By Chris Watts
As a national phenomenon, the framework for modern environmental policy and regulation in the United States began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Prior to the 1960s, the issue of pollution (largely in the form of air and water degradation) was considered to be a state and local problem.
The U.S. federal government’s perspective was that interference in state issues would be a violation of state sovereignty. But about 40 years ago, general awareness began to change. Both the world population and national population were exploding. Industrial development across the U.S. was creating increasing amounts of unclean air and water. Also, significant individuals and events helped to educate people about the growing environmental threats to their health and quality of life, along with dangers to ecosystems and wildlife. Examples range from the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a book on the dangers of pesticides to the environment, to the first Earth Day in 1970.
NEPA – the foundation
In 1969, shortly after the Santa Barbara oil spill, Congress passed the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). Still in force today, NEPA is the basis for other U.S. environmental laws and is considered a major guiding tool for regulating federal actions that would have significant effects on environmental quality.
Read the complete article at Environmental Leader