EPA-600/5-73-010
November 1973
managing
the
environment
Program Element: 1HA097
Project Officer
Alan Neuschatz
Washington Environmental Research Center
Washington, D.C. 20460
WASHINGTON ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $7.05
Stock Number 5500-00134
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RESEARCH REPORTING SERIES
Research reports of the Office of Research and Development, Environmental
Protection Agency, have been grouped into five series. These five broad categories
were established to facilitate further development and application of environ-
mental technology. Elimination of traditional grouping was consciously planned
to foster technology transfer and a maximum interface in related fields. The five
series are:
1. Environmental Health Effects Research
2. Environmental Protection Technology
3. Ecological Research
4. Environmental Monitoring
5. Socioeconomic Environmental Studies
This report has been assigned to the SOCIOECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES series. This series includes research on environmental management,
comprehensive planning and forecasting and analysis methodologies. Included are
tools for determining varying impacts of alternative policies, analyses of environ-
mental planning techniques at the regional, state and local levels, and approaches
to measuring environmental quality perceptions. Such topics as urban form, in-
dustrial mix, growth policies, control and organizational structure are discussed
in terms of optimal environmental performance. These interdisciplinary studies
and systems analyses are presented in forms varying from quantitative relational
analyses to management and policy-oriented reports.
EPA REVIEW NOTICE
This report has been reviewed by the Office of Research and Development,
EPA, and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents
necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency,
nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement
or recommendation for use.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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abstract
This report on Managing the Environment grows out of a concern that
a significant proportion of today's environmental problems are
aggravated by a lack of effective environmental management techniques.
The complexity of environmental issues and trade-offs involved in
achieving environmental quality necessitate an understanding of the various
perspectives on the environment held by government, industry, business,
economists, ecologists and the citizenry. This report includes examinations
from each of these viewpoints and discusses techniques for citizen
participation, management information systems, organizational structures,
special regulatory procedures and controls, legal actions and other methods
for improving the management of the environment. Contained in this
report are papers prepared by 40 different authors covering the
full range of environmental management issues.
111
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table of contents
I. Prologue
1. Reflections—Kenneth E. Boulding 4
2. Beyond the Brushfires—Robert W. Fri 5
3. Management for the Future—Russell E. Train 8
4. A Prototype of Environmental Civilization—William D.
Ruckelshaus 12
II. The environment as a policy issue 17
1. The Economics of Ecology—Kenneth E. Boulding 27
2. The Nature and Behavior of Ecological Studies—C. S. Hailing
and M. A. Goldberg 31
3. Pollution: The M:ss Around Us—Marshall I. Goldman 37
4. Residuals and Environmental Management—Blair T. Bower.... 54
5. A Local Government Administrator's View of Environmental
Management—Charles T. Henry 57
6. Environmental Decision Making—John Wentz 62
7. Planning for Quality Growth—Shelley M. Mark 67
8. Next Big Industry: Environmental Improvement—James Brian
Quinn 73
9. Incrementalism and Environmentalism—Charles Lindblom....i. 83
10. Decision-Making for Environmental Quality—Peter House 85
III. Organizing environmental management 97
1. NEPA and the Environmental Movement: A Brief History—
Lynn G. Llewellyn and Clare Peiser 109
2, The Positive Role of Environmental Management—Lynton K.
Caldwell 130
3. State Governments Tackle Pollution—Elizabeth H. Haskell 135
4. A Description of the Environmental Planning and Management
Project—Dick Battle 143
5. Regional Environmental Management and tri3 Decision-Making
Process—L. Edwin Coate 147
IV. Citizen participation in environmental
management 153
I. Public Participation in EPA's Water Pollution Control Activi-
ties—EPA Guidelines 162
2. Implementation of Citizen Participation in the Municipal Proc-
ess—John Goodman, Joseph Falkson, Barbara Mertensf and
Lindsay Happel 168
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V. Strategies for managing the environment 173
1. The Concept of Carrying Capacity—A. Bruce Bishop, Richard
Toth, A. B. Crawford and H. H. Fullerton 193
2. Land Use Planning: The Cornerstone of Local Environmental
Planning and Control—Edward J. Kaiser, Karl D. Elfers,
Sidney Cohn, Peggy A. Reichert, Maynard M. Hufschmidt,
and Raymond E. Stanland, Jr 203
3. Environmental Impact Statements: More Myth Than Reality—
Lyle J. Sumek 221
4. Fixed Versus Variable Environmental Standards — Robert
Pikul 234
5. Emerging Legal Strategies: Judicial Intervention—Joseph L.
Sax 248
6. Enforcing Environmental Law in a City—Norman Redlich 253
7. Strategies for Environmental Management—A. V. Kneese 256
VI. Environmental management
information systems 263
1. Environmental Management Information System — Stanley
Wolfson 266
2. Communications in Environmental Management—Rodman T.
Davis 270
3. The Development and Operation of a Prototype State Environ-
mental Information Center—Dr. Robert V. Garner. 274
4. Arizona Trade-Off Model: A Tool for State Growth and Land-
Use Policy—C. W. Myers et al 276
5. EDMPAS: Environment Dependent Management Process Auto-
mation and Simulation—Gulf Universities Research Consor-
tium 289
6. Integrated Regional Environmental Management Project 301
7. General Environmental Model 305
8. The Strategic Environmental Assessment System (SEAS) —
Dr. Stanley M. Greenfield 310
VII. Intergovernmental relations
in the environment 315
1. Intergovernmental Aspects of Environmental Controls—Frank
P. Grad 323
2. State Responsibility in Managing the Environment—Dan W.
Lufkin 351
3. How a Regional Organization Assumes Environmental Respon-
sibility—Frank T. Lamm 354
4. The Triumphant Technocrats and Nonfunctioning Federal-
ism—David B. Walker 359
5. The Cooperative Approach to Environmental Enhancement—
Joseph F. Zimmerman 367
6. Managing at the Local Level—Mark E. Keane 385
VI
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acknowledgements
The papers in this report were prepared for publication by members of the
Washington Environmental Research Center staff. The report is based upon
materials prepared by the International City Management Association for the
Environmental Protection Agency's National Conference on Managing the
Environment which was held in May 1973.
The texts for the chapters were written by the following: Chapter 1 (Pro-
logue)—Peter Nobert, Administrative Assistant for County Supervisor,
Fairfax County, Virginia; Chapter II (The Environment as a Policy Issue)—
Mary Ann Allard; Chapter III (Organizing for Environmental Manage-
ment)—Steven Carter; Chapter IV (Citizen Participation in Environmental
Management)—Joan Werner; Chapter V (Strategies for Managing the En-
vironment)—Lyle J. Sumek, Professor of Public Administration, University
of Colorado; Chapter VI (Environmental Management Information Sys-
tems) and design/editing—Richard M. Laska and John Gerba, Washington
Environmental Research Center, and Chapter VII (Intergovernmental Rela-
tions)—Project Staff.
Vll
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conclusions
While the range of issues covered in this report is vast, certain general
conclusions can be drawn. First, the shortcomings of present environmental
management techniques are widely recognized by decision-makers at all rele-
vant levels of authority. Second, while sophisticated environmental concepts
such as carrying capacity and variable standards are widely discussed by
environmental analysts, the managers at the local level encounter overwhelm-
ing problems in translating some of these concepts into operational programs.
Third, the successful managerial techniques developed with much difficulty
by some communities are not communicated effectively to others who might
profitably employ these 'echniques.
VIII
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recommendations
Among the recommendations presented by the papers in this report are:
First, more attention should be placed on the human aspects of environmental
problems—the managerial interactions, opposing pressures and decision proc-
esses. Second, many local organizations feel buffeted by a multitude of en-
vironmental mandates without being provided with the associated managerial
and technical assistance necessary to carry out these mandates. Third, sophis-
ticated tools are being developed which may be of great help to the environ-
mental manager, but these tools must be molded into a more easily transfer-
able form in order to be effective.
ix
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introduction
Increasing attention has been focused on the environment as a public policy
issue. In addressing that issue, public officials are faced with the question:
how can government be more effective in managing the environment? For
many years, federal, state and local governments have reorganized themselves
and used various management techniques for addressing environmental prob-
lems. Since 1969, however, dramatic organizational and legislative actions
have occurred in response to environmental problems. The most significant
actions are the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, which
created the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ): the crea-
tion of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by Executive
Order; the reorganization of numerous state and local agencies to form a
separate environmental entity; the Clean Air Act of 1970; the 1972 amend-
ments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act; and a broad range of state
and local legislation, from tougher standards and controls to greater appro-
priations for environmental activities. For these policies to be effective,
environmental management has to integrate knowledge from a variety of
fields and disciplines.
In the past few years increasing pressures have been brought to bear on
public officials at the local, state and federal levels to produce positive results
in the battle to preserve and enhance environmental quality. Consequently,
elected officials and professional administrators who traditionally had the
responsibility for certain environment-related programs are now expected to
become "environmental managers." Unfortunately, the demands on public offi-
cials have outstripped the preparation and resources available to them for
managing environmental problems; they are often not equipped to deal effec-
tively to alleviate today's environmental problems and avoid the problems of
tomorrow. Long range comprehensive environmental considerations must be
part of nearly every decision made by public and private agencies. It is time
to focus on the increased demands on environmental managers and augment
their working knowledge and tools by developing a theoretical framework,
methodology, and specific techniques to meet their new responsibilities. In
fact, such activities are well underway. For example, the Office of Research
and Development is helping to support an innovative and comprehensive
project in San Diego, California, which utilizes sophisticated techniques to
develop alternative methods of achieving mandated Air Quality goals. Au-
thorities and responsibilities of the different levels of government must be
defined. Coopration among governmental levels, industry, and citizens is
essential for success in meeting the environmental challenge. For these rea-
sons, the National Conference on Managing the Environment was conceived
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to address these problems and to open a dialogue between managers—public
and private—on the environment and related issues.
A National Conference on Managing the Environment was held on May 14
and 15, 1973, in Washington, D.C. Approximately 350 persons, predomi-
nantly public officials of all levels of government, attended the discussions
of various aspects of environmental management. The conference sessions
covered the following topics: the environment, how comprehensive; inter-
action at the local level; a decision maker faces the environment; local gov-
ernment experience; regional government experience; legal and judicial
constraints; public involvement; environmental technology growth; standards;
comprehensive planning; intergovernmental relations; and four technical work-
shops. The following papers were either presented at the conference or were
used as reference material for conference discussions. The chapter introduc-
tions in this book are designed to provide an overview and discussion of the
key points raised by the papers presented in each chapter.
Xll
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I: Prologue
Today's public official finds himself increasingly involved in the complex
political, technical and administrative milieu surrounding environmental
concerns. He is constantly affected by a variety of forces which simul-
taneously stimulate and constrain his actions. These forces include:
—Unique ecological factors, such as a fragile micro-ecosystem (e.g.
natural desert, ocean beach or wildlife sanctuary) or special ecological
conditions (e.g. location on an earthquake fault or susceptibility to
temperature inversion);
—Environmental crises such as natural disasters, oil spills, smog alerts^
and soil erosion;
—Pressures from the political process, as evidenced in the types of
citizen participation, what groups see as environmental problems, the
particular solutions they promote, and the extent of their influence on
decision-making;
—Unproven management strategies, which result from a lack of working
knowledge or insufficient analysis of effectiveness of alternative strategies
such as environmental impact statements, land-use planning, environmental
quality standards, financial incentives or penalties, growth controls, etc.;
—Administrative dilemmas, which focus on the issues of administrative
organization goal-setting, resource allocation, measurement of effectiveness,
and establishing a process for long-range, comprehensive decision-making;
—Interdependent policies and programs, both public and private,
which may result either directly or indirectly in environmental degradation,
such as programs to promote economic development, encourage resource
development, finance transportation facilities or eliminate urban blight;
—Technical considerations, such as defining environmental quality,
monitor environmental factors, and understanding the workings of the
ecosystem;
—Federal and state requirements, which define the legal framework for
local governments, set environmental quality standards, and mandate
compliance with federal and state procedures (e.g., the environmental
impact statement process).
COMPLEX ISSUES LEAD TO CONFUSION, POLEMICS
Given the multiplicity of forces at work, organizational arrangements and
programmatic responses cannot be standardized, but need to be tailored to
local and regional situations. In light of the complex operating framework
and the development of many new environmental programs, local and
state officials are uncertain about which programs are available and how
effective they have been or potentially could be. Most of the literature to date
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has not addressed itself to solving environmental problems at the local
and regional level. Instead, for the most part, the focus has been on polemic-
style essays forecasting doom, descriptions of environmental crises and
their consequences, pleas for broad national policies, or technical
information regarding the functioning of the ecosystem. They do not
address how a manager is to bring together the technical knowledge and the
managerial skills for developing and implementing environmental programs.
Thus the rationale behind EPA's motives in bringing involved environ-
mental practitioners together to discuss the issues and solutions toward a
rational approach to managing the environment.
In providing an overview for the conference on environmental management,
Mr. Robert Fri, the Acting Administrator of EPA, said that:
"in the brilliant burst of environmental awareness of the past few
years, we have devoured most of the knowledge painstakingly built up
over decades. We set six ambient air standards all at once. Now we will
set no new ones for some time, because we don't know how. We
consumed, in one act, years of research . . . But now we ought to
invest in new capital—new ideas, new discoveries, new techniques— for
the long struggle that lies ahead."
Mr. Fri explained that an ecologically well-managed society will 'require
new sophistication of state and local officials, new means of reaching
political decisions that encourage input by the average citizen, certain
restraints on consumer habits and preferences, and above all a new set of
values." For this sensitive intergovernmental balance to be successful,
he noted that:
"a necessary retooling would focus upon land use, transportation
controls, energy planning, and an assessment of technology itself. . . .
As we learn to design with nature, we shall create a higher form
of civilization that is not only productive and efficient, but
more orderly, humane, and beautiful as well."
GETTING THE PEOPLE INVOLVED
A critical aspect of environmental management is the issue of citizen
involvement. Russell Train (I. 2), then Chairman of the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ), called for active public participation in
government decisions on environmental matters. He said, "... that
management must have two key elements; first, the best information and
feedback for decision making; and second, follow-up of decisions and tasks."
With the aid of an active, informed citizenry, Mr. Train commented that
the administrator may be more accountable and responsive to citizens, and
better equipped to cope with environmental problems. He said, "The
public can provide an essenu 1 source of information—in providing an
early warning system of the existence of problems, and then in holding
bureaucratic feet to the fire to see to it that regulatory programs are
implemented." Mr. Train stressed that the right of citizens to have an input
into environmental decision-making is ensured through federal legislation,
including the environmental impact statement process. In his view, "Only
through such participation can we achieve that sense of mutual trust and
shared purpose that will provide the essential strength not only for our
environmental programs but for our society as a whoie."
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A commonly identified cause of our environmental problems is the over-use
of technology. In taking exception to this Buckminster Fuller, inventor
who developed the geodesic dome, said that, in his view, more and not less
technology is needed to overcome environmental ills. He concluded,
"It's an ignorance crisis we face, not a pollution crisis, or an energy crisis . ..
But, above all, I think nature is really trying to make a success of man
despite his ignorance,"
A key issue addressed at the Conference was the ability of government
to adopt effective environmental policies and programs. In a series of
"Reflections" written during the conference, Kenneth Boulding, economist,
University of Colorado, commented on the governmental response to
ecological problems when he noted:
"The quiet revolution of the planning of the land,
At the state and local level may be very well in hand
But one may have nagging doubts on whether guiding growth in quality,
Is much within the power of any level of the polity."
United States Senator Hiram L. Fong, the ranking minority member on
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee handling environmental protection,
said to the conferees that we must pay more attention to the costs of
cleaning up the environment. He stated that:
"One of our first goals must be to define more precisely what we
mean by cleaning up and improving our environment. . . . We need
to devise scales of values—scales of values that will show the cost
in dollars, the cost in resources, such as fuel oil, power output, and
energy input; and arrange these on a graph that will show all the costs
in relation to each degree of quality of air or each degree of quality
of water or whatever the environmental factors involved are. . . . We
need to develop benefit-cost ratios for environmental projects."
POLLUTION DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE
Asserting that some prevalent goals which entail economic growth at
any cost are becoming untenable, former EPA Administrator William D.
Ruckelshaus sketches a "Prototype of Environmental Civilization." Our
exploitation of natural resources may have passed the point of diminishing
returns in terms of our quality of life, Ruckleshaus notes. "Today, not
even the richest man can avoid the smog, the putrid waters, the noise, the
stench, the congestion and the general ugliness of industrial civilization."
