Environmental Encyclopedia

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Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Historical Chronology

1972 Oregon becomes first state to enact bottle-recycl-

ing law.

1972 Limits to Growth published by the Club of Rome,

calling for population control.

1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) signed

to prevent the international trade of endangered or

threatened animals and plants.

1973

Endangered Species Act passed.

1973

Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) institute an embargo

preventing shipments of oil to the United States.

1973

Cousteau Society founded by Jacques-Yves Cous-

teau and his son to educate the public and conduct

research on marine-related issues.

1973

E. F. Schumacher publishes Small Is Beautiful,

which advocates simplicity, self-reliance, and living

in harmony with nature.

1974

Safe Drinking Water Act passed, requiring EPA

to set quality standards for the nation’s drinking

water.

1975

Atlantic salmon is found in the Connecticut River

after a 100-year absence.

1975

The Monkey Wrench Gang published by Edward

Abbey, who advocates radical and controversial

methods for protecting the environment, including

“ecotage.”

1976

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act passed,

giving EPA authority to regulate municipal solid

and hazardous waste.

1976

Poisonous gas containing 2,4,5-TCP and dioxin is

released from a factory in Seveso, Italy, causing

massive animal and plant death. Although no hu-

man life was lost, a sharp increase in deformed

births was reported.

1976

Land Institute founded by Wes and Dana Jackson

to encourage more natural and organic agricultural

practices.

1978

Residents of Love Canal, New York, are evacuated

after Lois Gibbs discovers that the community was

once the site of a chemical waste dump.

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1978 Oil tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground, spilling

220,000 tons of oil.

1979 Three Mile Island Nuclear Reactor almost under-

goes nuclear melt-down when the cooling water

systems fail. Since this accident no new nuclear

power plants have been built in the United States.

1980 Mount St. Helens explodes with a force comparable

to 500 Hiroshima-sized bombs.

1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-

pensation, andLiability Act (Superfund) enacted to

clean up abandoned toxic waste sites.

1980 The Global 2000 Report published, documenting

trends in population growth, natural resource

depletion, and the environment.

1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

enacted, setting aside millions of acres of land as

wilderness.

1980 Thomas Lovejoy proposes the idea of debt-for-

nature swap that helps developing countries allevi-

ate national debt by implementing policies to pro-

tect the environment.

1980 Earth First! founded by Dave Foreman, with the

slogan “No compromise in the defense of Mother

Earth.”

1982 Bioregional Project founded to promote the aims

of the bioregional movement in North America.

1984 Emission of poisonous methylisocyanate vapor, a

chemical by-product of agricultural insecticide pro-

duction, from the Union Carbide plant kills more

than 2,800 people in Bhopal, India.

1985 Rainforest Action Network founded.

1985 Ozone hole observed over Antarctica.

1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station undergoes nu-

clear coremelt-down, spreading radioactive material

over vast parts of the Soviet Union and northern

Europe.

1986 Evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri, due to high

levels of dioxin.

1987 Ecodefense: A Field Guide toMonkeywrenching pub-

lished by Dave Foreman, in which he describes

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Historical Chronology

spiking trees and other “environmental sabotage”

techniques.

1987 Our Common Future (The Brundtland Report) is

published.

1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the

Ozone Layer signed by 24 nations, declaring their

promise to decrease production of chlorofluorocar-

bons(CFCs).

1987 Yucca Mountain designated the first permanent

repository for radioactive waste by the U.S. Depart-

ment of Energy.

1987 World population is five billion.

1988 Ocean Dumping Ban Act established.

1988 Global ReLeaf program inaugurated with the

motto “Plant a tree, cool the globe” to address the

problem of global warming.

1989 Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runsaground in Prince

William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons

of oil.

1990 Oil Pollution Act signed, setting liability and pen-

alty system for oil spills as well as a trust fund for

clean up efforts.

1990 Clean Air Act amended to control emissions of

sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

1991 Mount Pinatubo in Philippines erupts, shooting

sulfur dioxide 25 miles into the atmosphere.

1991 Persian Gulf War.

1991 Train containing the pesticide metasodium falls off

the tracks near Dunsmuir, California, releasing

chemicals into the Sacramento River. Plant and

aquatic life for 43 miles downriver die as a result.

