining World Clash over Parks......Page 356
The Arsenal of Democracy......Page 363
The Postwar Suburbanization Boom......Page 365
Growing Pressure on Environmental Resources......Page 366
Water Resource Politics in the Postwar Era......Page 368
A Cautionary Tragedy in Donora......Page 370
Clean Energy through Nuclear Technology......Page 372
Harbingers of an Expanded Federal Role......Page 373
Responding to the Surge in Outdoor Recreation......Page 374
The Forest Service Bedeviled on All Sides......Page 376
Echo Park—A Turning Point......Page 377
Notes......Page 378
7.1 Irving Brant Comments on Wartime Proposals to Cut Timber in National Parks......Page 380
7.2 The Truman Proclamation on the Continental Shelf......Page 383
7.3 Aldo Leopold Calls for a New Land Ethic......Page 385
7.4 President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” Speech......Page 387
7.5 A Report on the Proposed St. Lawrence Seaway......Page 393
7.6 President Eisenhower Urges the Creation of a “National Highway Program”......Page 396
7.7 The Air Pollution Control Act......Page 400
7.8 The National Park Service Unveils Mission 66......Page 402
7.9 Preserving Wilderness in the National Parks......Page 406
7.10 The Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act......Page 410
7.11 Wallace Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter”......Page 411
Rachel Carson and Silent Spring......Page 417
New Milestones in Wilderness Conservation......Page 419
Dams and Rivers in the West......Page 421
A New Generation of Environmental Groups......Page 423
Politicians Rush to Claim the “Environmentalist” Mantle......Page 424
The Quest for Cleaner Air......Page 426
Congress and Nixon Battle over the Clean Water Act......Page 427
A Changing Political Environment......Page 428
The Sagebrush Rebellion......Page 430
Notes......Page 432
8.1 Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring......Page 434
8.2 Stewart Udall Recalls the Fight for Passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964......Page 439
8.3 Floyd Dominy Defends Reclamation Projects in the West......Page 443
8.4 President Johnson Praises the Highway Beautification Act of 1965......Page 449
8.5 President Johnson Signs Four Major Conservation Bills in one Day......Page 451
8.6 The National Environmental Policy Act......Page 455
8.7 Senator Gaylord Nelson Inaugurates Earth Day......Page 459
8.8 President Nixon Submits a Plan for Creating an Environmental Protection Agency......Page 461
8.9 A Congressman Remembers the Battle for the Clean Air Act of 1970......Page 465
8.10 Senators Baker and Muskie Attack Nixon’s Veto of the Clean Water Act......Page 469
8.11 The Endangered Species Act......Page 473
8.12 President Nixon Addresses Congress on Natural Resources and the Environment......Page 476
8.13 Federal Land Policy and Management Act......Page 483
8.14 The Sagebrush Rebellion Bill......Page 485
8.15 The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution......Page 490
8.16 Lois Gibbs Testifies about the Government Response to Love Canal......Page 493
8.17 President Carter Signs the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act......Page 498
Reagan and the Environmental Protection Agency......Page 502
EPA during the Gorsuch Years......Page 505
Partisan Divide on Environmental Regulation......Page 506
Passing the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments......Page 508
Escalating Political Warfare......Page 509
The Republican Revolution and Environmental Law......Page 511
Clinton’s Bid to “Reinvent” Environmental Regulation......Page 513
George W. Bush and “Smart” Environmental Regulation......Page 514
The Environmental Justice Movement......Page 516
Notes......Page 518
9.1 President Carter Signs Superfund into Law......Page 520
9.2 The Reagan Administration Inaugurates a New Era of Environmental Deregulation......Page 524
9.3 President Reagan Defends Ann Gorsuch’s Stewardship of the EPA......Page 527
9.4 A Landmark Government Report on the Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills......Page 529
9.5 President Reagan Signs the Montreal Protocol on Ozone-depleting Substances......Page 535
9.6 President Bush Signs the Clean Air Act Amendments......Page 537