He challenges us to "rethink some venerable assumptions. The fact is
that we are confronted by serious imbalances, and they must be dealt with
in a more sophisticated manner than heretofore." Finally, expressing his
confidence in mankind's growing ability to act wisely, Ruckleshaus asserts
that "man will not only survive, he will prevail."
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reflections
By KENNETH E. BOULDING
The movement for environment has been a big success
For people have become aware of rapid growth of mess.
And in the halls of Congress the environmental boys
Have legislated water, air, and pesticides and noise;
Now monitoring is the key to quality control,
Unless we know which way is up it's hard to reach a goal—
But the most effective monitor is public agitation
To keep a narrow expertise from governing the nation.
The involuntary system that is based upon the cell
Can manage billions of parts and do it very well,
So perhaps it's the development of arrogance of brain
That brings along environmental troubles in its train.
Environmental planning must be based upon a region
And even there phenomena are virtually legion,
And so the poor environmentalist is very very loath
To contemplate the consequence of exponential growth.
Equilibrium's a fiction of the ordered human mind
In the turbulence of nature it is very hard to find,
So we have to ride the rapids of a raging evolution
In the hope that our extinction isn't part of the solution.
The quiet revolution of the planning of the land,
At the state and local level may be very well in hand
But one may have nagging doubts on whether guiding growth in quality,
Is much within the power of any level of the polity.
As we don't know very clearly what we really want to do,
It would be dangerous to have too clear an end in view,
But if we can put a stopper on the scandalous and outrageous,
We may create a state of things where virtue is contagious.
A modest optimism may be entertained because
The air above the city streets is better than it was,
But one can permit some gloom about an ultimate solution
When the GNP's a symbol for Gross National Pollution.
A careful city government that sensitive and nervous is
Will pretty well confine itself to just providing services;
But if it gets courageous it may ferret out a new way
To defend its threatened people from invasion by a throughway.
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1.1 Beyond
the brushfires
Robert W. Fri *
The people of this country will be
called upon to make many difficult en-
vironmental decisions during the 1970s.
Their choices must be wise, for they
will determine not only the quality of
their own lives, but the prospects of
civilization for generations to come.
The choices will be difficult, for prob-
lems are not transient phenomena to be
wished away. It takes only the fuel
shortages we have already had for us
to realize that the earth's ability to sup-
ply us wtih the clean air and water,
with fertile land, with minerals, fuels
and wilderness—that this capacity is fi-
nite. We cannot create new air, land or
water, so we must husband these re-
sources. Surprisingly, we are just now
relearning the husbandry our forebears
knew so well.
But can we manage our environment
wisely? To be sure, we have set the
stage for control of the more obvious
kinds of air and water pollution, but
we have only begun to consider the
subtler interactions between man and
his environment. We are only now be-
ginning to understand the complex web
of forces that determines the quality of
our life-forces such as land and energy
use, transportation economic growth,
urbanization, population, and the ad-
vancing juggernaut of technology.
Because we do not understand these
forces, we still act as though every en-
vironmental issue were independent of
its brothers. We struggle with each prob-
lem as though it were the first, and
make each policy choice as though it
were the last. Then another crisis grabs
our attention, and we start the process
all over again.
*Presented by Robert W. Fri, Acting
Administrator, U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency at the National Conference
on Managing the Environment.
But it could be different. We could
think ahead. For example, two decades
ago, the nation's love affair with the
automobile was entering its most lyrical
phase. On the assumption that every
American had a fundamental right to
go anywhere at any time by car, we de-
signed a national transportation system
based largely on highways.
We now have the best highway net-
work in the world and some of the best
traffic jams, best pollution, best ugli-
ness, best noise and a very advanced
case of urban decay.
Yet it would have been a fairly sim-
ple matter to have measured the pollu-
tant output of the average automobile,
analyzed a few airsheds, projected high-
way usage, factored in population
growth and devised a reasonably accu-
rate forecast of air pollution in 1970.
All that could have been accomplished
using data and techniques available in
the early 50's.
Systematic approach needed
Thus, with a little foresight, we
would not have had to deal with the
emissions problem on an emergency
basis. Much of the damage to health,
property and vegetation in the interim
might have been avoided, if we had
only thought more systematically about
the problem.
Managing the environment as a sys-
tem is complicated. However, it is no
secret to the well-informed that we
have the information to develop a sys-
tems solution to a great many of our
ecological problems now. We do not
need any fabulous breakthroughs or
quantum leaps to at least get started on
the design of an environmentally inte-
grated society.
It is simply common sense, cheaper,
and more effective to solve problems in
tandem and to plan ahead.
The situation in San Diego is instruc-
tive. In 1971 some 158,000 tons of
volatile organic compounds were being
dumped into the county airbasin from
all sources. Auto emission and stack gas
controls were clearly not enough to
meet federal standards. So the county
promulgated rules to stop the evapora-
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tion of hydrocarbons throughout the
gasoline transport network—loading of
storage terminals, filling of trucks,
transfer to service station tanks and
even filling up the customer's car.
The technology for capture and re-
cycling of vapor from large storage
tanks was already known. The chal-
lenge was to create a closed loop system
embracing all four fuel transfer points.
San Diego, therefore, decreed that all
gas handling vehicles or facilities with
tanks of more than 550 gallon capacity
must use special nozzles to prevent es-
cape of any vapors whatever. At the
service end a low vacuum system draws
the vapor back into the station's own
tank or into the truck itself, and the
excess can be tranpored back to the
tank farms for condensation and re-
marketing.
It pays to be clean
It sounds clumsy, but such an ar-
rangement will pay for itself within
seven or eight years, which is about the
same time it takes to amortize the cost
of a service station. In a time of fuel
shortages and rising prices for gasoline,
the projected 90% recovery rate for
evaporated gasoline should commend it-
self to all of us. The typical big com-
mercial station—to which the rules
apply—will save $200 per year in re-
cycled gasoline and San Diego county
as a whole will save 6.15 million gal-
lons of gas per annum.
This is one of that increasing number
of cases in which a system approach to
pollution control pays off for every-
body: the community, the businessman,
the national energy planner and even
the customer. It is cheaper, faster and
less prodigal with resources.
But there are dangers. Too often, the
magic word "system" hides our ignor-
ance. Worse, we fall into the trap of
thinking our work is done when we
discover a theorteical or engineering
"solution" to our problems. Systems
thinking and long-range planning are
not the whole answer to anything.
The more difficult question is: "who
is going to apply all this sophisticated
knowledge?" In solving environmental
problems, the burden will fall, as it
often does now, on the shoulders of
state and local governments. Systems
thinking does not change the reality
that these levels of government remain
closest to the problems, and are most
able to determine what should be done
and what is possible.
First, to be effective in the struggle
against pollution in all its protean
forms, local governments must develop
a new expertise unlike anything we've
seen before. The first step involves the
development of the professional capa-
city to handle such tools as operations
analysis, long-range multifactor fore-
casting, airshed models, land planning,
traffic simulations and the like. More
difficult will be learning how to apply
this capacity to the day-to-day grind of
running government. State and local
officials should test out the scientific
t.chniques we in EPA are testing and
let us know what works and what does
not.
The next demand on local govern-
ments will be to forge new alliances
among themselves and with water dis-
tricts, air pollution control commis-
sions, zoning boards, and planning
groups. We must end the fragmentation
of local responsibility for managing the
environment, for the environment rou-
tinely overlaps ancient and arbitrary
jurisdictional lines. It makes no sense,
for example, to exclude San Bernardino
from the Los Angeles air pollution con-
trol district when the prevailing winds
blow east.
Indeed, perhaps the most difficult
political task local government will face
in the next ten years will be to bring
many separate authorities to bear in a
coordinated way on problems that do
not and cannot yield to piecemeal solu-
tions, no matter how much we yearn
for bygone days of more or less com-
plete autonomy.
A challenge to growth
It is particularly important to ex-
amine critically the great American
shibboleth known as growth. It is our
own special sacred cow, and in its most
exaggerated form it makes environmen-
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tal managment difficult if not impos-
sible. It is the antithesis of stability.
An ecologically well-managed society
will be quite different from the one we
are familiar with. It will require new
sophistication of State and local offi-
cials, new means of reaching political
decisions that encourage input by the
average citizen, certain restraints on
consumer habits and preferences and,
above all, a new set of values.
We may have to make do—indeed,
we must learn to want to make do—
with smaller cars, with less energy, with
recycling our wastes instead of throw-
ing them in the city dump, and adjust-
ing the size of our families to responsi-
ble norms. We will have to stop treat-
ing the good earth as a mine to exploit
and start treating it as a single, fast-
shrinking neighborhood where every
man labors for the good of all.
Years ago, they would have said
we've been eating our seed corn. For
in the brilliant burst of environmental
awareness of the past few years, we
have devoured most of the knowledge
painstakingly built up over decades. We
set six ambient air standards all at once.
Now we will set no new ones for some
time, because we don't know how. We
consumed in one act years of research.
For let there be no mistake about it
—getting control of air and water pol-
lution will be simple compared to solv-
ing the higher problems of an advanced
technological society. We must go be-
yond enforcement, important as that is,
and focus more sharply on land use,
transportation controls, energy planning
and an assessment of technology itself.
Nor is it a task for lawyers or scien-
tists or public servants acting alone; it
demands cooperation, breadth of mind
and openness to change. The greening
of America will be largely up to the
creative leadership of public health and
pollution control departments, mayors,
council members, regional planners and
county officials, working with citizen
groups to devise action plans for the in-
tegrating environs of tomorrow.
The society of the future will be
more orderly and efficient than the
one we have known. We will enjoy
longer lives and better health. We will
waste fewer resources. We will not be
so obsessed by quantity in lieu of
quality.
Man in natural habitat
I believe we will realize once again
our true dependence on the biological
world. Environmental attitudes will be
built-in, so to speak, not a topic for
debate or study but a way of life. As we
learn to design with nature we shall
create a higher form of civilization
that is not only productive and efficient,
but more orderly, humane and beautiful
as well.
Then man will truly be the steward
of the earth, and a wise guardian of
unborn generations.
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2 Management
for the future
Russell E. Train *
Three years ago when the National
Environmental Policy Act was first
enacted, I called it a "new experiment
in government." It certainly constitutes
one of the most significant legislative
reforms in many years.
While the ultimate success of that
experiment cannot yet be measured, it
has already demonstrated extraordinary
success and is generating basic reforms
in the way our government does busi-
ness. Of particular significance is the
fact that these reforms have enlisted
the energies not only of Federal agen-
cies, but also of the Congress, the
Courts, State and local governments,
industry and, most important of all,
private citizens and organizations all
across the country. The truly extraor-
dinary dimensions of this involvement
provides a societal breadth to environ-
mental decision making which is com-
pletely unprecedented and which pro-
vides its greatest promise for the future.
Creating an institutional base
It has only been a few short years
since environmental concern first
gripped the public attention. As Gov-
ernment began to respond to the grow-
ing public demand for action, we found
the institutional base for environmental
management either badly fragmented
or even in some critical areas nonexis-
tent. Thus, the first urgent need was
to create an effective organizational
framework for both policy-making and
administration and to provide the basic
statutory authorities for standard setting
and regulation. On both these fronts.
we have made remarkably strong prog-
ress over a short period of time. CEQ
*Presented by Honorable Russell E.
Train, Chairman, Council on Environ-
mental Quality, at the National Conference
on Managing the Environment.
and EPA have been brought into ex-
istence. While I might be accused of
self-serving if I said that CEQ has
achieved notably success in strengthen-
ing environmental policies both domes-
tically and internationally, I feel under
no such constraint in saying that EPA
has become a strong and effective force
record, in its little more than two and
one-half years life, is one in which all
of its personnel can take great pride.
Beyond these organizational changes,
strong new water quality legislation, the
Clean Air Act, new pesticides legisla-
tion, and laws to regulate noise and
ocean dumping are now on the books.
These represent major successes. There,
of course, remain a number of impor-
tant items for legislative action recom-
mended by the President on which we
still need Congressional action. Strip
mining regulation, national land use
policy, toxic substances control—these
are among the high-priority items on
which we will continue to press the
Congress for early approval.
At the same time, I think it fair to
say that increasing emphasis must now
be given to effective implementation
of existing programs under sound en-
vironmental management principles.
Key management elements
It seems to me that management must
have two key elements:—first, the best
information and feedback for decision
making;—second, follow-up of deci-
sions and tasks. Today I wish to talk
particularly about two information in-
puts to environmental decision making
and management. The first of these is
monitoring, to which I would also add
improving our research data base. The
second is citizen participation.
Accurate and timely information on
the status of the environment is neces-
sary to shape sound public policy and
to implement environmental quality
programs efficiently. It is virtually im-
possible to develop effective programs
and to monitor their implementation
without good monitoring data. Very
detailed data are necessary for certain
types of planning and enforcement. For
top management and general public
-------
policy development, monitoring data
must be shaped into easy-to-understand
indices that aggregate data into under-
standable forms. I am convinced that
much more effort must be placed on
the development of better monitoring
systems and indices than we have had in
the past. Failure to do so will result
in sub-optimum achievement of goals at
much greater expense. The critical re-
lationship of good monitoring data to
state implementation plans under the
Clean Air Act is obvious. Our increas-
ing recognition of the impact of non-
point sources of pollution on water
quality is largely based on the recent
development of new monitoring data.
Effective strategies for dealing with
this problem can only be developed
in conjunction with continued improve-
ment in this data base. These are a few
of many possible examples.
The need for constantly improving
our research base, both for the identi-
fication of environmental problems and
environmental standards, becomes great-
er all the time. The effects of pollutants
on human health and other values must
be determined as accurately as possible
and the economic and social impacts of
alternative regulatory systems analyzed
in order to help provide a basis for
the most effective control strategies.
And, of course, the need for research
extends across the entire environmental
field—not just to the management of
pollution control programs. Thus, for
example, the complex impact on natural
systems of water resource projects such
as stream channelization should be de-
termined by adequate research and the
resulting data should be built into the
decision-making process. I emphasize
"built into the decision-making process"
because there are vast amounts of re-
search data available that are too sel-
dom utilized. Likewise, as we develop
our monitoring systems, these too must
extend beyond pollutants to fish and
wildlife, forests and vegetation gener-
ally, wetlands, soils, etc. My strong
impression is that we are not doing
an adequate job of monitoring in these
areas.
Including the citizen
Turning now to citizen participation,
I will state my absolute conviction that
this is the single most important in-
gredient in the environmental manage-
ment process.
The environment is just too impor-
tant to be left to us bureaucrats.
We have been making progress in
improving citizen participation—large-
ly under the prodding of the National
Environmental Policy Act—but we
need to do far more. Government at
all levels must dramatically change
its attitudes about public participation
in environmental decision making be-
fore we can have truly effective man-
agement systems. We must really level
with the public. It is an unfortunate
fact that many consider public hearings
and public disclosure of environmental
impact analyses as simply delaying
orderly management. This view is ab-
solutely unacceptable.
Public participation provides critical
inputs from those who actually live in
the particular environment at issue.
The public can provide an essential
source of information—in providing an
early warning system of the existence
of problems, in developing realistic
solutions to those problems, and then
in holding bureaucratic feet to the fire
to see to it that regulatory programs
are implemented. Recently, I heard the
point made that when the supertanker
terminal was under consideration at
Machiasport, Maine, the most influen-
tial element finally was the negative
opinion of the local lobster fishermen
whose intimate knowledge of tides,
currents, fog, and hidden rocks con-
vinced them that the proposal involved
unacceptable risks.
The limits to expertise
In our increasingly complex techno-
cratic society, there is a strong tendency
to leave the problems to the experts.
This is a tendency that should be stren-
uously resisted. We need technical ex-
pertise but, left unchecked, expertise
alone, not moderated by a broader scale
-------
of values, will often fall far short in
solving complex problems and may
even create new problems in the proc-
ess. Likewise, government management
must not be merely the province of
the technocrats. We in the government
are just not that smart—or wise. Only
by laying out the alternatives for public
comment can we get a full range of
alternatives as well as some consensus
among those governed. Thus, public
participation in decisions must be an
integral part of good public manage-
ment, and particularly of environmental
management. Only through active citi-
zen involvement can we set goals that
have the consent of the public. Only
through public participation can we
have a truly effective control and feed-
back program. Thus, for example, in
promoting new technologies and in
making choices between alternative
technologies, an essential element of the
assessment process must be a determi-
nation of the relationship between par-
ticular technological goals and human
values. Such a determination cannot
be made in splendid bureaucratic isola-
tion but only as part of a process which
opens itself to the full interplay of ideas
and values within our society. And, of
course, the need for such openness and
interaction extend across the full range
of government decision making and to
all levels of leadership.