1991 Over 4,000 people die from cholera in Latin Ameri-

canepidemic.

1992 U.N. Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1992 Mexico City, Mexico, shuts down as a result of

incapacitating air pollution.

1992 Captive-bred California condors and black-footed

ferrets reintroduced into the wild.

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1992 United Nations calls for an end to global drift net

fishing by the end of 1992.

1993 Braer oil tanker runs aground in the Shetland

Islands, Scotland, spilling its entire cargo into

the sea.

1993 Forest Summit convened in Portland, Oregon, by

President Bill Clinton, who met with loggers and

environmentalists concerned with the survival of

the northern spotted owl.

1993 Norway resumes hunting of minke whales in defi-

ance of a ban on commercial whaling instituted by

the International Whaling Commission.

1993 Eight people from Biosphere 2 emerge after living

two years in a self-sustaining, glass dome.

1995 Ken-Sara Wiwa is executed in Nigeria for pro-

testing and speaking out about oil industry practices

in the country. Shell Oil Co. takes criticism for its

role in the matter.

1997 Forest fires worldwide burn a total of five million

hectares of forest

1997 Julia Butterfield Hill climbs a 180 ft (55 m) red-

wood tree in California to protest the logging of

the surrounding forest as well as to protect the

tree. The tree was eventually named Luna and Julia

Butterfield Hill removed herself from the tree in

1999 after she negotiated a deal to save the tree

and an additional three acres of the forest.

1997 Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep, is born.

1997 Kyoto Protocol mandates a reduction of reported

1990 emissions levels by 6–8% by 2008.

1997 Monserrat volcano erupts.

1999 World population reaches six billion.

1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in

Seattle, Washington, is marked by heavy protests,

highlighting WTO’s weak environmental policies.

2000 During his presidency, Bill Clinton appropriated a

total of 58 million acres of wilderness as conserva-

tion land—the largest amount of land to be set aside

for conservation by any other president to date.

2000 Russian nuclear submarine the Kursk sinks off the

coast of Minsk, Russia.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Historical Chronology

2000 West Nile virus discovered in the eastern United

States.

2001 Draft of human genome sequence published.

2001

The United States does not ratify the Kyoto Pro-

tocol.

2001 The World Trade Center towers in New York col-

lapse after being struck by two commercial airplanes

commandeered by terrorists. A third airplane is

crashed into the Pentagon building just outside

Washington, D.C., causing loss of life and major

damage to the building.

2001 War on Terrorism begins.

2002 U.N. Earth Summit held in Johannesburg, South

Africa.

2002 EPA adopts California emissions standards for off-

road recreation vehicles to be implemented by 2004.

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2002 President George W. Bush introduces the Clear

Sky Initiative that will restrict the amounts of sulfur

dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury

emitted into the atmosphere by industry. If passed,

the Clear Sky plan will build upon the Clean Air

Act.

2002 EPA announces its Strategic Plan for Homeland

Security to support the National Strategy for

Homeland Security enacted after the September

11, 2001; terrorist attacks in the United States.

2002 Three Gorges Dam is 70% complete. Filling of the

reservoir will begin in 2003 and will demand the

relocation of 1.13 million people. Critics worry

about the stability of the dam, as well as the ecologi-

cal effects it will have when fully operational in

2009.

2002 President George W. Bush signs Bill approving

the using of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste

storage site.

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Environmental Legislation In The United States

1862 Homestead Act makes free homesteads on unap-

propriated land available on a vast scale, speeding

settlement of the Plains states and destruction of

the region’s prairie ecosystem.

1872 Mining Law allows any person finding mineral

deposits on public land to file a claim which grants

him free access to that site for mining or similar

development.

1891 Forest Reserve Act authorizes the President to

create forest reserves from the public domain.

1899 Refuse Act authorizes the Army Corps of Engi-

neers to issue discharge permits.

1900 Lacey Act makes interstate shipment of wild ani-

mals a federal offense if taken in violation of

state laws.

1902 Reclamation Act provides funding for the “recla-

mation” of drylands in the western United States

through irrigation and damming of rivers.

