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environmental quality

the second annual report

of the council on environmental quality
august 1971

publications of the

council on environmental quality:

environmental quality-the first annual report of the council on environmental quality

ocean dumping-a national policy

the president's 1971 environmental program
toxic substances

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $2

Stock Number 4111-0005

the president's

message

the president's

message

To the Congress of the United States:

The First Annual Report of the Council on Environmental Quality, which I submitted to the Congress one year ago, described our principal environmental problems and set out in broad outline the directions in which I felt we should be moving. Now, as I submit to the Congress this second annual report, I am pleased to be able to say that we have made considerable progress towards achieving our environmental objectives during the past 12 months.

During the past year we have launched many initiatives to implement the broad recommendations contained in the first annual report. At the Federal level we have proposed sweeping legislative programs to the Congress, we have taken vigorous actions within the executive branch, and we have achieved increasingly effective cooperation with other nations. The States have likewise moved to meet environmental challenges with wide-ranging institutional changes and more effective laws.

While we still have a long way to go before we meet our ultimate objectives, it is important to emphasize that we are making substantial progress. For example, there is evidence that the air in many of our cities is becoming less polluted, although the data is still incomplete. Total emissions from automobiles and the use of persistent pesticides are going down. On the other hand, there is no basis for complacency, as the level of total pollutants in our environment is still rising.

We will continue to face difficult obstacles as we work to make our surroundings more liveable and more enriching. But even now we are demonstrating that our institutions can be made responsive to the need for environmental reform and that the quality of our environment can be substantially improved, if only we go about that task with sufficient will and sufficient energy.

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