Related to this problem is the fact
that, all too often, resource managers
begin to believe that they are engaged
in managing their own resources—
their own forests, their own river basins,
their own fish and wildlife and range-
land, forgetting that we are acting as
custodians of these resources for all
the people. We cannot exercise such
a trust responsibly or effectively unless
we concientiously bend every effort to
encourage public participation in de-
cisions affecting the future of these
resources. Again, this need for a sense
of public trust on the part of admin-
istrators extends across the board. Ad-
ministrative arrogance is almost a cer-
tain guarantee of failure of public
understanding, loss of public support.
and ultimately of wrong decisions.
Environmental impact analysis
In the environmental impact analysis
process, we have a magnificent new
managerial tool that can help serve the
objectives I have described. It is ad-
mittedly an uncomfortable process for
the bureaucrat. No program official
enjoys making an objective analysis of
the impacts of his proposed project, or
admitting that there may be alternative
courses of action, or making his pro-
posal available for public comment by
other agencies, by State and local gov-
ernments, or by the public.
That the 102 process has stopped
some projects and delayed others is
plain but this alone is not reason for
criticism. Most likely the projects
should have been stopped or should
have been delayed. The fact is that
the environmental impact analysis proc-
ess is a major step forward in provid-
ing more comprehensive, systematic, in-
terdisciplinary and sophisticated deci-
sion making. Most of the significant
problems which our society must deal
with today are inherently complex.
They defy traditional management ap-
proaches, organizational boundaries,
and bureaucratic compartments. Thus,
the highway planned by the Depart-
ment of Transportation affects the mass
transit goals of the same agency, im-
pacts on fish and wildlife habitats of
concern to the Department of the In-
terior, gives rise to air and water pol-
lution and noise problems of concern to
EPA. and may set in motion forces
affecting patterns of economic and
population growth which are of con-
cern to our entire political structure.
The environmental impact analysis
process provides an integrative force in
decision making which seeks to avoid
bureaucratic tunnel-vision and to re-
quire comprehensive consideration of
all relevant concerns. Of paramount
importance to this process is the re-
quirement for public disclosure and
the opportunity for public comments.
There is no question in my mind
that the NEPA process provides one
of the most significant administrative
reforms in the history of our govern-
10
-------
ment. Its continued vitality is essential
to sound environmental management.
It is incumbent upon all of us to see
to it that in every agency the NEPA
process has the necessary staffing, fund-
ing, and top-level support to make it
truly effective.
Maintaining our democracy
Throughout these remarks I have
stressed the importance of public par-
ticipation to good environmental man-
agement. There is another reason for
encouraging such participation on
which I would like to touch briefly.
As our technocratic society becomes
increasingly overwhelming in both size
and complexity, the average citizen
feels further and further removed from
tha reality of decision making. He feels
incapable of influencing the forces at
work around him and events take on an
air of seeming inevitability. This is a
tendency against which we must fight
because it can only lead to alienation
from and cynicism with the essential
workings not only of government but
of society as a whole. Environmental
programs provide a magnificent oppor-
tunity to give private citizens a new
sense of responsible participation in the
social process.
Finally, as we seek to improve man-
agement techniques for environmental
quality, it is essential to remember
that technique alone cannot secure en-
vironmental goals. Systems analysis.
managerial skill, and technical expertise
can help define problems, present alter-
natives, and identify costs and bene-
fits. However, to be truly effective as
part of a positive and creative process,
analysis must proceed within the con-
text of positive purpose. Analysis alone
can become a largely negative force,
better adapted to defining what not to
do rather than what to do.
With the increasing complexity of
the problems of the environment as
well as of our society generally, we
need urgently to improve our analytical
skills and capability. But with this there
must be a sense of purpose, of goals,
and of values. To provide this value
framework within which managerial
skills can be exercised is the true role
of leadership. Without it, all of the
managerial competence in the world
can produce only sterility. Cost-benefit
analysis can illuminate choices but it
cannot give direction. Thus, above all
else, effective management for a high-
quality environment requires policy
commitment at all leadership levels.
Let me close by once again empha-
sizing that direction and purpose in our
public affairs can best be achieved in
an open process that fully engages the
participation of the public. Only
through such participation can we
achieve that sense of mutual trust and
of shared purpose that will provide the
essential strength not only for our en-
vironmental programs but for our so-
cietv as a whole.
11
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1.3 A proto-
type of
environmental
civilization
William D. Ruckelshaus
*
The first time I flew to California I
was overwhelmed by the complexity
and diversity of this State.
My hosts reminded me that if inde-
pendent, California would be a major
power, boasting an economy larger
than any other except our own, Japan
or the Soviet Union. They pointed out
that it is a sort of sub-continent, span-
ning most of the earth's biomes and
climates. They told me with an un-
mistakable pride that California em-
braces every kind of topography, that
it enjoys vast mineral wealth and agri-
cultural resources, that it has some of
the finest parks and most extraordinary
landscapes in the world. Moreover, they
continued, the State entertains every
conceivable ideology and idiosyncracy,
and some are inconceivable too.
Like any newcomer I could not take
it all in the first time around. On sub-
sequent trips I gained an instinctive
feeling that California is not only a
microcosm of the United States, but
also a prototype of what it may become.
Many of our problems have been an-
ticipated here: problems of prosperity,
growth, development, urban sprawl and
pollution. Not surprisingly, California is
vocal in demanding sensible solutions.
There is a stark realization that we have
not treated our heritage of bright skies,
*William D. Ruckelshaus is the Former
Administrator of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
This speech was delivered to the Corn-
stock Club, Sacramento, California, Octo-
berber 17, 1972.
open land and sparkling waters as we
should have, that perhaps we grew with-
out thinking about all the social and
environmental consequences of a ma-
chine-oriented civilization.
No nation in history has ever de-
veloped as fast as the United States.
Starting virtually from scratch, we
created in one century the world's first
industrial society on a continental scale.
Sine 3 we derived great benefits from
the exploitation of natural resources,
it is understandable that we equated all
forms of development with progress.
Growth was justified by our successes,
and sanctioned by reference to Holy
Scripture. We obeyed the injunction to
be fruitful and multiply and take do-
minion over the earth, but we ignored
the careful husbandry the sacred text
also calls for.
Questioning growth
Today, however, there is a new mood
in this country. People are disposed
to look more carefully at their as-
sumptions, including those that have
brought them wealth, comfort and con-
venience.
It is striking that no generation be-
fore ours has been quite as obsessed
with growth itself. Prior to World War
II, heavy emphasis was placed on em-
ployment and income, but little at-
tention was paid to the Gross National
Product. Marshall Goldman, the spe-
cialist in comparative economics, has
reminded us that for some time after
the war we did not even have annual
GNP readings. The concept of GNP
was largely historical until the Soviets
goaded us with their relentless empha-
sis on growth rates. So we may have
been sandbagged into competing on
their terms instead of ours.
Both we and the Soviets tend to for-
get that at best GNP is only a rough
indicator of national progress. It em-
braces all the elements of our economy
including the production of luxury
goods, first-aid for highway accident
victims, the operation of prisons, medi-
cal treatment for people made ill by air
pollution—and many other expendi-
12
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tures necessitated by circumstances
instead of volition. Such outlays are
evidence that growth is a more com-
plicated matter than one might think
at first.
Take resources as another example.
It has been estimated that if the U.S.
and other nations maintain consumption
at present rates, all known reserves of
zinc, lead, tin, copper, petroleum and
other materials will be exhausted with-
in 30 years. It is obvious that we are
running short of easily recovered sur-
face deposits—those that gave such a
boost to the industrial revolution 200
years ago. Modern technology may re-
place many of the disappearing sub-
stances or recover them from deep
mines or deposits on the ocean floor.
But the heavy cost of such operations
means that mineral resources are bound
to become more expensive.
Use it up, throw it out...
To bring the problem of diminishing
returns close to home let me remind
you that before this day is over each
one of us will generate six pounds of
solid waste, drain three gallons of ir-
replaceable oil from the earth, dump
40 gallons of sewage into the rivers and
use paper equal to one-eighth of a ma-
ture tree.
Such rapid through-puts generate a
tremendous impact on the environment
and on the quality of our lives. Today,
not even the richest man can avoid
the smog, the putrid waters, the noise,
the stench, the congestion and the gen-
eral ugliness of industrial civilization.
He may escape them on a fishing trip,
but as an angler I've found that when
everyone else gets the same idea at the
same time, you're in for some real ag-
gravation.
Anyone who has visited the national
parks or dwindling open bsaches knows
at first hand the impact of population
and prosperity on our finite resources
of land and natural beauty. It is hard
to believe, but true, that the National
Park System recorded 79 million visi-
tors in 1960, 121 million in 1965 and
186 million in 1971. The 200-million
figure is only a couple of years away.
People pollution
Unless something is done, the sereni-
ty people seek in nature will be de-
stroyed by their own numbers. That's
why several States are trying to regulate
the trend toward ever-increasing resi-
dent populations and ever-increasing
hordes of tourists competing for space.
For example, the Colorado Environ-
mental Commission is calling for a
ceiling of 1.5 million inhabitants for
cities in that State. The public has been
advised that water-expansion programs
will generate a rising tide of population
growth, pollution, traffic jams and loss
of the very amenities that brought peo-
ple to Colorado in the first place.
This same concern is emerging else-
where. Vermont has set up a statewide
zoning system to protect ecologically
fragile areas. Wisconsin has announced
it will establish a policy to prevent un-
balanced growth. Oregon is considering
the constitutional implications of con-
trols on tourism as well as on perma-
nent immigration. Hawaii is contemplat-
ing optimal population limits. Florida
just passed a tough land-use bill. Dela-
ware has outlawed heavy industry along
her beaches.
Here in California, Livermore and
Pleasanton voted to prohibit permits
in areas where schools are overcrowded,
where water rationing is imminent or
where sewage facilities are inadequate.
Sacramento County has established its
now-famous urban limit line. Several
other communities have acted against
growth in its classical form. I was
surprised to see that the drastic Propo-
sition 9 got 35 percent of the primary
vote a few months back. And now, a
new referendum is to be held* on the
question of freezing development of the
California coastline.
Meanwhile, the California Supreme
Court has held that the State's Environ-
mental Quality Act applies to licensing
of private activities as well as to State
*The referendum was approved by
the California electorate.
13
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projects. This interpretation, perhaps
inspired indirectly by the National En-
vironmental Policy Act, made instant
hash of California building permit pro-
cedures. In a recent Washington Post
column, Joseph Kraft said the permit
problem "symbolizes a dramatic change
in the message which this area . . . has
been transmitting to the rest of the
country. No longer does it offer the
prospect of growth unrelenting; no
longer does it proclaim the case for
go, go, go."
Another California court ruling—to
my knowledge the first of its kind in
the Nation—holds that municipalities
can force developers to set aside land
for public purposes notwithstanding the
provisions of the State constitution re-
quiring compensation for land taken
or damaged. This expansion of the
historic doctrine of eminent domain
gives local governments vast new pow-
ers in recreational land planning, water-
shed management and wilderness pro-
tection.
I cite all of these initiatives not to
endorse them, but to call attention to
the rapid shifts in public attitudes that
make them possible. Californians, like
other Americans, are beginning to ask
certain fundamental questions about
life values—and since this State is more
developed than most, I would not be
surprised if it becomes a major point
of collision between pro-growth and
anti-growth forces in coming years.
Exponential growth
Let me give you a few examples of
exponential growth in order to clarify
and promote dispassionate analysis of
our environmental dilemma. It is easy
to overlook how rapidly a phenomenon
can get out of hand when it grows at
a compound rate. But one instructive
analogy was developed by the 17th
century French philosopher and mathe-
matician Pascal, who amused the
neighbor children with a riddle based
on the growth rate of lilies and how
rapidly they approach a fixed limit de-
termined by nature.
Suppose you own a large pond with
one lily in it. The plant doubles in size
each day and will choke the entire
pond on the 30th day. On the first
day, it is only one-five-hundred-thirty-
seven millionth the area of the pond.
You have plenty of time, so you decide
to wait and trim the lily back when it
covers half the surface.
For the first ten of the 30 days,
the plant is less than one-millionth the
size of the pond. Between day 10 and
day 20, it grows from one-millionth to
one-thousandth of the available area.
That is a large relative increase but
you're not worried because 99.9 percent
of the pond is still open and biologically
healthy.
As dawn breaks on the 25th day, the
lily is still only one-thirty-second the
size of the pond. The final explosion is
fabulous to watch—an inexorable pro-
gression from one-sixteenth to one-
eighth to one-fourth and finally to one-
half on the 29th day. You have one
day in which to restore the living
balance and save your pond.
The same law of exponentiality ap-
plies to animal populations. Under op-
timal stimulae they quickly expand to
the physical limits of land or marine
habitats. The closer they approach those
limits, the more drastic is the ensuing
die-back.
We see numerous examples of animal
population collapse brought on by
shortages of food, impedance of ter-
ritoriality and interference with breed-
ing patterns. Many experts believe
mankind is also heading toward a dem-
ographic "implosion."
But vanishing resources and over-
population are not the only problems
we face. Some are extremely subtle; in-
deed, geometric processes are even
visible in the realm of industrial invest-
ment. During this year, investment in
industrial facilities is expected to grow
by 10.2 percent. At this high rate, ca-
pacity would double every seven years.
Thus if pollution control technology is
85 percent effective in existing plants
it will be just 70 percent as effective in
cutting gross pollution tonnages seven
years from now when production of
everything, including contaminants, has
doubled, and only 40 percent as effec-
14
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live seven years hence, when it has
doubled again. After three successive
seven-year doublings, the actual amount
of pollution is 120 percent more than
it was 21 years earlier before abate-
ment began, even assuming pollution
control at a remarkable 85 percent
effectiveness level all along.
Thus exponential growth in indus-
trial capacity ultimately—and not very
far in the future at that—could require
almost perfect abatement technology to
assure just an adequate level of amen-
ity and health, let alone the high stand-
ards we might prefer. This outcome
is postponed somewhat in an economy
gradually switching over to services
from heavy goods, but the example
would nevertheless hold true for the
world as a whole.
Earth as a closed system
One could go on and on with such
analogies—in the dissemination of
chemicals, in solid waste disposal, in
effects on world energy balance and
climate, ad infinitum. Everything is
linked to everything else in the closed
system of the planet Earth. Certainly
the facts as we know them require
the asking of the most basic questions.
Will Draconian measures of pollution
control be necessary? Are large popu-
lations compatible with high standards
of living over the long-haul? Can we
continue to unbalance natural process-
es—wiping out hundreds of plant and
animal species—without paying a fate-
ful penalty- Such profound questions
cannot yet be answered with confidence.
The analogies may be correct, or they
may be empirically worthless.
One international group of scientists
and businessmen earlier this year at-
tempted to project into the 21st Cen-
tury the consequences of present trends
in population, resources, investment,
food technology and population. The
Club of Rome developed a computer-
based forecast purporting to show that
we are in for real trouble within the
next 50 to 100 years—and perhaps
disaster—unless we cut back on growth
now and eventually reduce it to zero.
Such a proposition strikes most of
us at first as absurd. Scholars both here
and in Europe have faulted the Club's
statistical methods on one ground or
another. Yet the study did cast a spot-
light on certain implications of current
growth patterns. It challenged us to
rethink some venerable assumptions.
The fact is that we are confronted
by serious imbalances, and they must
be dealt with in a more sophisticated
manner than heretofore.
My hope is that the Club of Rome
projections will prompt a great national
and international debate on broad phi-
losophical issues stemming from tech-
nology and industrialism on a world
scale. Thanks to the agreements re-
cently concluded by the President, we
can count on the Soviets to contribute
their insights to this historical reanaly-
sis.
Maybe the concern and even alarm
in some quarters will turn out to be
groundless. Certainly, the prophets of
doom have on many past occasions
gathered us together to await the Day
of Judgment, and nothing has happened.
That may be the case this time. But
prudence, and what Jefferson called
an appropriate deference to the opin-
ions of mankind, require us to get our
heads just a little further out of the
sand and go after some solid answers.
We in EPA and others all over the
world are eagerly pursuing the research
leads that can give us the information
we need.
I am certain of one thing only: en-
vironmental pressures are just begin-
ning. States and local governments and
business leaders should respond to this
pressure, not just reactively, but ag-
gressively seeking opportunities to act
as social catalysts. That is the only way
we can preserve faith in a free eco-
nomic system and a free society.
An environmental civilization
The shift to an environmental civili-
zation will not be easy, fast or cheap.
