A look back at Environmental Policy

The history of environmental policy from the 1970’s through 2008 was marked by a great deal of change. Before the 1970’s environmental policy was not given much thought, however with the 1970’s came an increased awareness for quality of life issues including protecting the environment. This awareness came from both the public as well as lawmakers and was not only present in the United States, but internationally as well. Environmental policy has been approached differently by each of the eight administrations (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton, G.W Bush) since the 1970’s and although it has improved, instead of progressing consistently since then, growth in this arena has been quite irregular.

Until the 1970’s, the federal governments role in regard to protecting the environment had been to preserve areas of land such as national parks and wildlife refuges and led to several acts regarding preservation, the first being the Wilderness Act of 1964. In addition to land preservation, the United States also began to put efforts toward reducing world population growth. Air and water pollution as well as solid waste until 1970 were considered for the most part to be local and state concerns, but were slowly working their way into the federal agenda.
The 1970’s were entered with the passing of The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that was signed into law on January 1, 1970 by Nixon who then proclaimed the 1970’s as the “environmental decade”. Shortly thereafter, Earth Day was observed worldwide by 200 million people on April 22, 1970. The 1970’s marked a highly progressive era in terms of environmental policy. The number of Acts during the Nixon, Carter, and Ford administrations marked a progression past mere land conservation to include waste disposal, emissions, water pollution, pesticides, coast protection, threatened and endangered species, drinking water, toxic substances, forest management, mining, clean air and water, and energy conservation.

The 1980’s brought a new presidency with a different set of goals. Reagan’s republican-flavored administration focused on cutting back federal funding for environmental objectives and sought to move environmental responsibilities to the states. This attitude caused a backlash of public activism around environmental issues. Yet, the election of republican George Bush Senior surprisingly led to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

1992-2000 saw the office of Bill Clinton and a pro-environmental vice president in Al Gore. Although many environmentalists were disappointed with the successes of the Clinton administration, the 1990’s marked a period of several world conferences, including the United Nations Conference in 1992 held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil often referred to as the “Earth Summit.” A major accomplishment of this summit was the UNFCCC treaty which led to the Kyoto Protocol.

While momentum for the environmental movement gained from the 1970’s to the turn of the century, the most recent Bush Administration slowed and even turned back much of this progress from the environmentalist’s perspective. The most significant backtracking occurred with the administration’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. Overall, the Kyoto Protocol is an extension of the UNFCCC treaty that was created to control greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere that cause global warming and threaten the stability of our climate system.
As an environmental policy scholar in the year 2012 writing an op-ed piece for the New York Times, I look back at the first 4 years of the Obama administration’s approach to environmental policies with great admiration. It has brought and era of great change similar to the 1970’s. Since the Obama presidency was paired with a majority Democratic control in the Senate as well as in the House, environmental laws were passed with ease. In addition to passing environmentally focused laws, the laws that were in place found the funding and passion they needed to be enforced properly.

Specifically, in the wake of the public’s increased concern for the cost of oil and prolonged dependence on foreign sources for this commodity, President Obama was able to garner support towards improving the emissions standards. With this attitude, we also rejoined the Kyoto protocol thus improving our standing with other equally minded nations. Another major initiative the Obama administration tackled was the quality of our drinking water and fresh water supplies in the U.S. Shortly after entering office, $5 billion was allocated toward immediate improvements to the Great Lakes. One of the laws that was passed by Congress consisted of another $26 billion dollars for futher restoration of the Great Lakes including enacting a zero tolerance for invasive species, which required closing a major contributory waterway to the lakes. Energy policy initiatives passed under Obama both spurred the economy and brought great promise to energy independence and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. From the stimulus package $100 billion dollars were allocated to support green technologies. A stipulation was written into the auto industry bailout that made the companies use a portion of the money to research and adapt more fuel efficient and emission conscious technologies. In essence, President Obama was able to take both the advantages and disadvantages of the times when he entered office and fashion them towards a more environmental approach to national policymaking.