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president's message on the environment february 8, 1971

To the Congress of the United States:

Last August I sent to the Congress the first annual report on the state of the nation's environment. In my message of transmittal, I declared that the report "describes the principal problems we face now and can expect to face in the future, and it provides us with perceptive guidelines for meeting them. . . . They point the directions in which we must move as rapidly as circumstances permit."

The comprehensive and wide-ranging action program I propose today builds upon the 37-point program I submitted to the Congress a year ago. It builds upon the progress made in the past year, and draws upon the experience gained in the past year. It gives us the means to ensure that, as a nation, we maintain the initiative so vigorously begun in our shared campaign to save and enhance our surroundings. This program includes:

Measures to strengthen pollution control programs

-Charges on sulfur oxides and a tax on lead in gasoline to supplement regulatory controls on air pollution.

-More effective control of water pollution through a $12 billion national program and strengthened standard-setting and enforcement authorities

-Comprehensive improvement in pesticide control authority

-A Federal procurement program to encourage recycling of paper Measures to control emerging problems

-Regulation of toxic substances
-Regulation of noise pollution
-Controls on ocean dumping

Measures to promote environmental quality in land use decisions
-A national land use policy

-A new and greatly expanded open space and recreation program,
bringing parks to the people in urban areas

-Preservation of historic buildings through tax policy and other incentives

-Substantial expansion of the wilderness areas preservation system -Advance public agency approval of power plant sites and transmission line routes

-Regulation of environmental effects of surface and underground mining

Further institutional improvement

-Establishment of an Environmental Institute to conduct studies and recommend policy alternatives

Toward a better world environment

-Expanded international cooperation

-A World Heritage Trust to preserve parks and areas of unique cultural value throughout the world.

1970-A YEAR OF PROGRESS

The course of events in 1970 has intensified awareness of and concern about environmental problems. The news of more widespread mercury pollution, late summer smog alerts over much of the East Coast, repeated episodes of ocean dumping and oil spills, and unresolved controversy about important land use questions have dramatized with disturbing regularity the reality and extent of these problems. No part of the United States has been free from them, and all levels of government-Federal, State and local-have joined in the search for solutions. Indeed, there is a growing trend in other countries to view the severity and complexity of environmental problems much as we do.

There can be no doubt about our growing national commitment to find solutions. Last November voters approved several billion dollars in State and local bond issues for environmental purposes, and Federal funds for these purposes are at an all time high.

The program I am proposing today will require some adjustments by governments at all levels, by our industrial and business community, and by the public in order to meet this national commitment. But as we strive to expand our national effort, we must also keep in mind the greater cost of not pressing ahead. The battle for a better environment can be won, and we are winning it. With the program I am outlining in this message we can obtain new victories and prevent problems from reaching the crisis stage.

During 1970, two new organizations were established to provide Federal leadership for the Nation's campaign to improve the environment. The Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President has provided essential policy analysis and advice on a broad range of environmental problems, developing many of our environmental initiatives and furnishing guidance in carrying out the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires all Federal agencies to devote specific attention to the environmental impact of their actions and proposals. Federal pollution control programs have been consolidated in the new Environmental Protection Agency. This new agency is already taking strong action to combat pollution in air and water and on land. -I have requested in my 1972 budget $2.45 billion for the programs of the Environmental Protection Agency-nearly double the funds appropriated for these programs in 1971. These funds will provide for the expansion of air and water pollution, solid waste, radiation and pesticide control programs and for carrying out new programs.

In my special message on the Environment last February, I set forth a comprehensive program to improve existing laws on air and water pollution, to encourage recycling of materials and to provide greater recreational opportunities for our people. We have been able to institute some

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