But there is growing national consensus
that it must happen. People are tired
of change for the sake of change. They
want progress for a purpose. They are
15
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embracing a new consciousness, a new disease, torture, starvation and endless
vision of reality, a new sense of their warfare. We are beginning to see the
place in nature. They are ready to truth about ourselves and to act wisely.
practice a new stewardship of the earth. So I do have faith that we can over-
Mankind has hung on, somehow. come. In my opinion man will not
through dark millennia of ignorance. only survive, he will prevail.
16
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II: The Environment
as a Policy Issue
Several Conference sessions were aimed at highlighting dimensions of
the environment in the hope that better understanding will improve programs
for environmental management. United States Senator Hiram Fong,
keynoting the second day of the Conference, remarked:
"Managing our environment runs the whole gamut of land use, water
resources, conservation, air pollution abatement, energy conservation,
the beauties and bounties of nature. It requires a wide spectrum of
disciplines in science and technology, in law, in administration,
in legislation. And above all, it requires citizen participation and
citizen support."
Thus, the study of environmental problems and the complex relationship
between man and his environment must integrate the knowledge and theories
from a variety of disciplines including biology, chemistry and physics
from the physical sciences, and economics, anthropology and sociology
from the social sciences. Although scholars in the disciplines involved
in environmental matters should work together in formulating solutions and
integrating knowledge on environmental problems, this has not always
been the case. By bringing together speakers from diverse backgrounds, the
Conference sessions attempted to probe the various dimensions of the
environment.
The purpose of this chapter is to integrate views and ideas of the
environment as a policy issue. First, the concept of the ecosystem is
defined and its more controversial characteristics discussed. The next section
focuses on the issue of environmental quality as it relates to economics
and economic growth. The discussion reflects the interrelationships between
environmental policies and economic, scientific, defense, and domestic
policies. The third section examines environmental problems and their
potential solutions from the perspectives of decision makers—both
government officials and corporate executives. Finally, the chapter concludes
with a discussion of environmental decision-making in the context of
rational and incremental decision-making.
THE ECOSYSTEM: A PRIMARY CONCEPT
The basis for developing more effective public policies and programs
for solving environmental problems may lie in our ability to develop a
unifying concept to coordinate the factors related to environmental quality.
One such concept is that of the ecosystem or ecological system. While it
17
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was developed primarily in the biological sciences to represent the
relationship between organisms in a specified community, the ecosystem has
been broadened to include social factors as well.1
The ability of an environmental manager to be effective may depend on
his knowledge of the intricate workings of the ecosystem. In searching
for a simple definition of ecosystem, we can refer to a biologist who was one
of the first to use this concept: Eugene Odum, presently director of the
Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia and former president of
the Ecological Society of America. He defines the ecosystem as a unit
of biological organization made up of all of the organisms in a given area
(community) interacting with the physical environment, so that a flow
of energy leads to characteristic trophic structure and material cycles within
the system.2a In this definition, the problem of technological develop-
ment may not be adequately treated.
In an effort to be more inclusive, during his presentation, Kenneth
Boulding, Professor of Economics, University of Colorado, presented a
broader definition based on his work in economics and systems theory.
He defined the ecosystem as:
"a system of interacting species, a species being any set of elements,
each of which conforms to a common definition, the total number of
which is a population which can be added to by the formation of
new elements (births or production) and can be subtracted from by
the disappearance of old elements (death or consumption).'
Dr. Boulding argued that the products of man's technological development,
which he labelled artifacts, must be regarded as an integral part of the
ecosystem. For example, the automobile is as much a species as the horse.
It has an input of materials from mines and an output of materials into
a dump, and it is nourished by gasoline and excretes carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide. Although man has produced many
changes in the ecosystem, the accumulation of many technological develop-
ments, like the automobile, has the potential for creating even greater
and more rapid changes in the ecosystem. It is important to remember that
survival of the ecosystems depends on a cycle of materials and a source
of energy. For example, the increased use of household appliances and new
food products, both designed to simplify domestic activities, have had
drastic effects on the cycling of materials and energy consumption, thus
threatening the future existence of some ecosystems. In defining components
of the ecosystem, therefore, technological developments should be included.
TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTS ECOSYSTEMS
Moreover, man has a tendency to use these technological developments
in ways that disrupt the normal functioning of the ecosystem. Ecosystems
vary in their tolerance to change and effects of single pollutants. There
are certain ecosystems where sources of air pollution should not be concen-
trated. However, certain physiographic regions attract uses to which they
are intolerant. For example, regions which exacerbate pollution, such as a
stagnant-air valley, may be the location for sources of toxic emissions.
Another example is the estuary marsh ecosystem which may be used for
ports and refineries for which they are unfit. The concept of "fitness"
18
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therefore becomes critical in applying the concept of the ecosystem to
environmental planning and management.
To achieve environmental "fitness," Eugene Odum has postulated a
model of ecological succession.2* Ecological succession involves the
development of ecosystems, paralleling the developments of biological
organisms and human society. It may be denned by three parameters:
(i) It is an orderly process of community development that is
reasonably directional and, therefore, predictable, (ii) It results from
modification of the physical environment by the community; that is,
succession is community-controlled even though the physical
environment determines the pattern, the rate of change, and often sets
limits about how far developments can go. (iii) It culminates in a
stabilized ecosystem in which maximum biomass (or high information
content) and symbiotic function between organisms are maintained
per unit of energy flow.20
The strategy of succession is to increase control of the physical environment
by achieving maximum protection from perturbation. It is important for
the environmental manager to recognize that a strategy of maximum
protection in trying to achieve maximum support of complex biomass
structures often conflicts with man's desire of maximum production. To help
in environmental planning, Dr. Odum argues that more emphasis be
placed on compartmentalizing the environment in order that growth-type,
steady-state type and intermediate-type ecosystems may be linked with
urban and industrial areas for mutual benefit. He presents a compartmental
model in which the basic kinds of environments required by man are
classified according to biotic function: 2d (1) productive environments
characterized by growing ecosystems, (2) protective environments which
are mature ecosystems, (3) compromise environments which are multiple-use
ecosystems, and (4) urban-industrial environments which are nonvital
ecosystems. According to Odum it would be possible, by using computer
simulations, to determine the limits that might be imposed on each
component ecosystem in order to maintain regional and global balances in
the exchange of vital energy and materials. The information could be
used for high yield agricultural purposes and for urban sprawl—two
potentially destructive land uses. In conclusion, he argues that:
"A balance between youth and maturity in the socio-environmental
system is, therefore, the really basic goal that must be achieved if man
as a species is to successfully pass through the present rapid growth
stage, to which he is clearly well adapted, to the ultimate equilibrium-
density stage, of which he as yet shows little understanding and to
which he now shows little tendency to adapt." 2°
Whether equilibrium exists in the ecosystem, as presented by Dr. Odum,
is undergoing serious debate and analysis. Ian McHarg, Urban Planner
and Professor, University of Pennsylvania, points out that the ecosystem is
in a dynamic balance where the equilibrium point is in a state of flux.
In taking exception to this, Dr. Boulding states that equilibrium in a literal
sense is virtually unknown in the real world. Only approximations of
equilibrium really exist, since it is difficult to conceptualize a disequilibrium
process. C. S. Rolling and M. A. Goldberg provide another perspective.
19
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COMPARTMENTAL MODEL OF ECOSYSTEMS
2d
Protective
(mature systems)
environment
Productive
(growth systems)
environment
T
Compromise
(multiple-use systems)
environment
Urban-industrial
(nonvital systems)
environment
They argue that since the ecological system is not in a delicate state of
balance but rather in the process of developing, the key feature of the
system is resilience. The internal resilience is the ability of the ecosystem to
absorb incremental changes. For example, long before man, the ecosystem
experienced traumas and shocks imposed by climatic changes and
geophysical processes. Ecosystems have been able to absorb and adapt to
these situations. Only when massive shocks occur or incremental changes
accumulate is the resilience exceeded, thus generating dramatic and
unexpected signals of change.
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND ECONOMICS
From the discussion of ecosystems, it is evident that successful functioning
of the ecosystems depends to large degree on the total social system and
related policy. For example, United States science policies, which involve
the direction of scientific research and the allocation of funds for research
and development, play a large role in determining the types of technology
available for production and consumption. The efficiency of these
technologies and their use of natural resources will affect environmental
quality. Other policy areas with environmental consequences include
transportation, housing, urban development, health, agriculture, and
economics. One of the issues focused on at the Conference was economics
and its relation to environmental quality.
20
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The economic system's major function is to govern the artifacts, skills and
services which are exchanged in a society. Economic growth is the major
goal in a capitalist economy. In attempting to achieve such growth, the
economic system regulates the use of natural resources in the ecosystem
and the disposal of waste into the ecosystem. The buildup of residuals—
leftovers of production and consumption activities—has become a major
environmental problem. The resilience of many ecosystems is being tested by
this accumulation of residuals. As a result, our society may no longer be
characterized as the "affluent" society but rather as the "effluent" society.
The quest for survival requires the use of various elements in the
ecosystem. As pointed out by Professor Boulding, virtually all human
activity produces both good and bad effects; this is why we have pollution.
He continues that:
". . . not because there are wicked people who like to pollute things
(this is a very minor element in the problem), but because if we
want beef, we have to have polluting feedlots, if we want electric
power, we have to have polluting power stations, and so on. A critical
problem in the economy is how to make private decisions for
private benefit also produce public benefit."
Before the development of sophisticated technologies and the proliferation
of consumer demands for goods, natural resources were used without limit
and waste was dumped into the environment where it would dissipate. A
prevalent belief was that one person alone could not cause environmental
damage since air, water and other natural resources were so plentiful.
However, our pursuit of economic growth and the accompanying high
standards of living, drastically increased the amount of natural resources
being used for production and consumption, and the amount of wastes
being discharged into the environment. By 1960, many scientists were
beginning to identify some negative consequences of massive industrialization,
more sophisticated technology, and rapid economic growth. As Professor
L. J. Battan states:
"The atmosphere is often treated as a garbage pail of infinite size.
Obviously, this is a serious mistake. Our layer of air should not
be regarded as a dumping ground in any circumstances. The quantity
of pollutants that can safely be put into the air depends on the
property of the atmosphere at the moment of release and subsequently.
In some periods a great deal of smoke can be added with little danger.
At other times the condition of contaminants must be kept at an
absolute minimum." (3)
Even today, some economic policies support the myth that the environment
can be abused without limits. There are several reasons for this.
POLLUTION WITHOUT PAYING
First, a person is generally not directly affected by the pollution and
possible environmental damage he creates. The consequences of his
means of production and consumption are felt by his neighbors. For
example, before air reaches the outer atmosphere it affects people who are
in the direction of the wind. The private costs of pollution are low enough
that the individual is willing to accept it. Private costs may also be lower
than the costs to the rest of society Arthur Busch underscores this point
21
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by emphasizing that pollution places the rights of individuals against the
public welfare.
A second important factor encouraging damage to the ecosystem is the
economic pricing system. Industrial expansion was justified on the grounds
that the spillover effects were outweighed by the good that was being
produced. Industry used externalities to keep costs down since it was
cheaper to pollute than to clean up.
Today, the costs of pollution are extremely hard to define. In his
presentation, Joseph Fisher, President of Resources for the Future, pointed
out that many causes of pollution are subjective and that damages incurred
generally take place years later or miles away from the original source.
The central issue is that no market mechanisms exist to register dollar
values for environmental deterioration. In analyzing this point further,
Marshall Goldman discusses the pricing of environmental quality. In the
market system, prices affect demands for the product and demands affect
prices. If the pricing system is to function adequately, the costs of all
inputs used in the production processes must be properly identified. Yet
how can we identify and price environmental consequences, both the
overuse of natural resources and the eventual waste discharge resulting
after consumption is completed? What is the dollar value of clean air or
dirty water?
A major issue today is who is going to pay for pollution abatement. In the
absence of more sophisticated cost procedures, prevention and abatement
oosts will need to be paid. Mr. Fisher argues that the solution lies in
complete subsidization by the government. He notes that we are currently
spending one percent of the Gross National Product (approximately
$12 billion) on pollution abatement. By doubling or tripling this rate and
sustaining the level of funding (thus, $24 billion or $36 billion), he
believed that the trend of increasing pollution could be reversed. An
opposite view was expressed by Mr. Busch. Since unlimited funding from
public sources is unlikely, the producers and consumers will need to bear
the costs for environmental improvement. He states that pollution abatement
is one of the costs of doing business. While profits are still necessary,
the consequences that have been levied on the environment are no
longer acceptable.
A third and final factor which contributes to the deterioration of some
ecosystems is our commitment to growth. Historically, our country has been
enamored with growth statistics such as the GNP, new housing starts, or
number of cars produced. Rarely have our statistics been able to
incorporate aesthetic values or the quality of life since few indicators or
measures exist. Today, many social scientists have begun to question
the concept of growth and posit the idea that our society consider other
alternatives such as managed growth or no growth. During his presentation,
Ian McHarg described the social-economic policies which could be
followed under alternative growth models. If we continue to pursue an
uncontrolled growth rate, we will accommodate the maximum social damage
at the greatest social cost for the least possible social benefit. A more
conscientious policy would be to develop the maximum social benefit at
the least social cost and proceed to allocate growth according to gratification
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of the largest number of people. Critics of managed or no growth stress the
following: (a) limited growth may lower material living standards;
(b) conservation of materials would take place if substitute materials were
found or prices were increased in order to finance social programs;
(c) growth is necessary; and (d) an adequate permit system for discharging
into the ecosystem can be developed. On the other hand, proponents have
argued that a lowering of the material standard of living may result in
a higher quality of life since environmental improvements would be made.
In the past, growth has not led to the solution of social problems; and
the economy has failed to assure or protect the environment. It is not
possible to discuss these conflicts in detail here. However, the issue of
growth is addressed in the latter part of this chapter, as well as in
subsequent chapters.
In summary, this discussion focused on the relationship between environ-
mental quality as a policy goal and various aspects of economic policy.
The complexity of environmental policy and its interrelationship with
our social concerns should be evident. Blair Bower offers some tempered
observations:
"Decisions and choices within the environmental sector are linked to
decisions and choices in other sectors of the economy. Just as
there are limited environmental resources, so there are limited human
and capital rsources."
VIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Just as there are many policies that directly affect environmental quality,
there are many perceptions of the nature of environmental problems and
potential solutions. If environmental managers are going to be effective,
they must be aware of these views.
Charles Henry, City Manager, University City, Missouri, defines the
"environment" as referring to "everything around us." The city administrator
in his daily activities must define the concept broadly, due to the complex
interrelatedness of problems and programs in the urban environment.
John Wentz, City Manager, Phoenix, Arizona, points out that managers
should, for the moment, restrict their definition to physical, visual,
sensory aspects of the environment. They must resist the temptation to
define the environment in terms of life style, a concept of too much
complexity for the development of environmental programs.
Although Mr. Henry defines the environment in broad terms, the city
administrator, as guardian of the municipal environment, has limited tools
available for improving environmental quality. Primary sources of control
are vested in city codes (e.g., building and sanitation codes, private land-
scaping and sign control). The administrator must be able to secure local
code compliance by bringing violations into a local court. Through the
courts, everyday occurrences such as litter and sanitation violations can be
processed and remedied. On the other hand, Mayor Stephen May of
Rochester, New York, sees a wider range of environmental action for local
governments. As an urban administrator, he must deliver basic services
such as garbage removal, code enforcement, and rodent control. In addition,
he is presently faced with the need to retain industries presently located
in Rochester, as well as to attract new industry to maintain sufficient
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employment in his community. To accomplish these objectives in environ-
mentally sound ways, Mayor May has been working with industry on some
specific issues, particularly the screening of parking lots to reduce visual
pollution and a new in-town community to promote balanced development.
He believes that those in government must be sensitized to environmental
needs and that a balance be struck between the need for jobs and industrial
expansion, and the need for a decent environment. While the vigilance
over the environment must be continued, the demands for growth must
sometimes be accommodated at the same time.
Shelly Mark (II. 7), Director of the State of Hawaii Department of
Planning and Economic Development, relates the steps taken by Hawaii to
define and enact a limited growth policy. He discusses the terms "quality
growth" as opposed to "quantity growth," which he equates with the
concepts of limited growth and increased growth. Dr. Mark points out that
efforts toward achieving a quality growth pattern must be multidimensional,
since a socially desirable balance among economic, social and environ-
mental elements needs to be achieved. To direct any kind of growth policy,
several steps are identified: (1) a consensus should be reached on the
objectives in planning quality growth, (2) the rates and kinds of growth
patterns must be under control, and (3) knowledge must exist in order
to predict the effects of certain actions. A further elaboration of Dr. Mark's
ideas can be found in the latter part of this chapter.
