Environmental Problems and Legislative Responses

• Published date: 01 May 1970
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627038900110
• Author: Jack C. Oppenheimer,Leonard A. Miller
• Date: 01 May 1970
• Subject Matter: Articles

77

Environmental

Problems

and

Legislative

Responses

By

JACK

C.

OPPENHEIMER

and

LEONARD

A.

MILLER

Jack

C.

Oppenheimer,

Washington,

D.C.,

is

a

lawyer

and

a

member

of

the

Bar

for

that

city.

He

is

Assistant

to

the

Commissioner

of

the

National

Air

Pollution

Control

Administration

and

a

part-time

professor

at

George

Washington

University

Law

School,

teaching

intergovernmental

relations

and

the

legal

aspects

of

science

and

technology.

Leonard

A.

Miller,

J.D.,

Washington,

D.C.,

is

a

lawyer

and

a

member

of

the

Bar

for

the

Commonwealths

of

Pennsylvania

and

Massachusetts.

He

is

Chief,

Regional

Coordination

Branch,

Office

of

Regional

Activities,

National

Air

Pollution

Control

Administration

and,

prior

to

working

in

government,

taught

at

a

community

college

in

Massachusetts.

ABSTRACT:

No one

national

legislative

policy

on

environ-

mental

problems

emerged

from

the

Congress

at

the

end

of

1969.

Congress

has

reacted

to

environmental

problems

in

much

the

same

manner

in

which

it

has

reacted

to

urban-

industrial

problems:

it

has

reacted

to

crises.

Legislative

assessment

of

environmental

problems

from

the

late

1940’s

to

the

present

arose

out

of,

but

differs

from,

that

of

earlier

legislative

conservationists.

Early

"conservationists"

sought

primarily

the

preservation,

development,

and

use

of

natural

resources.

Contemporary

"environmentalists,"

however,

are

chiefly

concerned

with

the

protection

and

quality

of

man-made

and

natural

environments

for

human

health

and

welfare.

The

legislative

environmentalists

are

working

toward

the

pro-

tection

of

the

quality

of

human

life

in

our

urbanized

society

from

all

sources

of

pollution.

Some

legislation

has

been

passed

for

programs

of

research

and

development;

for

tech-

nical

and

financial

assistance

to

states

and

localities;

for

fed-

eral

action

when

other

governmental

levels

fail

to

act;

and

for

the

elimination

of

some

water,

air,

solid-waste,

noise,

and

pesticide

pollution.

Numerous

congressional

committees

and

their

executive-agency

counterparts

have

become

involved

in

making

and

administering

multiple

environmental

policies

which,

at

times,

overlap

or

are

in

conflict.

All

this

has

given

rise

to

executive

and

legislative

action

to

co-ordinate

and

unify

environmental

policies,

plans,

and programs.