1916 National Park Service Act establishes the National

Park Service, an agency in the U.S. Department of

the Interior, the first such agency in the world.

1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act establishes federal au-

thority over migratory game and insectivorous

birds.

1920 Mineral Leasing Act regulates the exploitation of

fuel and fertilizer minerals on public lands.

1934 Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act provides

funding for waterfowl reserves.

1934

Taylor Grazing Act establishes federal manage-

ment policy on public grazing lands, the last major

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category of public lands to come under the active

supervision of the government.

1935 Soil Conservation Act establishes the Soil Conser-

vation Service to aid in combating soil erosion fol-

lowing the Dust Bowl.

1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act sets extensive

standards for the quality and labeling of foods,

drugs, and cosmetics.

1938 Natural Gas Act gives the Federal Power Commis-

sion the right to control prices and limit new pipe-

lines from entering the market.

1948 Water Pollution Control Act is the first statute

to provide state and local governments with the

funding to address water pollution.

1954 Atomic Energy Act grants the federal government

exclusive regulatory authority over nuclear-power

facilities.

1955 Air Pollution Control Act grants funds to assist

the states in their air pollution control activities.

1956 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (amended

1965, 1966, 1970, 1972) increases federal funding

to state and local governments to address water

quality issues and calls for the development of water

quality standards by the newly-created Federal

Water Pollution Control Administration.

1957 Price-Anderson Act limits the liability of civilian

producers of nuclear power in the case of a cata-

strophic nuclear accident.

1960 Hazardous Substances Act (amended 1966) au-

thorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health,

Education, and Welfare (HEW) to require warning

labels for household substances deemed hazardous.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Environmental Legislation In The United States

1960

Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act mandates that

management of the national forests be balanced

between ecological and economic interests.

1963

Clean Air Act (amended 1970, 1977, 1990) serves

as the backbone of efforts to control air pollution

in the United States.

1964

Classification and Multiple Use Act instructs the

Bureau of Land Management to inventory its lands

and classify them for disposal or retention, the first

such inventory in the United States.

1964

Public Land Law Review CommissionAct estab-

lishes a commission to examine the body of public

land laws and make recommendations as to how

to proceed in this policy area.

1964

Wilderness Act creates the National Wilderness

Preservation System to preserve wilderness areas

for present and future generations of Americans.

1965

Shoreline Erosion Protection Act provides assist-

ance to protect shorelines and stream banks from

erosion.

1965

Solid Waste Disposal Act (amended 1970, 1976)

addresses inadequate solid waste disposal methods.

It was amended by the Resource Recovery Act and

the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

1966

Animal Welfare Act designates U.S. Department

of Agriculture as responsible for the humane care

and handling of warm-blooded and other animals

used for biomedical research and calls for inspection

of research facilities to insure that adequate food,

housing, and care are provided.

1966

Laboratory Animal Welfare Act (amended 1970,

1976, 1985, 1990) regulates the use of animals in

medical and commercial research.

1968

Wild and Scenic Rivers Act creates three catego-

ries of rivers—wild, scenic, and recreational—and

provides for safeguards against degradation of wild

and scenic rivers.

1969

Coal Mine Health and Safety Act addresses safety

problems in the mining industry.

1970

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

ushers in a new era of environmental awareness in

the United States, requiring all federal agencies to

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take into account the environmental consequences

of their plans and activities.

1970 National Mining and Minerals Act directs the

Secretary of the Interior to follow a policy that

encourages the private mining sector to develop a

financially viable mining industry while conducting

research to further “wise and efficient use” of these

minerals.

1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

requires employers to provide each of their employ-

ees with a workplace that is free from recognized

hazards, which may cause death or serious physi-

cal harm.

1970 Pollution Prevention Packaging Act

1970 Resource Recovery Act, anamendment to Solid

Waste Disposal Act, funds recycling programs and

mandates an extensive assessment of solid waste

disposal practices.

1972 Clean Water Act (amended 1977, 1987), which

replaced the language of the Federal Water Pollu-

tion Control Act, is the farthest reaching of all

federal water legislation, setting as a national goal

the attainment of “fishable and swimmable” quality

for all surface waters in the United States.