CORPORATE OFFICIALS SEEK PRIORITIES, SOLUTIONS
The views of business and industry are important in achieving a
comprehensive picture of environmental problems. Many representatives of
industry readily point to their own programs for pollution abatement.
During his presentation at the Conference, Edwin Nelson of General Motors
Corporation identified several essential ingredients for industry to be
successful in the pursuit of a better environment: (1) management
priorities must be determined, (2) the problems need to be idntified, and
(3) sound, technically feasible solutions must be developed. He summarized
some of the steps taken by General Motors in environmental management.
In February, 1971, General Motors Corp. created an environmental
activities staff to operate within the corporate structure. Their primary
functions are communicating with regulatory agencies, providing technical
information to local, state and federal governmental bodies, and estab-
lishing environmental control programs that will ensure the best balance
between cost and benefit to society. In addition, GM is carrying on
large research programs on the environment. One example is the extensive
research on alternative power sources to the internal combustion engine.
However, since these alternatives will not be viable in the near future, the
company is making a concentrated effort to modify and refine present
engines and emission control systems, particularly the catalytic converter.
Another example of their research activities is in the evaluation of differing
processes for removing sulfur dioxide from coal. One of these processes
is a regenerative double alkali sulfur dioxide pilot study which would
determine if the caustic could be regenerated and used back in the
system. If successful, this program would be a significant development in
reaching short-term solutions to the energy problem.
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Although continued research is essential in finding alternatives for
controlling pollution, industry may broaden its scope of environmental
protection by seeking and creating new markets for environmental
improvements. Arthur Busch argues that environmental improvement could
become a giant industry, increasing in importance as new technology
develops. The possibilities in developing untapped markets for environmental
improvements exist within the private sector. James Brian Quinn outlines
how industry and the environment can profit from one another. One
means is to transfer what private enterprise has developed to satisfy consumer
demands to developing and filling demands for public consumption and
investment such as sewage systems, water supplies, parks and airports. If
public markets could be developed by private companies, growth
opportunities for industry would occur while many socio-economic problems
could be improved.
Mr. Quinn also sees potential markets in properly administered govern-
ment regulations and standards. An example would be the stringent
radioactive emission and waste disposal standards which, if met, would
increase confidence in atomic power plants and expand their markets.
Eventually, proper regulation could elicit new primary markets, contributing
to national growth in much the same way as a new product contributes
to economic growth. Nevertheless, the shift to a market economy, with
heavy emphasis on environmental improvement, will not be without serious
costs to individual companies and communities. The problem should be
temporary and could be relieved by elongating the impact of change,
providing temporary tax relief, or working with communities that have lost
industries. Ultimately, the supports would be dropped and the impact of
choices would be distributed through industry by means of pricing decisions.
The views presented in this section are not all-inclusive, but rather
provide a sample from both government and industry. It is hoped that
environmental managers will become familiar with the views and particular
circumstances in their own communities.
ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION-MAKING
Assuming that an environmental manager has information regarding the
environment and is apprised of the views in his community, the decision-
making process is highly important in relation to improving environmental
quality. The environmental manager might consider a variety of approaches
to choose from among competing policy alternatives, ranging from an
incremental approach to a rational-systematic approach. During his
presentation, Charles Lindblom, Professor, Yale University, argued that
the only realistic approach is incrementalism. The incremental approach to
decision making is characterized by focused attacks on specific problems,
thus restricting the number of alternatives and policies to those that differ
only incrementally from existing policies. He comments:
"Since everything is connected, it is beyond our capacity to manipulate
everything altogether. Comprehensive plans and broad goals would
make a lot more sense if things were not so interconnected. Then,
you could factor out a piece of society and deal with it. Since
everything is interconnected, the whole social world, or the whole of
the environment problem, is way beyond our capacity. We have to find
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critical points of intervention, tactically defensible, or strategically
defensible points of intervention."
Support for the incremental approach in action is provided by Phoenix City
Manager John Wentz who suggests that environmental decision-making
must be realistic. His formula for achieving practical decision-making is to
make highly focused attacks such as controlling sporadic development
by zoning or cutting down on visual pollution through sign control. Mr. Wentz
indicates that short-term actions and the winning of small victories make
it easier to address more complex and comprehensive problems in the
longer term.
A different decision-making approach was presented by J. L. McClintock
of Weyerhauser Corporation in his description of the environmental impact
of a pulp and paper mill. In order to reduce the B.O.D. (Biochemical
Oxygen Demand) discharged from the mills, several alternatives can be
developed from which one or two could be selected that result in the
least adverse consequences. Through a systematic process, alternatives are
examined and evaluated based upon the ability to achieve a viable plan
for environmental protection. Then, the decision is made by selecting the
best alternative. However, this use of more rational decision-making is
hampered by the lack of knowledge regarding the ecosystem and the large
amount of time consumed in conducting the analysis.
A COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT MILIEU
As noted in the introduction to chapter one, the environmental manager
is faced with a complex political, technical and administrative milieu
which makes it difficult to make comprehensive decisions. Decisions may be
stimulated or constrained by: ecological considerations, environmental
crises, political pressures, unproven management strategies, administrative
dilemmas, technical considerations, and governmental requirements. If
managers recognize these potential forces and constraints, their ability to
deal with the environment in a comprehensive way will be enhanced.
This chapter has analyzed some of the important points regarding the
environment as a policy issue. No claim is made that the ideas mentioned
are comprehensive, but rather they reflect the concerns of conference
participants. Several major themes emerged from the panels and workshops.
First, we do not possess sufficient knowledge on indicators of environmental
quality. Second, many of our assumptions regarding growth need to be
re-evaluated in light of the desire for better environmental quality. Finally,
environmental decision-makers need to relate environmental problems to
other policy areas while developing an environmental management program
for specific environmental problems.
Notes for
Chapter II
1 Eugene P. Odum, Ecology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
2 Eugene P. Odum, "The Strategy of Ecosystem Development," Science CLXIV (18
April 1969), p. 262, (2b) pp. 262-270, (2c), p. 262, (2d), p. 269, (2e), p. 269.
3Louis J. Battan, The Unclean Sky: (Garden City, N.Y. Anchor Books, 1966), pp.
103-104.
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ll.l The
economics of
ecology
Kenneth E. Boulding *
It is no accident that the words
"ecology" and "economics" both come
from the same Greek root meaning
"household." They both deal indeed
with the housekeeping of the earth, and
the economic system can be regarded
as a special case of the ecological sys-
tem of the planet, dealing mainly with
the ecology of human artifacts and
human behavior.
An ecological system is essentially a
system of interacting species, a species
being any set of elements, each of
which conforms to a common defini-
tion, the total number of which is a
population which can be added to by
the formation of new elements (births
or production) and can be subtracted
from by the disappearance of old ele-
ments (death or consumption). In most
populations each element can be identi-
fied by its age, that is, the period of
time that has elapsed since it was born,
and this is frequently an important
characteristic of the system though this
information is not necessary for the
definition of a population or a species.
In biological ecosystems the species
and the populations consist of living
organisms. The definition of a species is
not always clear, although the usual
definition is based on reproductive
ability, that is, a species consists of ele-
ments which can reproduce themselves.
Other quantities which are not usually
thought of as biological species, how-
ever, may be significant, such as the
* Presented by Kenneth E. Boulding,
Professor of Economics, University of Col-
orado. Invited paper delivered at the Na-
tional Conference on Managing the En-
vironment, session on: The Environment:
How Comprehensive?
chemical species in the soil, the atmos-
phere, or the waters, and also variables
which are a little hard to put under the
general rubric of population, such as
temperature, time patterns, annual dis-
tribution of rainfall, and so on.
Automobiles as a species
Economic species consist mainly of
commodities; for instance, automobiles
and their subspecies such as Chevrolets,
Volkswagens, and so on. Social species
include human artifacts of all kinds,
including human beings themselves, as
well as their genetic characteristics, their
education, skills, capacities, and so on,
which also are human artifacts in a
large degree. We should also include
social organizations among social spe-
cies—families, corporations, churches,
states, counties, government agencies,
voluntary agencies, and so on.
The dynamic process of any ecosys-
tem depends on the relationship be-
tween the births and the deaths for any
one population, and all other elements
of the system, especially the size of all
the other populations. If from the state
of the system at any one time we can
deduce the number of births and deaths
in each population in the next period,
we know how large all the populations
will be at the end of the next period,
and hence can go on projecting for
successive periods. If births exceed
deaths, the population will grow; if
deaths exceed births, it will decline; if
it declines to the point where the popu-
lation is zero, it becomes extinct unless
it can be re-formed, which is very un-
likely. An ecosystem may have an
equilibrium position, in which the state
of the system is such that the births
equal the deaths for all populations.
Equilibrium is imperfect
Equilibrium in a literal sense is vir-
tually unknown in the real world, but
there are approximations of equilibri-
um; for instance, in a climatic eco-
system of a forest or a pond, or a
hypothetical stationary state in a so-
ciety. Because it is difficult to visualize
an absolutely continuous disequilibrium
27
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process (which is what the world is), it
is often useful to think in terms of a
succession of equilibrium states, even
though this is only approximated in
nature. Thus, a mutation is a change in
the functions which relate births and
deaths to the other states of the system,
or it may represent a change in the
state of the system through the intro-
duction of a new species. This will
almost invariably produce a new poten-
tial equilibrium, in which some species
may disappear and the new species may
either survive or may also disappear.
This is the essence indeed of the proc-
ess of evolution, whether in biological
or in social systems. Selection is always
the selection of ecosystems, never the
selection of species.
A species survives if it has a place
or a niche in an ecosystem which sur-
vives. The niche of the species is that
population, under given conditions in
the state of the system, at which the
births and deaths are equal so that the
population is stable. Ordinarily for
populations smaller than this, births will
exceed deaths; for populations larger
than this, deaths will exceed births, in
which case the niche population is a
true equilibrium. The niche may be a
physical niche, like a cave or a coral
reef, or it may not. It may simply be
bounded by the pressures of other
species.
An important feature of any eco-
system is its system of inputs and out-
puts. Every biological population re-
quires inputs of food and produces
outputs, or excretions. We should in-
clude in this the gaseous "foods" and
excretions, such as oxygen and carbon
dioxide. The inputs and outputs have
two aspects—a materials aspect and an
energy aspect. A species has to be able
to draw more materials from the en-
vironment than it excretes if it is to
grow. Similarly, every species needs
energy if it is to operate and move.
If an ecosystem is to survive for very
long, it must have a cycle of materials
and a source of energy. The nitrogen
cycle is a famous example of the first,
and, of course, almost all of the bio-
sphere depends on the input of solar
energy to prevent its running down.
The man-made ecosystem
Man and his artifacts must be re-
garded as part of the ecosystem, and it
makes very little sense to separate the
non-human part of the ecosystem from
the human part. The automobile is just
as much a species as the horse, though
its genetics is more complicated. It has
an input of materials, mostly from
mines; it has an output of materials into
dumps; it feeds on gasoline and excretes
water, carbon dioxide, carbon monox-
ide, nitrous oxide and so on; and it sur-
vives because it has a niche. That is,
there is some population of automobiles
in which births equal deaths in any
given environment, just like the horse.
There are three basic types of rela-
tionships among species: mutual compe-
tition, mutual cooperation, and preda-
tion. All of these are important. Pre-
dation is inherently the more stable of
the three.
The evolution of man has produced
profound changes in the ecosystem of
the world, mainly because the human
nervous system has a very much greater
capacity for knowledge, that is, for
building structures in the internal sys-
tems which correspond to the structures
in the external system, than any other
species. As a result, man is unusually
cooperative ecologically with his own
artifacts, which can be thought of as a
peculiar kind of excretion of human ac-
tivtiy. Most living species produce only
manure, which is often directly com-
petitive with them, although perhaps
indirectly cooperative through its role in
the materials cycle. Human beings pro-
duce corn, wheat, machines, automo-
biles, clothing, and so on. These arti-
facts have resulted in an almost con-
tinual expansion of the human niche.
There have been times indeed when
man has pressed against his existing
niche, but this pressure has often re-
sulted in technological improvements,
such as agriculture or metallurgy,
which have expanded the niche and
28
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enabled continuing growth of the hu-
man population.
Economic habitat
The economic system is a subset of
the total social system, and therefore
of the total ecological system, which
deals particularly with those human
artifacts, skills, and services which are
exchanged or which are potentially ex-
changeable. Every person, family or
organization of the social system lives
in an exchange environment. Each unit
specializes in the production of a lim-
ited set of artifacts or services. (Services
are simply artifacts—songs, communi-
cations ,orders, and so on-—which have
a very short length of life.) He may
exchange these directly for other arti-
facts and services through barter, but as
social organization develops some arti-
fact (cattle, metal, cigarettes) becomes
generally acceptable in exchange and
begins to play the role of money.
Money is a general medium of ex-
change which is accepted not for its
own sake but because somebody else
will accept it in return for other things.
Eventually money becomes divorced
from its commodity base altogether and
becomes a simple abstract unit of ac-
count, like the bank deposit. Even in
this form, it still represents a "popula-
tion;" dollars are born and die, migrate
in and out of particular regions just like
any other population. If I am adding
to my money stock i aster than I arn
spending it or diminishing it, it will
grow.
In a developed society barter is a
miniscule part of the total volume of
exchanges. Most people or economic
units have an input of money which
they derive from either the sale of
some goods or services that they have
produced—the wheat of the wheat
farmer, or the services of the wage
worker—or from "grants," that is, one-
way transfers in the form of gifts, trib-
ute, or taxes. They spend out of their
money stock for all the various goods
and services that they want and can
afford. Thus, every social organization
has a throughput of money which is
not wholly unlike the throughput of
nitrogen in the biological nitrogen cy-
cle, and because of this we are able to
organize an enormous variety of organi-
zations and artifacts.
Every organization or sector is sig-
nificantly affected by its "terms of
trade," that is, the ratio of the real
goods and services it takes in to the
goods and services that it gives out, so
that our terms of trade "improve" if
we can take in more per unit of what
we give out. The structure of terms of
trade depends on the total relative price
structure. Thus, if the price of wheat
rises while that of other things does
not, the terms of trade of the wheat
farmer improve; he can get more other
things per bushel of wheat.
The economic system has had a very
substantial impact on the total eco-
logical system of the planet, mainly
because humans act to increase those
populations in the total environment
which they perceive as cooperative with
them and act to diminish those which
they perceive as competitive. This in-
troduces a very significant selective
factor in the whole ecosystem, produc-
ing grain and potatoes instead of
bramble bushes, cows instead of buffa-
lo, automobiles instead of horses, build-
ings instead of open fields, and so on.
Expanding human dominion
Because the human race has found
no really satisfactory social mechanism
for population control up to date (ex-
cept in a few cases in simple societies,
which have all turned out to be unstable
in the long run), human activities have
been profoundly dominated by niche-
increasing activity. This inevitably has
put pressure on other species, especially
those which humans perceive as com-
petitive with them, or niche-limiting,
such as the lion and the bear, the mos-
quito and the insect pests, the disease
bacillus, and horse manure.
A fundamental problem arises, how-
ever, because virtually all human ac-
tivity produces both goods and "bads,"
29
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both things which are perceived as en-
hancing human life and those which are
perceived as detracting from it. This is
why we have pollution—not because
there are wicked people who like to
pollute things (this is a very minor
element in the problem), but because if
we want beef, we have to have polluting
feedlots, if we want electric power, we
have to have polluting power stations,
and so on. A critical problem in the
economy is how to make private de-
cisions for private benefit also produce
public benefits. We have to create
Adam Smith's "invisible hand," which
makes private and public benefits the
same. There are particular difficulties
here in the case of "public goods" and
"public bads," which cannot be pri-
vately appropriated and can only be
organized through a public political
process. Otherwise, we get what Gar-
rett Hardin has called the "tragedy of
the commons," and the "invisible hand"
then steals out of all our pockets.
Many things which ecologists worry
about, such as wilderness or the pres-
ervation of species, fall under the cate-
gory of "public goods" which cannot
be provided through private markets.
How many is too many?
A very critical question is whether
the human race is now approaching its
ultimate niche. Can we go on expand-
ing without ecological disaster? Is the
human race just a fire weed that ex-
panded because of a dynamic process
which cannot be sustained? It is cer-
tainly possible to conceive of a sustain-
able high-level economy, but we are still
a long way from the technology which
can achieve this.
