HI 440 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Sagebrush Rebellion, Endangered Species Act Of 1973, United States Department Of The Interior
The Environmental Regulatory State
Long-term problems led to a sense of crisis in the American mind during the 50’s and 60’s.
● Smog, associated with cars, obscured cities such as Los Angeles
● Increases in nitrogen oxide in the air raised concerns for the ozone layer
○ Note: These two issues were related to cars!
● Local officials saw the real problems of cars, and at the local level, they attempted to
regulate
○ The state of California at the county level passed regulation to address the issue
○ Yet this does not solve the issue: there were 320% more cars on the road and at
the county level this wouldn’t do much
● Point-source pollution was easy to solve (pipes leaking, smoke in the air requiring one
business to clean up) but non-point pollution, such as automobiles, was a matter of
changing the habit and technology of everyday people
Environmental Protection Agency (1970)
● This is a new cabinet level position to regulate the environment
● Through the agency, the government passes legislation in the 70’s such as the
Endangered Species Act
○ Requires federal agencies to intervene on public land on behalf of categories
species like the American Eagle
James Watt
● His efforts to roll back environmental regulations is connected to the “sagebrush
rebellion;” they wanted to replace the federal authority with state authority
● Had enormous power as he was the executive of the interior department
○ Was pro-drilling and mining of land for productive purposes
● Changed federal action on the environment → was the enemy of environmentalists
○ Many environmental groups saw a large increase in donations in response to his
anti-environmental changes
Love Canal
● New York refused to report the issues of pollution/chemicals in the water and next to a
school, so parents conducted their own studies in the Love Canal area
○ They concluded that their children were suffering from very rare illnesses;
something unnatural for the geographical area they were in
● The parents pressured for the results from New York State’s study, and they got them
released only to find an industrial chemical was being released
● The state evacuates children and pregnant women, and a state of emergency is established
in the area
○ The federal government steps in a buys out houses/locations closest to the site
● More than 200 chemicals were documented in the homes, neighborhood, and school and
it is established that these chemicals were spreading to places that were not evacuated
○ Ongoing crisis in Love Canal caused by previous industrial construction
○ More than 1,000 families were relocated from an American industrial site
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Document Summary
Long-term problems led to a sense of crisis in the american mind during the 50"s and 60"s. Smog, associated with cars, obscured cities such as los angeles. Increases in nitrogen oxide in the air raised concerns for the ozone layer. Note: these two issues were related to cars! Local officials saw the real problems of cars, and at the local level, they attempted to regulate. The state of california at the county level passed regulation to address the issue. Yet this does not solve the issue: there were 320% more cars on the road and at the county level this wouldn"t do much. Point-source pollution was easy to solve (pipes leaking, smoke in the air requiring one business to clean up) but non-point pollution, such as automobiles, was a matter of changing the habit and technology of everyday people. This is a new cabinet level position to regulate the environment.