9.7 Activists Release “Principles of Environmental Justice”......Page 540
9.8 The FDA Blurs Distinctions between GM and Non-GM Foods......Page 542
9.9 President Clinton Issues an Executive Order on Environmental Justice......Page 545
9.10 The EPA Inspector General Details Problems with State Environmental Programs......Page 550
9.11 A Landmark Supreme Court Ruling in Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw......Page 554
9.12 Environmental Justice Advocacy from the Perspective of a Critic......Page 559
9.13 Bipartisan Support for a Brownfields Revitalization Act......Page 565
9.14 An OMB Administrator Touts a “Smart-Regulation” Agenda......Page 569
9.15 Environmental Groups Attack the EPA’s “Clean Air Mercury Rule”......Page 572
9.16 Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty, 1987–2007......Page 579
9.17 Assessing the Impact of Uranium Poisoning in the Navajo Nation......Page 585
9.18 A Critique of Bush Administration Regulatory Reforms......Page 590
Sagebrushers and “Wise Users”......Page 596
Land-use Policies Spur Controversy and Galvanize Opposition......Page 599
Land and Wildlife Conservation Policy during the Clinton Years......Page 601
Clinton and Federal Logging Policies......Page 603
The Roadless Rule......Page 605
Public Land and Resource Management in the Bush Years......Page 606
Endangered Species Protection during the Bush Years......Page 608
Water Management in an Era of Shortages......Page 610
Backlash against Smart Growth......Page 612
Wilderness Conservation in a Partisan Era......Page 613
Notes......Page 614
10.1 James Watt Describes His Conservation Philosophy......Page 616
10.2 President Bush Signs the Oil Pollution Act......Page 620
10.3 Opposing Wolf Reintroduction in the West......Page 623
10.4 A Proponent of Wolves in Yellowstone......Page 629
10.5 President Clinton and the Salvage Rider......Page 634
10.6 A Utah Senator Blasts Clinton’s Establishment of a National Monument......Page 638
10.7 Interior Secretary Babbitt Defends Dam Removal......Page 641
10.8 President Clinton Unveils the Roadless Area Conservation Rule......Page 646
10.9 The Mountaintop Mining Rule......Page 649
10.10 Revising the Roadless Rule......Page 651
10.11 A Timeline of Michigan Deer Hunting Regulations......Page 654
10.12 A New Pact for Colorado River Water Use......Page 659
10.13 Oregon’s Ballot Measure 49......Page 663
10.14 Calling for Reform of an “Antiquated” Mining Law......Page 670
10.15 An Environmental Health Warning about Industrial Animal Feeding Operations......Page 674
10.16 Political Interference with the Endangered Species Act......Page 677
10.17 The Omnibus Public Land Management Act......Page 680
10.18 Southern Governors React to a Momentous Water Ruling......Page 684
Energy Needs Drive Early Policymaking......Page 689
Global Warming Arrives as a Policy Issue......Page 691
The Kyoto Protocol......Page 692
Energy and Global Warming Policies in the Bush White House......Page 693
Cities and States Take Action......Page 695
Partisan Politics and the Global Warming Debate......Page 696
Increased Regulation of Greenhouse Gases on the Horizon......Page 698
Notes......Page 700
11.1 President Reagan Seeks to Revitalize the Nuclear Energy Industry......Page 701
11.2 President Bush Extols the Energy Policy Act......Page 704
11.3 The Kyoto Protocol......Page 706
11.4 A Congressman Makes the Case for Drilling in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)......Page 709
11.5 A Congressman Criticizes ANWR Drilling Proposals......Page 711
11.6 U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement......Page 713
11.7 A Global Warming Skeptic in the U.S. Senate......Page 714
11.8 Al Gore Issues a Call to Action on Global Warming......Page 721
11.9 Massachusetts et al. v. EPA......Page 726
11.10 The IPCC Delivers a Grim Status Report on Global Warming......Page 730
11.11 Fighting over Coal Plants in Kansas......Page 740
11.12 President Obama Touts the Benefits of High-speed rail......Page 743
11.13 Debating the Merits of the Waxman-Markey “Cap and Trade” Bill......Page 747
11.14 Energy Secretary Chu Issues a “Call to Arms” on Climate Change......Page 752
Chronology......Page 758
Bibliography......Page 766
Illustration Credits......Page 771
Index......Page 772