1972 Coastal Zone Management Act (reauthorized

2001) establishes a federal program to help states

in planning and managing the development and

protection of coastal areas.

1972 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide

Act regulates the registration, marketing and use

of pesticides.

1972 Marine Mammals Protection Act (amended 1988

and reauthorized 2002) protects, conserves and en-

courages research on marine animals. It places a

moratorium on harassing, hunting, capturing, kill-

ing or importing marine mammals with some ex-

ceptions (e.g. subsistence hunting by Eskimos).

1972 Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries

Act (amended 1990) (also known as the Ocean

Dumping Act) regulates ocean dumping, autho-

rizes marine pollution research, and establishes re-

gional marine research programs. It also establishes

a process for designating marine sanctuaries of sig-

nificant ecological, aesthetic, historical, or recre-

ational value. The Ocean Dumping Ban Act

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Environmental Legislation In The United States

amends the law, prohibiting sewage sludge and in-

dustrial wastes from being dumped at sea after De-

cember 31, 1991.

1972

Ports and Safe Waterways Actregulates oil trans-

port and the operation of oil handling facilities.

1973

Endangered Species Act empowers the Secretary

of the Interior to designate any plant or animal

(including subspecies, races and local populations)

“endangered” (imminent danger of extinction) or

“threatened” (significant decline in numbers and

danger of extinction in some regions). The act pro-

tect habitats critical to thesurvival of endangered

species and prohibits hunting, killing, capturing,

selling, importing or exporting products from en-

dangered species.

1974

Federal Non-Nuclear Research and Develop-

ment Act focuses government efforts on non-nu-

clear research.

1974

Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources

Planning Act establishes a process for assessing the

nation’s forest and range resources every ten years.

It also stipulates that every five years the Forest

Service provide a plan for the use and development

of these resources based on the assessment.

1974

Safe Drinking Water Act (amended 1996) re-

quires minimum safety standards for every commu-

nity water supply, regulating such contaminants as

bacteria, nitrates, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chro-

mium, fluoride, lead, mercury, silver, and pesticides.

1974

Solar Energy Research, Development andDe-

monstration Act establishes a federal policy to

“pursue a vigorous and viable program of research

and resource assessment of solar energy as a major

source of energy for our national needs.” The act

also establishes two programs: the Solar Energy

Coordination and Management Project and the

Solar Energy Research Institute.

1975

Eastern Wilderness Act creates 16 eastern wilder-

ness areas and directs the Forest Service to alter

its methods so that it considered areas previously

affected by humans.

1975

Hazardous Materials TransportationAct estab-

lishes minimum standards of regulation for the

transport of hazardous materials by air, ship, rail,

and motor vehicle.

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1976

Energy Policy and Conservation Act, an amend-

ment to The Motor Vehicle Information and

Cost Savings Act, outlines provisions intended to

decrease fuel consumption. The most significant

provisions are the Corporate Average Fuel Econ-

omy (CAFE) standards, which set fuel economy

standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

1976

Federal Land Policy and ManagementAct gives

the Bureau of Land Management the authority and

direction for managing the lands under its control.

The act also sets policy for the grazing, mining and

preservation of public lands.

1976

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and

Management Act manages fishing activities in wa-

ters extending from the edge of State waters to the

200-mile limit. Its goal is to phase out foreign

fishing within the area adjacent to the United States

coastline.

1976

National Forest Management Act grants the For-

est Service significant administrative discretion in

managing the logging of national forests based on

the general philosophies of multiple use and sus-

tained yield.

1976

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

(RCRA), an amendment to the Solid Waste Dis-

posalAct, regulates the storage, shipping, pro-

cessing, and disposal of hazardous substances and

sets limits on the sewering of toxic chemicals.

1976

Toxic Substances Control Act(TSCA) catego-

rizes toxic and hazardous substances and regulates

the use and disposal of poisonous chemicals.

1977

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

limits the scarring of the landscape, erosion and

water pollution associated with surface mining. It

empowers the Department of the Interior to de-

velop regulations that impose nationwide environ-

mental standards for all surface-mining operations.

1978

Energy Tax Act creates a “Gas Guzzler” tax on

passenger cars whose individual fuel economy value

fall below a certain threshold, starting in 1980.