Today, ecology rather than eco-
nomics seems to be taking on the role
of the dismal science. All the dismal
theorems, however, merely amount to
saying that there are limitations. If
these limitations are recognized and ac-
cepted, and organized action is directed
towards them, there is no reason why
they should be fatal. If we have, in
fact, exceeded the human carrying ca-
pacity of the earth (and it is by no
means clear that this is so), we will
certainly have a rough time getting
back to that capacity. There seems to
be no inherent reason, however, why,
once it has been achieved, a "space-
ship earth" should not be both stable
and reasonably agreeable.
30
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11.2 The nature
and behavior
of ecological
systems
C. S. Moiling and
M. A. Goldberg *
Rather than presenting an exhaustive
treatment of ecological concepts and
terms, we hope to apply the philosophy
of the ecological approach to solve
problems of a kind that recur in all
complex systems.1 The key insight of
this approach is that ecological systems
are not in a state of delicate balance.
Long before man appeared on the
scene, natural systems were subjected
to traumas and shocks imposed by cli-
matic changes and other geophysical
processes. The ecological systems that
have survived have been those that
are able to absorb and adapt to these
traumas. As a result, these systems have
considerable internal resilience, but we
know that this resilience is not infinite.
A forest can be turned into a desert,
as in the Middle East, or a lake into
th3 aquatic analog of a desert. The key
feature of the resilience of ecological
systems is that incremental changes
are absorbed. It is only when a series
of incremental changes accumulate or
a massive shock is imposed, that the
resilience of the system is exceeded,
generating dramatic and unexpected
signals of change.
This has considerable consequence
*C. S. Rolling is Director of the Insti-
tue of Animal Resource Ecology at the
University of British Columbia. M. A.
Goldberg is Associate Professor of Com-
merce at the University of British Colum-
bia. Reprinted with permission of the
Journal of the American Institute of Plan-
ners, Vol. 37, No. 4 (July 1971), excerpted
from "Ecology and Planning," pp. 221-230.
for planning since, inherent in the phil-
osophy of planning and intervention, is
the presumption that an incremental
change will quickly generate a signal
of whether the intervention is correct or
not. If the signal indicates the inter-
vention produces higher costs than ben-
efits, then a new policy and a new in-
cremental change can be developed. But
because of the resilience of ecological
systems, incremental changes do not
generate immediate signals of their
effect. As a result, planners can set in
motion a sequence of incremental steps
and face the reality of the inadequacy
of the underlying policy only when the
interventions accumulate to shatter the
bounds of resilience within the system.
By that time it can be too late. In order
to demonstrate these features of eco-
systems we will discuss one specific
case hisory, based on man's interven-
tion. The consequences of the inter-
vention reveal some of the key prop-
erties of ecosystems.
Malarial control in Borneo
Since the Second World War, the
World Health Organization (WHO) has
developed a remarkably successful ma-
larial eradication program throughout
the world. We wish to emphasize that,
in this example of intervention, there
is no question that there has been a
dramatic improvement in the quality of
life of people in affected regions. But,
we wish to explore a specific case in
which the World Health Organization
sprayed village huts in Borneo with
DDT in order to kill the mosquito that
carries the pasmodium of malaria. This
case has been documented by Harrison
(1965).
The inland Dayak people of Borneo
live in large single homes or long
houses with up to 500 or more under
one roof. This concentration of popu-
lation allowed WHO to develop a
thorough and orderly spraying of every
long house, hut, and human habitation
with DDT. The effect on health stand-
ards was dramatic with a remarkable
improvement in the energy and vitality
of the people—particularly those re-
mote tribes who had not previously had
31
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access to medical aid. Nevertheless,
there were interesting consequences that
illuminate some of the properties of
ecological systems.
There is a small community of or-
ganisms that occupy the thatched huts
of these villages—cats, cockroaches,
and small lizards. The cockroaches
picked up the DDT and were subse-
quently eaten by the lizards. In con-
suming the cockroaches, the lizards
concentrated the DDT to a somewhat
higher level than was present in the
cockroaches. The cats ate the lizards
and, by eating them, concentrated the
level of DDT still further—to the point
that it became lethal. The cats died.
When the cats disappeared from the
villages, woodland rats invaded, and it
suddenly became apparent that the
cats had been performing a hidden
function—controlling rat populations.
Now, with the rat came a new com-
plex of organisms—fleas, lice, and par-
asites, and this community presented a
new public health hazard of sylvatic
plague. The problem became serious
enough that finally the RAF was called
to parachute living cats into these iso-
lated villages in order to control the
rats.
DDT brought the house down
The story isn't finished at this point,
however, since the DDT also killed the
parasites and predators of a small cater-
pillar that normally causes minor dam-
age to thatch roofs (Cheng 1963). The
caterpillar populations, now uncon-
trolled, increased dramatically, causing
the roofs of the huts to collapse.
We cite this example not because it
has great substance, but simply because
it shows the variety of interactive path-
ways that link parts of an ecological
system, pathways that are sufficiently
intricate and complicated so that ma-
nipulating one fragment causes a re-
verberation throughout the system. In
addition, this case provides a simple
example of a food chain in which
energy and material moves from cock-
roaches to lizards to cats. Typically, in
these food chains the number of or-
ganisms at a higher level in the chain
are less abundant than those lower in
the chain. This is the inevitable result
of the loss of energy in moving from
one trophic and nutritional level to an-
other, and the consequence is a biologi-
cal amplification that concentrates cer-
tain material at higher and higher levels
as one moves up the chain. A contam-
inant like DDT, for example, can be
present in the environment in very low,
innocuous levels but can reach serious
concentrations after two or three steps
in the food chain. Actually, this exam-
ple is highly simplified; usually in such
situations there is a food web rather
than a single linear food chain. Several
species operate at more than one trophic
level. Moreover, there are competitive
interactions that further complicate
and link species within an ecosystem.
Even in this example, however, it is
clear that the whole is not a simple
sum of the parts and that there are a
large number of components in a sys-
tem acting and interacting in a variety
of complex ways.
Nature of ecological systems
This example illuminates four essen-
tial properties of ecological systems. By
encompassing many components with
complex feedback interactions between
them, they exhibit a systems property.
By responding not just to present events
but to past ones as well, they show a
historical quality. By responding to
events at more than one point in space,
they show a spatial interlocking prop-
erty, and through the appearance of
lags, thresholds, and limits they present
distinctive non-linear structural proper-
ties. First, ecosystems are characterized
not only by their parts but also by the
interaction among these parts. It is
because of the complexity of the inter-
actions that it is so dangerous to take
a fragmented view, to look at an iso-
lated piecs of the system. By concen-
trating on one fragment and trying to
optimize the performance of that frag-
ment, we find that the rest of the sys-
tem responds in unsuspected ways.
Second, ecological systems have not
been assembled out of preexisting parts
like a machine: they have evolved in
32
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time and are defined in part by their
history. This point does not emerge
clearly from the example quoted; never-
theless, the resilience described in the
example is very much the consequence
of past history.
When a large area is stripped of
vegetation, a historical process begins
that leads to the evolution of a stable
ecosystem through a series of succes-
sional stages. Early in this succession,
pioneer species occupy the space, and
the diversity and complexity are low.
The species that can operate under
these circumstances are highly resistant
to extreme conditions of drought and
temperature and are highly productive.
Competition is low, and a large pro-
portion of the incident solar energy is
converted to the production of bio-mass
(the standing stock of organic material).
As this accumulates, the conditions of
the area begin to improve and permit
the appearance of groups of plants and
animals that otherwise could not sur-
vive. The result is a gradual increase
in the variety of species and in the
complexity of interaction, and this in-
crease in complexity is accompanied
by an increase in the resilience of the
system and a decrease in productivity.
Under stable conditions this succes-
sional history can continue until a stable
climax ecosystem evolves.
Agriculture: simplifying nature
Man's objective in agricultural man-
agement is to halt this history at an
early successional stage when the pro-
ductivity is high. The price of doing
this is a continual effort to prevent the
system from moving to its more stable
and less productive stage: hence herbi-
cides and cultural practices eliminate or
reduce those organisms that compete
with man for food. But by emphasizing
high productivity as a narrow objective,
man develops the simplest and most di-
rect policy, and the result leads to
decreased complexity—large monocul-
tures, heavy use of chemical herbicides,
insecticides, and fertilizers. For the
short term, the narrow objective of in-
creased productivity is achieved, but
the price paid is a dramatic decline in
the resilience of the system. Third,
complex ecosystems have very signifi-
cant spatial interactions. Just as they
have been formed by events over time
so they are affected by events over
space. Ecosystems are not homogeneous
structures but present a spatial mosaic
of biological and physical characteris-
tics.
Finally, there are a variety of struc-
tural properties of the processes that
interrelate the components of an eco-
system. We do not wish to dwell on
these details other than to say they
present singular problems in mathe-
matical analysis for they relate to the
existence of thresholds, lags, limits, and
discontinuities.
Behavior of ecosystems
The distinctive behavior of systems
flows from these four properties. To-
gether they produce both resilience and
stability. Even simple systems have
properties of stability. Consider the
example discussed by Hardin (1963).
Every warmblooded animal regulates its
temperature. In man the temperature
is close to 98.6°F. If through sickness
or through dramatic change in external
temperature, the body temperature be-
gins to rise or fall, then negative feed-
back processes bring the temperature
back to the equilibrium level. But we
note this regulation occurs only within
limits. If the body temperature is
forced too high—above 106°F., the
excessive heat input defeats the regula-
tion. The higher temperature increases
metabolism which produces more heat.
which produces higher temperature, and
so on. The result is death. The same
happens if temperature drops below a
critical boundary. We see, therefore.
even in this simple system, that sta-
bility relates not just to he equilibrium
point but to the domain of tempera-
tures over which true temperature reg-
ulation can occur. It is this domain of
stability that is the measure of re-
silience.
In a more complex system, there are
many quantities and qualities that
change. Each species in an ecosystem
and each qualitatively different indi-
33
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vidual within a species are distinct di-
mensions that can change over time. If
we monitor the change in the quantity
or quality of one of these dimensions,
we can envisage results of the kind
shown in Figure 1. Within the range
of stable equilibrium, if we cause a
change in the quantity being measured,
it will return to equilibrium over time.
But there is a limit to which we can
p:rturb these quantities, and that limit
is defined as a boundary of stability.
Ecological instability
The domain of stability is contained
within the upper and lower boundaries.
In simple physiological and engineering
control feedback systems, regulation is
strong enough and conditions are stable
enough that most of our attention can
be fixed on or near the equilibrium.
This is not true of ecological systems
(Rolling and Ewing 1969). Ecological
systems exist in a highly variable physi-
cal environment so that the equilibrium
point itself is continually shifting and
changing over time. At any one moment,
each dimension of the system is attempt-
ing to track the equilibrium point but
rarely, if ever, is achieved. Because of
this variability imposed upon ecological
systems, the ones that have survived,
the ones that have not exceeded the
boundaries of stability, are those that
have evolved tactics to keep the domain
of stability, or resilience, broad enough
to absorb the consequences of change.
The regulation forces within the do-
main of stability tend to be weak until
the system approaches the boundary.
They are not efficient systems in an
optimizing sense because the price paid
for efficiency is a decreased resilience
and a high probability of extinction.
This view of stability is, of course,
highly simplified. There may not be just
one stable equilibrium at any instan-
taneous point in time; there may be sev-
eral. Moreover, the stable condition
might not be a single value but a se-
quence of values that return to a com-
mon starting value. This stable condi-
tion is termed a stable limit cycle (Fig-
ure 2). Finally, the sequence of stable
values need never return to some com-
mon starting point. The earlier descrip-
tion of an ecological succession really
represents such a condition—a stable
trajectory as illustrated in Figure 3.
But, however the equilibrium condi-
tions change, they are all bounded, and
what we must ask in judging any policy
is not only how effectively an equilib-
rium is achieved, but also how the re-
silience, or the domain of stability, is
changed. The two insecticide examples
illustrate the point. The policies used
in these cases were characterized by
three conditions:
1. The problem is first isolated from
the whole; that is, pests are dam-
aging cotton.
2. The objective is defined narrowly;
that is, kill the insect pest.
3. The simplest and most direct in-
tervention is selected; that is
broad-scale application of a highly
toxic long-lived insecticide.
Each of these conditions assumes un-
limited resilience in the system. By
adopting these policies, the problem
and the solution are made simple
enough to be highly successful in the
short term. So long as there is sufficient
resilience to absorb the consequencse
of our ignorance, then the success can
persist for a very long time. It is suc-
cessful in the sense that the agricul-
turist can return his system almost in-
stantly to an equilibrium point of one
crop and no competing pests. The price
paid, however, is the contraction of the
boundaries of stability, and an equi-
librium-centered point of view can be
disastrous from a boundary-oriented
view.
1 The notion of incremental (or "mar-
ginal" in the economist's jargon) changes
is part and parcel of cost-benefit analysis.
Non-marginal investments, which can
change the structure of prices and the
allocation of resources, are difficult to
deal with under present cost-benefit ap-
proaches. Thus, resilience is usually as-
sumed by ignoring changes in prices in-
duced by large-scale projects. See Prest
and Turvey (1965) for a discussion of the
assumptions concerning marginal and non-
marginal projects
34
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FIGURE 1.—AN EXAMPLE OF A SYSTEM WITH A STABLE EQUILIBRIUM IN WHICH
STABILITY IS POSSIBLE WITHIN DISTINCT BOUNDARIES
UPPER BOUNDARY
OF STABILITY
STABLE EQUILIBRIUM
LOWER BOUNDARY
OF STABILITY
DOMAIN OF
STABILITY =
RESILIENCE
TIME
FIGURE 2.—AN EXAMPLE OF A BOUNDED LIMIT CYCLE, HOLLING & GOLDBERG
STABLE
LIMIT
CYCLE
TIME
FIGURE 3.—AN EXAMPLE OF A BOUNDED STABLE TRAJECTORY ANALOGOUS TO
THAT FOUND IN AN ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
STABLE
TRAJECTORY
TIME
35
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Minimizing chances of disaster convergence on equilibrium, to the
forces that lead to divergence from a
It is this boundary-oriented view of boundary It shifts our interest from
stability emerging from ecology that increased efficiency to the need for
can serve as a conceptual framework resilience. Most important, it focuses
for man's intervention into ecological attention on causes, not symptoms.
systems. Such a framework changes the There is now, for example, growing
emphasis from maximizing the prob- concern for pollution, but the causes
ability of success to minimizing the are not just the explosion of population
change of disaster. It shifts the concen- and consumption, but also the implo-
tration from the forces that lead to sion of the boundaries of stability.
36
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11.3 Pollution:
the mess
around us
Marshall I. Goldman *
Pollution has plagued mankind for
centuries, and we all know what it is.
But the word itself is often used to
cover a variety of sins. Before we can
talk intelligently about it, we should try
to define what we mean. Actually, what
we have had is environmental disrup-
tion. There is virtually no naturally
pure water and air and most of us
would not know what to do with pure
air and water if we had it. Pure oxygen,
if that is what we mean by pure air,
would make us giddy, and pure dis-
tilled water would have no taste.
Even if pure air and water had ex-
isted at one time in a natural state, the
mere presence of human beings and
animals would be enough to alter those
conditions. Such changes, however, are
not serious unless they radically disrupt
the existing balance or make the en-
vironment unfit for other organisms.
Even then, it is necessary to distinguish
between impurities, which make water
and air economically or aesthetically
undesirable—and may also destroy
some forms of flora or fauna—and
contaminating substances, which endan-
ger the health of human beings.
That undesired changes were taking
place in the water supply was recog-
nized by the Romans before the first
century B.C. Because the sewage gen-
erated by a city of about one million
people endangered the drinking water,
the Romans built one of the first major
municipal sewers in history, the Cloaca
* Marshall I. Goldman, Ph.D., is Pro-
fessor of Economics, Wellesley College.
Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall,
Inc., from Controlling Pollution: The Eco-
nomics of a Cleaner America, copyright
1967, pp. 3-31.
Maxima. Venice, after all, was and is
nothing but a sewer in search of a city.
Until new construction recently dis-
rupted the age-old water circulation
pattern, the city flushed its sewage
effortlessly into the sea twice a day by
using the natural flow of the tides. In
the north, Richard II of England as
early as 1388 banned the throwing of
filth into the Thames. Later genera-
tions, however, were ignorant of such
necessities and dumped their sewage
whenever and wherever convenient.
The result was dysentery and periodic
epidemics of such diseases as cholera
and typhoid.
