-I also propose Federal standards to regulate the discharge of hazardous substances similar to those which I proposed and the Congress adopted in the Clean Air Amendments of 1970.

-I propose that standards require that the best practicable technology be used in new industrial facilities to ensure that water quality is preserved or enhanced.

-I propose that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency be empowered to require prompt revision of standards when necessary.

We should strengthen and streamline Federal enforcement authority, to permit swift action against municipal as well as industrial and other violators of water quality standards. Existing authority under the Refuse Act generally does not apply to municipalities.

-I propose that the Administrator of EPA be authorized to issue abatement orders swiftly and to impose administrative fines of up to $25,000 per day for violation of water quality standards. -I propose that violations of standards and abatement orders be made subject to court-imposed fines of up to $25,000 per day and up to $50,000 per day for repeated violations.

-I again propose that the Administrator be authorized to seek im-
mediate injunctive relief in emergency situations in which severe
water pollution constitutes an imminent danger to health, or
threatens irreversible damage to water quality.

-I propose that the cumbersome and time-consuming enforcement
conference and hearing mechanism in the current law be replaced
by a provision for swift public hearings as a prelude to issuance
of abatement orders or requiring a revision of standards.
-I propose an authorization for legal actions against violations of
standards by private citizens, as in the new air quality legislation,
in order to bolster State and Federal enforcement efforts.
-I propose that the Administrator be empowered to require re-
ports by any person responsible for discharging effluents covered
by water quality standards.

-I again propose that Federal grants to State pollution control en-
forcement agencies be tripled over the next four years—from $10
million to $30 million-to assist these agencies in meeting their
expanded pollution control responsibilities.

Control of Oil Spills

Last May I outlined to the Congress a number of measures that should be taken to reduce the risks of pollution from oil spills. Recent events have underlined the urgency of action on these proposals. At the outset of this present Congress I resubmitted the Ports and Waterways Safety Act and the legislation requiring the use of bridge-to-bridge radio

telephones for safety of navigation. Such legislation would have decreased the chances of the oil spill which occurred as a result of a tanker collision in San Francisco Bay.

-I have provided $25 million in next year's budget for development of better techniques to prevent and clean up oil spills and to provide more effective surveillance. I am asking the Council on Environmental Quality in conjunction with the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency to review what further measures can be developed to deal with the problem.

-I also am renewing my request that the Senate give its advice and consent on the two new international conventions on oil spills and the pending amendments to the 1954 Oil Spills Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil.

The Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) is presently preparing a convention to establish an International Compensation Fund to supplement the 1969 Civil Liability Convention. Our ratification of the 1969 convention will be withheld until this supplementary convention can also be brought into force because both conventions are part of a comprehensive plan to provide compensation for damages caused by oil spills. In addition, we have taken the initiative in NATO's Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society and achieved wide international support for terminating all intentional discharges of oil and oily wastes from ships into the oceans by 1975, if possible, and no later than the end of this decade. We will continue to work on this matter to establish through IMCO an international convention on this subject.

PESTICIDES

Pesticides have provided important benefits by protecting man from disease and increasing his ability to produce food and fiber. However, the use and misuse of pesticides has become one of the major concerns of all who are interested in a better environment. The decline in numbers of several of our bird species is a signal of the potential hazards of pesticides to the environment. We are continuing a major research effort to develop nonchemical methods of pest control, but we must continue to rely on pesticides for the foreseeable future. The challenge is to institute the necessary mechanisms to prevent pesticides from harming human health and the environment.

Currently, Federal controls over pesticides consist of the registration and labeling requirements in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The administrative processes contained in the law are inordinately cumbersome and time-consuming, and there is no authority to deal with the actual use of pesticides. The labels approved under the Act specify the uses to which a pesticide may be put, but there is no way

to insure that the label will be read or obeyed. A comprehensive strengthening of our pesticide control laws is needed.

-I propose that the use of pesticides be subject to control in appropriate circumstances, through a registration procedure which provides for designation of a pesticide for "general use," "restricted use," or "use by permit only." Pesticides designated for restricted use would be applied only by an approved pest control applicator. Pesticides designated for "use by permit only" would be made available only with the approval of an approved pest control consultant. This will help to ensure that pesticides which are safe when properly used will not be misused or applied in excessive quantities.

-I propose that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency be authorized to permit the experimental use of pesticides under strict controls, when he needs additional information concerning a pesticide before deciding whether it should be registered.

-I propose that the procedures for cancellation of a registration be streamlined to permit more expeditious action.

-I propose that the Administrator be authorized to stop the sale or use of, and to seize, pesticides being distributed or held in violation of Federal law.

RECYCLING OF WASTES

The Nation's solid waste problem is both costly and damaging to the environment. Paper, which accounts for about one-half of all municipal solid waste, can be reprocessed to produce a high quality product. Yet the percentage the Nation recycles has been declining steadily.

To reverse this trend, the General Services Administration, working with the Council on Environmental Quality, has reviewed the Federal Government's purchasing policies. It found a substantial number of prohibitions against using paper with recycled content. Such prohibitions are no longer reasonable in light of the need to encourage recycling.

As a result of this review, the GSA has already changed its specifications to require a minimum of 3 to 50 percent recycled content, depending on the product, in over $35 million per year of paper purchases. GSA is currently revising other specifications to require recycled content in an additional $25 million of annual paper purchases. In total, this will amount to more than one-half of GSA's total paper products purchases. All remaining specifications will be reviewed to require recycled content in as many other paper products as possible. The regulations will be reviewed continually to increase the percentage of recycled paper required in each.

I have directed that the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality suggest to the Governors that they review State purchasing pol