1978

Port and Tanker Safety Actempowers the U.S.

Coast Guard to supervise vessel and port operations

and to set standards for the handling of dangerous

substances.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Environmental Legislation In The United States

1978 Public Utilities Regulatory PoliciesAct promotes

the development of renewable energy and requires

that utilities purchase power at “just” rates from

producers who use such alternative sources as wind

and solar.

1978 Uranium Mill-Tailings Radiation Control Act

orders Department of Energy to stabilize and main-

tain 24 uranium processing sites and approximately

5,000 vicinity sites that are known sources of wind-

blown ore tailings.

1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation

Act protects 44 million ha (109 million acres) of

land in Alaska, establishing 11 new parks, 12 new

wildlife refuges and setting aside wilderness areas

comprising 22.7 million ha (56 million acres).

1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response,Com-

pensation, and Liability Act (Superfund)

(amended 1986) permits direct federal response to

remedy the improper disposal of hazardous waste.

It establishes a multi-billion dollar cash pool (Su-

perfund) to finance government clean-up actions.

1980 Low-Level Radioactive Waste PolicyAct

(amended 1985) places responsibility for disposal

of low-level radioactive waste on generating states

and encourages those states to create compacts to

develop centralized regional waste sites.

1980 Nongame Wildlife Act provides limited federal

aid to state wildlife agencies.

1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (amended 1987) in-

structs the Department of Energy to develop a per-

manent repository for high-level nuclear wastes

by 1998.

1986 Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act re-

quires schools to inspect its building for evidence

of asbestos and provides guidelines for clean-up if

any asbestos is found.

1986 Emergency Planning and CommunityRight-to-

Know Act requires federal, state and local govern-

ments and industry to work together in developing

plans to deal with chemical emergencies and com-

munity right-to-know reporting on hazardous

chemicals.

1987 Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control

Act prohibits the dumping of plastics at sea, se-

verely restricts the dumping of other ship-generated

1564

garbage in the open ocean or in U.S. waters, and

requires all ports to have adequate garbage disposal

facilities for incoming vessels.

1987 National Appliance Energy ConservationAct sets

minimum efficiency standards for heating and cool-

ing systems in new homes as well as for such new

appliances as refrigerators and freezers.

1988 Alternative Motor Fuels Act encourages automo-

bile manufactures to design and build cars that can

burn alternative fuels such as methanol and ethanol.

1988 Indoor Radon Abatement Act calls for indoor air

to be as free of radon as outdoor ambient air in as

much as it can be.

1988 Lead Contamination Control Act recalls and bans

the continued sales of lead-lined water coolers.

1988 Medical Waste Tracking Act creates a “cradle-to-

grave” tracking system based on detailed shipping

records, similar to the program in place for hazard-

ous waste.

1988 Ocean Dumping Ban Act prohibits dumping of

any sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean

waters and penalizes those who do so.

1988 Shoreline Protection Act

1990 National Environmental Education Act estab-

lishes a program within the EPA to increase envi-

ronmental education in the United States.

1990 Oil Pollution Act, passed in response to the Exxon

Valdez disaster, initiates a comprehensive federal

liability system for all oil spills. It also establishes

a federal trust fund to help pay for cleanups,

strengthens civil and criminal penalties against par-

ties involved in spills, and requires companies to

have spill contingency and readiness plans.

1990 Pollution Prevention Act creates a new EPA of-

fice intended to help industry limit pollution

through information collection, assistance in tech-

nology transfer, and financial assistance to state

pollution prevention programs.

1992 Federal Facility Compliance Act requires the mil-

itary to clean up its nuclear waste sites.

1996 Food Quality Protection Act amends Insecticide,

Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the

Federal Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act by requiring

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Environmental Legislation In The United States

that all pesticides used on food products be of no

harm to the population.

1996 National Invasive Species Act attempts to prevent

the introduction of invasive marine species into the

Great Lakes from ballast water.

1998 Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and

Control Act identifies the need for a comprehen-

1565

sive effort to research and monitor algal blooms in

an attempt to control and ultimately prevent them

from occurring.

1999 Chemical Safety Information, Site Security, and

Fuels Regulatory Relief Act

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