Centuries of smog
Smog has also annoyed man for cen-
turies. Although smog in Los Angeles
did not become a burning issue until
1943, in the mid-sixteenth century
Spanish explorers landing there noted
layers of smoke from Indian fires hang-
ing above the area. In the scientific
terminology of today this is called an
inversion layer. For centuries England
has been similarly plagued by polluted
air. As early as the thirteenth century
English authorities complained about
smoke from coal and charcoal fires. By
the fourteenth century the first clean
air legislation had been passed, and one
man was actually hanged in London for
violating the law. Apparently such laws
later fell into disuse. This is indicated
in an appeal addressed to Charles II
in 1661 by John Evelyn, entitled
"Fumifugium or the Inconvenience of
the Aer and Smoake of London. Dissi-
pated Together with some Remedies
humbly proposed by John Evelyn Esq:
To His Sacred Majestie and To the
Parliament now Assembled. Published
by His Majesty's Command." Charles
Dickens' England continued to suffer
from sunless ski:s and smoky moors.
Ironically, the English government dur-
ing World War II encouraged smoke
emission in order to obscure bombing
targets from the Germans.
Still, despite isolated examples, until
the beginning of the twentieth century
man has been able to coexist with his
waste. There was little or no interfer-
37
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ence with nature's self-regenerating sys-
tem. Generally harmonious proportions
were kept among such living organisms
as human beings, vegetation, and ani-
mals. Moreover, since there had been
little experimentation with the earth's
minerals, almost all waste decomposed
rapidly or served as nutrient or raw
material for other forms of life. For
example, kitchen garbage was nicely
disposed of by the livestock usually
kept for human consumption. The
circle seemed to be perfect.
By the late nineteenth century, how-
ever, the careful observer could find
some disproportion in the circle. Pollu-
tion, which for centuries had not been
especially offensive, gradually became
intolerable in a growing number of
places. In the years following World
War II there was no longer any doubt
that the circle had popped and left
gaping holes out of which an increas-
ingly alarmed population gasped for
fresh air and water.
An annoyance becomes a crisis
In this country the emergence of
concern about environmental disrup-
tion has been caused by a combination
of developments such as (1) popula-
tion explosion, (2) unparalleled afflu-
ence, (3) technological progress, and
(4) major incidents affecting the health
and well-being of large numbers of
people.
1. Since World War II the world's
population has been expanding at an
exceptionally rapid rate. Paul Ehrlich
of Stanford University points out that
world population doubled during the
two hundred years between 1650 and
1850. The next doubling took eighty
years, and now it takes only thirty-five
years. Moreover, it is not just that there
are more of us, but that we are clus-
tered in ever more compact areas.
Kingsley Davis estimates that 40 per-
cent of the world's population live in
urban areas; 50 percent or urban dwell-
ers live in cities of 100,000 or more.
Naturally the more people there are,
the more wastes there are to recycle.
The concentration of people and their
accompanying wastes makes the task
of recycling and disposal all the more
difficult. In the past, water, air, and
solid wastes were discharged in small,
easily diluted doses; now wastes are
collected in large sewage complexes, tall
chimney stacks, .or sprawling dumps
that are invariably overtaxed. The same
disposal problem was created when
livestock was taken from wide-open
ranges and farmlands and herded into
feed lots. Although once manure served
as the main source of fertilizer, now
much of it has become a mess to be
disposed of as expeditiously and odor-
lessly as possible. Chemical fertilizer
now accomplishes artificially what used
to be done naturally.
To escape the crushing throngs in
the cities, people formed a mass exodus
to the suburbs. Large numbers of people
apparently decided that they did not
like being crowded together in the city.
if they were going to be crowded, they
decided that it was much better to
crowd together in the suburbs. Green
spaces began to disappear; before long
airplane pilots and geographers found
themselves unable to distinguish where
one town ended and another began.
Vast portions of the countryside from
New Hampshire to Virginia became one
continuous suburb, which Jean Gott-
man called "Megalopolis." This term
may also come to describe the area
from Los Angeles to San Francisco and
from Chicago to Detroit or from Chi-
cago to Pittsburgh.
As the population grew and increased
its mobility and its discharge of refuse,
natural facilities for transforming waste
began to disappear. Factories and stores
moved outside of the cities, brought
with them highways, asphalt parking
lots, and demands for water and air.
To the regular wastes of consumption
and production in the cities were added
the remains of buildings demolished
under urban renewal programs. In
many areas it became harder and harder
to find natural preserves in which to
process or absorb smoke and liquid and
solid wastes.
Filthy lucre
2. The population has grown not
38
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only in size but also in wealth. With
per capita income reaching historic
heights, production has risen to satisfy
growing demands. This production in-
creases consumption of natural re-
sources for industrial purposes, which
in turn generates greater waste from
the process of manufacturing and min-
ing itself.
It is not only from the production
of goods that wastes are multiplied; it
is also in their consumption. The richer
we become and the more we can con-
sume, the more we have to throw away.
Furthermore we somehow decided that
it is now convenient to buy something
and throw either it or its container
away. Today almost everything is dis-
posable, from diapers to dresses. We
now even have disposable disposables.
Unfortunately the use of such dispos-
ables is not the final solution to our
solid waste disposal problem. Our cast-
off purchases must be put somewhere.
Even if a product is utilized for a long
period of time (a piece of furniture, a
car, a television set), ultimately it will
be discarded in some form—usually as
junk. Ultimate disposal results in the
disintegration of a product into its ele-
mental components, as with the dis-
gestion of food or the burning of fuel.
Our wastes must end up in the water,
on the ground, or in the air, generally
in a form making them unsuitable for
further use.
Auto-pollution
The magnitude and complexity of
the disposal problem is best illustrated
by the complications that have arisen
out of the production and consumption
of the automobile. Affluence, the auto-
mobile, and aggravation seem to go to-
gether. For example, automobile ex-
haust is now the major cause of air
pollution in many of our larger cities.
Annual automobile production has
ris;n from 3.5 million in 1947 to 9 mil-
lion in the 1960's. The fumes produced
annually by the almost 110 million
combustion engines of America's auto-
mobiles, trucks, and buses are estimated
to be 90 million tons of gases, includ-
ing 64 million tons of carbon monox-
ide.2 This constitutes 40 percent of all
air pollution emissions and 60 percent
of all carbon monoxide released into
the atmosphere. The carbon monoxide
alone is enough to poison the combined
air space of Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, and New Jersey. The automobile
is the king of American consumer
goods, and it is also a complete port-
able factory. Every vehicle generates
power and air exhaust just like a minia-
ture thermal electric plant. Crossing be-
hind a jam of cars stopped at a red
light is a bit like walking behind a
series of upended chimney stacks—all
pointing in your direction.
Of equal importance, automobile
junking, like the disposal of other con-
sumer goods, has become a serious
problem. Every year approximately 7
million vehicles are scrapped and must
be discarded somehow. Fortunately
many cars and trucks are recycled in
the form of used cars and trucks a few
years after their initial purchase, but
ultimately even these vehicles must be
removed from the streets. At one time
this removal posed no difficulty; but
beginning in the late 1950's, automo-
biles started to pile up in city streets
and in automobile graveyards across
the country. The metamorphosis of the
discarded auto from a depreciated but
still treasured pet into a valueless white
elephant is a classic illustration of how
changes in technology and economic
factor costs combine to effect environ-
mental disruption.
Scrapping scrap iron
Until the early 1960's steel was pro-
duced almost entirely in open-hearth
furnaces. The metal charge fed into
these furnaces often consisted of as
much as 50 percent scrap iron along
with the raw iron ore. Accordingly,
used automobiles were sought after by
junk dealers because of the value of
the scrap metal. Despite the fact that
other metals, such as copper and alu-
minum, were sometimes included along
with the scrap steel in the melted mass,
the technology of the open-hearth fur-
nace was such that the quality of the
39
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steel it produced was not seriously
affected.
Because both its construction and
operating costs were often twice as
large as the oxygen (LD) process of
making steel, more and more American
steel manufacturers began to close
down their open-hearth furnaces and
replace them with oxygen furnaces.
Unhappily for the junk dealer, oxygen
furnaces had a much lower tolerance
for impurities and could take no more
than 30 percent scrap in their metal
charges. Inevitably the steel manufac-
turers began to substitute iron ore and
taconite pellets for scrap. This in turn
caused a drop in the price of scrap
and the value of the junked auto.
The increase in national wealth pro-
duced a keener awareness of pollution
for yet another reason. More wealth
brought with it not only more prod-
ucts but also more leisure, making it
possible for people to become aware
of and to explore the countryside.
More and more they found that what
was left was becoming polluted. In-
variably, this made an indelible im-
print. A famous Michigan labor leader
unexpectedly asked to testify before
antipollution hearings conducted in
Detroit. Since this particular leader had
never taken much interest in pollution
control before, he was asked to ac-
count for his sudden enthusiasm. He
sadly explained that after years of hard
work, he finally managed to buy a
summer retreat. To his dismay, within
a few years, the lake adjacent to this
cottage had become polluted; from
Shangri-la to cesspool. As one govern-
ment official explained it. "This is how
we win our most ardent supporters."
Exotic technology
3. A third factor influencing the se-
riousness of the pollution problem has
been the rapid advance in industrial
technology. It is not just that there are
more of us and that each of us con-
sumes more than did our fathers and
grandfathers, it is also that what we
consume is more complex in its mate-
rial makeup. Each day products of an
ever more exotic and synthetic nature
are invented and distributed. It is esti-
mated that 500 new chemical com-
pounds are introduced by industry
each year. Frequently these newly-
discovered compounds are are not bio-
degradable—readily broken up into
easily digestible or disposable by-
products. We may live better thanks
to chemistry, but the products that re-
sult often live on long after the users
are gone. Some products, such as alu-
minum tin cans, are virtually inde-
structible. The old steel tin cans at least
rusted and disintegrated after a time.
Unhappily, manufacturers are moving
further and further away from prod-
ucts and containers like ice cream and
its cone, ideal from the point of view
of pollution control because they self-
destruct in the process of consumption.
Instead, both manufacturers and con-
sumers are encouraging the use of
permanent plastic cups and non-return-
able bottles, which means greater con-
venience for the consumer but more
litter on the picnic ground and road-
side.
The tendency is to blame manufac-
turers for the switch to nonreturnable
bottles. In fairness, it is as much if not
more the fault of the consumer. The
bottlers began to switch when they
found that their customers were failing
to claim their deposits for returnable
bottles. From an average of fifty round
trips per bottle in 1955, returnable
bottlse were making only about ten
trips in 1970. Many bottlers simply
abandoned the use of returnable bottles
altogether. Thus there is no longer
monetary compensation for most bottle
returns. The withdrawal of the eco-
nomic incentive, small as it is, has sim-
ply accelerated the accumulation of
clutter.
The effects of technology have been
even more serious in other fields.
Deadly pesticides and industrial wastes
are composed of chemical derivatives
that do not always break down easily.
That, in fact, was what once made
them so attractive, DDT sprayed on
a plant did not dissolve and lose its
effectiveness. As a result, malaria, one
of the worst scourges of man, was vir-
40
-------
tually eliminated in vast parts of the
world and DDT was regarded as a.
major boon to mankind.
... out with the bathwater
The soap industry is a prime ex-
ample of how the thoughtless use of
technology can disrupt the environ-
ment. In an effort to improve the
cleansing impact and lower the cost of
the product, the soap industry switched
from a fat base to a nonbiodegradable
detergent base—one that does not
readily break down in the normal
course of sanitary treatment. Conse-
quently, pools of froth began to cover
drinking water reservoirs, and floods
of suds frequently returned to the
household through the kitchen faucet.
We should remember that the initial
stimulus to the development of both
pesticides and detergents was a positive
one. The well-being of mankind was
to be advanced through the use of
technology. It was assumed on the one
hand, that health could be improved
by eliminating the causes of disease
and on the other hand that costs would
be reduced and convenience improved
by a switch to labor-saving but capital
and environmental intensive products
and processes. An important lesson to
our heightened ability to tinker with
be learned from the outcome is that
technology may sometimes lead to un-
expected and unfortunate results. The
likelihood of such unanticipated conse-
quences becomes all the greater as we
industrialize and our ability to manipu-
late technology increases. In our efforts
to improve on nature we sometimes
find ourselves upsetting the ecological
balance with potentially disastrous con-
sequences. Invariably the engineers
rush to our rescue with new solutions
to the new problems we have created
but in a short time we often find that
their newest solutions have in turn gen-
erated a new set of difficulties.
The balance in the future, when still
unanticipated difficulties may arise, is
even more uncertain. We must recog-
nize that as we increase our technologi-
cal ability to "compensate" for nature's
shortcomings, we are likely to find that
the potential for negative by-products
may increase even faster.
Pollution can kill
4. Finally, concern about environ-
mental disruption has attracted addi-
tional support after a sequence of seri-
ous incidents. Because medical science
has found more and more cures for
our more traditional disease-causing
enemies, we have become more prone
to other ailments. Not surprisingly
therefore, many people, especially the
elderly, find themselves becoming af-
fected more and more by pollution in
the environment, especially the air.
Thus poor air has been blamed for
cancer, pneumonia, bronchitis, emphy-
sema and tuberculosis. Scientists point
out that by breathing the air in New
York City, one inhales an amount of
cancer-producing benzopyrene equiva-
lent to smoking one or two packs of
cigarettes a day. It is further claimed
that air pollution is responsible for the
80 percent rise in deaths from respira-
tory diseases from 1930 to 1960.
Clearly delineated surges in the
death rate have been traced directly to
air pollution. Such incidents have oc-
curred in Donora, Pennsylvania, in Oc-
tober 1948 when the death of 19 and
the illness of 6,000 of the town's
13,800 citizens were blamed on smog.
Smog was also blamed in London
when the normal death rate rose by
4,000 in December 1952, and when
8,000 died prematurely in January and
February 1953. Similarly air pollution
was considered a major cause of death
in New York City in January and Feb-
ruary 1963 when there were 647 more
deaths than normal. Some scientists
also cite air pollution as a factor con-
tributing to street riots in some of our
large cities. In addition to the normally
expected discomfort, pollution is said
to generate depression and melan-
cholia. As for water pollution, in 1965
at Riverside, California, 18,000 people
were afflicted with gastroenteritis from
the town's water wells, and three ap-
parently died as a result. In Japan
forty-five residents of Minamata died
from mercury poisoning of the water
41
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in the 1950's, and 1960's. In the 1970's
fears of similar incidents spread
throughout the rest of the world as
some fish were discovered to have ex-
cessively high mercury content. Even
when no loss of life results, the mas-
sive environmental disruption that
stems from disasters such as the sink-
ing of the Torrey Canyon or the oil
spills off Santa Barbara focuses world
attention on the destruction we can
inflict on one another, and more than
anything else heightens our awareness
of the problem.
Why do polluters pollute?
It is not difficult to understand why
there is pollution of the air and water
and even the land. Moreover it is not
just industries and municipalities that
are contributors. Some of your best
friends insist on using their own septic
tanks or cesspools rather than linking
up with a public sewer system for the
disposal of household sewage. Unless
the soil conditions are suitable and the
homes are located at sufficient distance,
this could contaminate the ground
water. When did you have your last
cookout or throw a beer can on the
beach or highway? Did you ever leave
the car motor on while running an
errand?
Few people stop to consider that
they are polluters when they do such
things. And if they recognize that they
are creating some form of air, water,
or solid litter, they always say to them-
selves that their little bit of waste will
not make much difference. In addition
it would cost more to have someone
haul the trash and leaves away; it
might be prohibitively expensive to link
up a house with a sewer system. Simi-
larly, industries and municipalities fol-
low the same reasoning: it is cheaper,
it is more convenient. Economists call
the pollution which arises from such a
situation an external diseconomy. To
the polluter there never seems to be
great harm in just his little pollution,
but there may be great expense to so-
ciety as a whole when it tries to clean
up the wastes of many such polluters.
The waters are usually so plentiful
and the sky so vast that it is hard to
believe one person can cause pollution.
In fact, one person usually cannot
cause pollution; it is when there are
numerous "one persons" who all think
the same way that pollution results.
Moreover when one person pollutes,
he himself is not usually the one to
suffer or bear the expense. In fact the
private cost to the individual is most
often cheaper if he does pollute than
if he has to use expensive disposal
equipment. If the water is polluted, it
is the people downstream who are af-
fected. If the air is polluted, it is the
people in the direction of the wind.
This is an instance where the private
costs of pollution are almost always
less than the costs to the rest of society.
Pollution results from pushing off what
should be your responsibility onto
someone else who is usually anony-
mous. The effects are spread over such
a wide area and affect so many people
that generally no individual suffers
enough damage to induce him to exert
the effort needed to seek out and col-
lect from the offender. Furthremore,
the compensation that might be ob-
tained from suing the offender and
preventing future damage may not be
worth the effort and cost involved.
Environmental lawsuits
There are exceptions. This becomes
apparent if we divide the social costs
into two categories: those that fall on
the population as a whole and those
that fall primarily on other producers.
When the social cost of an operation
is spread thinly over the entire area,
no one may feel sufficiently damaged
to take corrective action. However, if
the smoke or discharged water from a
particular factory moves downwind or
downstream to an adjacent factory, the
adjacent factory may feel the effects so
severely that the polluted air or water
becomes a direct cost of operation. In
this case, the downstream or downwind
factory is more likely to take action to
force the offender to absorb and bear
his own social costs.
This can lead to some peculiar situa-
tions. The Everett Station of the Boston
42
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Edison Company draws on water from
the Mystic River for use in its boilers
and for cooling. Unfortunately, a Mon-
santo chemical plant is located slightly
upstream from the generating plant and
discharges various chemical wastes into
the Mystic River. This makes it neces-
sary for Boston Edison to provide extra
treatment for the water it uses. There-
fore Boston Edison supports all efforts
to force Monsanto to clean up its efflu-
ent. At the same time, however, until
recently Boston Edison dragged its feet
when others urged a reduction in sul-
fur and particulate content of the air
discharged from its chimney stacks. To
do this, it argued, would increase its
costs of operation.
Who's been hurt?
For the most part, however, it is usu-
ally quite difficult to assign and assess
responsibility for damages in cases of
external diseconomies. For example, if
a second factory decides to locate next
to a factory that has been polluting for
decades in splendid isolation, away
from all industry and homes, should
the original factory be made to bear
the cost of cleaning up the pollution?
Why should this factory suddenly be
made to pay for something it has been
doing for years without visible or suf-
ficient economic damage or complaint
until the neighbor moves in alongside?
Moreover if several polluters are lo-
cated along a lake or are affected by
one another's smoke when the wind
shifts, who should bear the responsi-
bility—the most recently completed
factory? Its smoke or water may have
caused the ecological system to break
down, but is it ultimately to blame? In
other words, who is responsible—all
the men who have put straw on the
camel, or just the last man before its
back is broken? Clearly it would be
unfair to compel the new firm to pur-
chase expensive pollution control
equipment and allow the older firms to
produce waste as freely as before. This
would put the new firm at a competi-
tive disadvantage and would also dis-
courage the location of new industry in
the neighborhood. Yet if the old firms
were required to buy pollution control
devices, they might move out to other
areas which were more permissive.
Similarly, factory management could
argue very persuasively that even if
hundreds of thousands of dollars were
spent to clean up wastes, the pollution
problem might still exist unless the
other firms and towns in the area were
also forced to clean up their waste.
Management would have to justify
such expenditures to stockholders who
might wonder if such expenses are war-
ranted when they add absolutely noth-
ing to sales revenues. Viewed from the
perspective of the industrial unit such
expenses are nonproductive and, if
anything, benefit primarily the down-
stream or downwind company or town.
The price system fails ...
Obviously in such circumstances the
traditional price mechanism that we
rely on to guide us in the production
and distribution of most of our natural
wealth can do nothing to solve the
problem. Normally through the market
system, prices are used to balance off
the demand pressure for a product with
all the production costs involved. In
this way goods can be purchased by
those who are willing and able to pay
a high enough price for them. This,
we say, shows that private costs equal
private benefits. It should be pointed
out that the concepts of private costs
and private benefits are not peculiar
to nonsocialist societies. They also exist
in the USSR, since Soviet enterprises
and cities are held responsible only for
thdr private costs, or charges that can
be specifically and directly assessed to
users of the input. As in the United
States, no one in the USSR has been
able to break down social costs and
attribute them precisely to their source.
And despite a faulty price system in
the USSR, when two inputs are equally
productive, the factory manager in
both the United States and the USSR
will use more of the input that is
cheaper. For example, if wages are
relatively cheaper than rents, he will
use more labor than land. In other
words, given a certain level of produc-
-------
tion, a manufacturer will use that mix
of inputs that will cost him the least.
The price a factory manager is will-
ing to pay also indicates that he usually
expects to receive at least that much
benefit from the product. Each pro-
ductive resource is used until the cost
of an additional unit is just equal to
the extra revenue that resource will
bring to the producer. When all prod-
ucts react in the same way, then the
price that must be paid for the produc-
tive resource will tend to equal the
value of the product which is produced.
If demand for a good increases, the
price will be increased. This in turn
should induce an increase in produc-
tion. Prices will rise also if the raw
materials used in the production proc-
ess become harder to find, or if work-
ers suddenly decide they would rather
work elsewhere. When the costs of
production factor inputs are increased,
the manufacturer tries to pass this on
to the consumer by raising the sale
price. It also happens in most instances
that when the cost of production rises,
it is necessary to cut back production
to make sure that there is no over-
production. Higher prices usually mean
fewer purchasers.
It is also essential, if the price sys-
tem is to function properly, that some-
one or some group control and sell or
otherwise allocate all the factors of
production. Thus, whether they be
landlords, bankers, laborers, or man-
agers, fees are collected for the use of
an input which presumably provide
proper compensation for the cost of
reproducing the article or for the rev-
enues foregone by not taking advantage
of opportunities available elsewhere. In
this way, the costs of all inputs used in
the production process are properly
identified. Thus we can say that private
benefits and costs equal social benefits
and costs since no resource is utilized
unless someone is compensated for it
at a rate which usually will reflect the
demand and supply pressure for the
good.
Who owns the air?
One of the reasons that air and
water pollution is hard to control is
that no person or organization is nor-
mally considered to be the owner of
the air and water. With few exceptions
such resources are considered to be
readily available to those who want to
use them. It is difficult to attach a
value to either clean or dirty air and
water. They are often treated as if they
are free goods.
The price system cannot be expected
to function properly, however, if the
factor inputs are priced improperly or
are not priced at all. If a factor is
overpriced, this will lead to the in-
creased price of the final product and
a reduction in the amount sold. Con-
versely, if the factor is underpriced,
then the selling price will not reflect
the full cost to society of all the inprts
that are involved, and more of tKj
good will be sold than should be. At
the same time, more of the resource
will be used in production than if only
the price of the factor properly re-
flected the alternative used to which it
might be put.
Abuse of water and air resources
comes about then largely because air
and water are undervalued. Air and
water are regarded as free goods. For
example, officials in New York City
have long resisted the plea of econo-
mists and conservationists that meters
be installed to measure all household
use of water. Since there is no eco-
nomic incentive to conserve water,
there is great waste. In other words,
no effort is made to "economize."
Without exception, the failure to attach
a proper value to something like water
results in increased consumption. When
water meters and water charges were
introduced throughout all of Philadel-
phia in 1960, water consumption de-
clined by as much as 28 percent. All
too frequently we have failed to dis-
tinguish between rain and readily avail-
able drinking water and between air
and fresh air. As one critic has said, it
is as if there had been no differentiation
between grass and milk.
The mere imposition of a fee for
the use of air and water, however, does
not guarantee an end to their irrational
44
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use. There is still the risk of excess
consumption if the fee is not directly
related to the benefits or cost of using
the water. This can best be illustrated
by an example. Assume that 100
people agree to share a phone and the
phone bill. Each person would feel
strongly tempted to make an unlimited
number of long-distance calls because
he would have to pay only one-
hundredth of the bill. Unfortunately,
each of the other participants would
feel exactly the same and the result
would be a flood of long-distance calls
and an unusually large phone bill. We
abuse our air and water resources in
exactly the same way. Even when there
is a fee for water usage and sewage
discharge, the fee is often understated
or subsidized with income from some
other source. If, however, the price of
water were increased, it would become
a more valuable commodity and there-
fore more care would be taken to uti-
lize it efficiently.
The social costs of pollution:
Because they are generally consid-
ered to be nonmarketable products, it
is difficult to evaluate the costs of pol-
luting water and air. Cost in this con-
text refers to the damage that arises
because of environmental disruption;
the question of how much it would
cost to remedy environmental disrup-
tion will be considered next.
Cost estimates of damage caused by
pollution are hard to make. Various
estimates are tossed around, but gener-
ally they are not based on solid re-
s;arch or calculation. Moreover once
a figure is suggested by someone, it is
often grabbed by everyone else until
gradually it is accepted as the basic
truth. In time the original source and
the qualifications surrounding the cal-
culation are forgotten and only the
basic figure remains. Yet before there
can ever be a workable solution to the
pollution problem, some estimate of the
cost of the damage from pollution must
be made so that proper values can be
assigned to air and water. The task is
made even more complex because so
many things affected by pollution—
swimming in a river or smelling clean
air—are impossible to price. Even
when pricing the damages is no im-
pediment, a decision must nonetheless
be made as to how far back the re-
searcher should go in counting up the
damages. Does one include just the
primary effects or the secondary and
tertiary damage as well? If smoggy air
necessitates the closing of an airport,
should one count not only the loss in
revenue from the inability of planes to
fly but also the business transactions
that were not consummated because
salesmen were unable to reach waiting
buyers?
Delayed impacts
It also happens frequently that dam-
age arising out of some act only be-
comes apparent years later. For ex-
amph, it has taken about twenty years
for us to realize the extent of the harm
caused by the use of DDT. We should
reckon from the first use of the in-
secticide if a proper accounting of the
costs is to be made. Also it is not
always easy to ascribe correctly an eco-
nomic loss to pollution. A house in a
factory district may be priced low but
how much of this is due to pollution
and how much of it is due to environ-
mental factors which might also exist
in the area? Finally, how much crime
and other abuses are due to pollution
which hastens the exit of more socially
responsible elements of the population?
There are countless illustrations of
the difficulty of providing a measure
of the cost of pollution damage. Be-
cause of emission of industrial waste
into Lake Michigan from Chicago's
South Side, it was necessary to close
several beaches on the lake in 1965
and 1966. It turned out that Blacks
were the predominant users of two or
three of these beaches. When the in-
dustrial and municipal polluters com-
plained about the cost of an accelerated
cleanup schedule, federal authorities re-
plied that failure to reopen the beaches
might touch off race riots. Such riots
would be directly attributable to the
withdrawal of recreation facilities be-
cause of the pollution, and the blame
45
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would rest squarely on the shoulders
of the polluters. Whatever the material
costs that might have resulted from the
damage and the additional costs neces-
sitated by travel expenditures to other
swimming sites, and the building of
substitute swimming pools, the pollut-
ers apparently agreed that there were
also political and public relations costs
involved which more than justified ex-
pensive remedies. The accelerated
cleanup program was accepted.
Other costs of water pollution should
include estimates of the damage suf-
fered by the fish industry. The shellfish
industry is claimed to have suffered a
$45 million loss because water pollu-
tion in tideland areas led to the spread
of hepatitis through the clam and oy-
ster beds. Estimates can also be col-
lected of the losses suffered as a result
of the destruction of sword- and tuna-
fish arising from the mercury poisoning
scare of 1970 and 1971. Tons of such
fish were ordered withheld from sale
and untold monetary losses resulted
from price reductions caused by cus-
tomers' avoidance of the uncontami-
nated fish on the shelves.
The price of life
Many other estimates of cost must
be handled in an equally arbitrary fash-
ion. What value should be placed on
the premature death of an engineer
from asthma ineducd by polluted air?
Is a retired engineer who dies worth
as much? What is the cost to society
of "blue babies" who suffer from meth-
emoglobinemia? This results when oxy-
gen is boiled off from polluted water
used to make baby formulas so that
what remains contains increased quan-
tities of nitrogen, which has an adverse
effect on the stomach and bladder.
What is the cost of mercury poison-
ing? How does one determine the value
of the 116 Japanese citizens who were
paralyzed or killed by mercury poison-
ing at Minamata? In addition to the
expenses of medical care, should we
also calculate the loss in earning power
of pollution victims in the years to
come?
Somewhat less tenuous but still arbi-
trary are the estimates of the losses due
to plant closings or relocations because
of pollution. Even more questionable
are the estimates of the losses from
industries which decide not to locate
in an area because of pollution. For
places like New York City, these are
vital but obviously difficult questions to
evaluate. Estimates of this nature have
been made to show that the benefit to
Pittsburgh of clean air would offset the
costs involved in trying to clean it.
Whatever losses due to industries that
left Pittsburgh because they could no
longer use the skies as sewers were
more than offset by other industries
and institutions newly attracted to or
contented to remain in a cleaner Pitts-
burgh. Today Pittsburgh is a city with
a revitalized economy. Moreover what
was once America's smokiest city now
has air quality that is comparable to
most American cities of its size.
Measurable economic losses
A specific case of air pollution's ef-
fect on the costs of operation of a firm
is illustrated by what happened to the
companies that fill air tanks for scuba
divers in New York City. Public health
officials suddenly realized that the air
tank companies were compressing pol-
luted New York City air into their
tanks. It was bad enough for those who
have to breathe New York air in more
relaxed circumstances, but to have to
breathe it in concentrated form several
feet under water was obviously danger-
ous. Accordingly, the New York City
Air Pollution Control Act of May,
1966, prohibits the sale or distribution
of compressed air tanks for under-
water breathing use without special
permits. The cost of air pollution in
this case could be measured by ascer-
taining how many compressed air com-
panies have been forced to close their
doors and how much existing firms
have had to spend in new equipment
necessitated by the new law.
In the same category of cost esti-
mates is the loss to the optical industry
that comes from the difficulty of sell-
ing contact lenses in a city like New
York. Doctors there have found that it
46
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is extremely dangerous for their pa-
tients to wear contact lenses for any
length of time because of the possibil-
ity of lacerations to the eye. Specks of
dirt and ash are periodically caught
between the retina and the lens. Pre-
sumably the loss entailed from this
could be calculated by determining the
per capita use of contact lenses in other
less polluted cities and then comparing
this with similar ratios in New York
City. To this should also be added the
cost of eye surgery necessitated by
pollution.
Attempts have also been made to
evaluate any additional living costs for
a family in an air-polluted area. In one
of the few systematic studies ever
made, Irving T. Michelson of Consum-
er's Union in New York City estimated
that a family owning its own home in
New York paid over $800 (or $200
per person) more a year than a family
located in a less polluted area. He esti-
mated that families living in apart-
ments pay on the average of over $400
more. This includes added expenditures
for household maintenance—extra
painting, cleaning and washing, extra
laundry bills—and extra medical ex-
penses, replacement of clothing, fewer
sunlight hours, and lower real estate
values.
Michelson's figures may be a little
high compared to $65, the figure most
commonly cited as the cost of air pol-
lution pre capita in the United States.
Unfortunately no one really knows
whether Michelson is high, low or in
the middle. One of the most embar-
rassing acknowledgements that econo-
mists studying environmental disrup-
tion should make (and often don't) is
that so few studies have been made of
the cost of air or water pollution. Some
economists have tried to determine the
effect of air pollution on land values,
and one or two pioneering efforts to
detremine costs have been made, but
the results so far suggest that no one
need worry that the subject has been
exhausted.1
Analysis or guestimation?
The estimates of losses endured be-
cause of environmental disruption are
not much better than estimates of the
cost to eliminate environmental disrup-
tion. Almost all the same statistical
hazards also apply here, and there are
also several extra pitfalls. First, there
is confusion between the costs required
to construct an adequate treatment sys-
tem and the costs of operating that
system—often the figures are used with-
out making distinction. Second, it is
not always clear just what the elimina-
tion of environmental disruption would
mean. Thus when speaking of water
treatment, is the goal secondary treat-
ment or the more elaborate tertiary
treatment? Primary treatment of one
thousand gallons of water with re-
moval of one-third of the Biochemical
Oxygen Demand (BOD) costs about
3-40 per thousand gallons.2 (For a defi-
nition of BOD and an explanation of
what is involved in the various stages
of treatment, see the Goldman and
Shoop article in Part 1.)* Secondary
and primary treatment of a similar
quantity of water, in which 90 percent
of the BOD and about one-third of the
nitrogen and one-third of the phos-
phates are removed, costs about
15-200 Another 15-200 must be added
for the tertiary treatment of water, so
that total costs amount to 30-400 per
thousand gallons.3 But we are a long
way from reaching the goal of even
secondary treatment in the United
States. Currently the homes of 70 per-
cent of our population are served by
some kind of sewer system. However
the sewage from about 7 percent of
these homes (involving 10 million
people) is discharged directly into our
water courses as raw sewage. Only
about 43 percent of the American
population (about 85 million people)
is served by secondary sewage systems.
Where nature's way won't work
For many people living in isolated
areas there is no need for secondary
* This is a reference to Part I of the
original publication of this article: CON-
TROLLING POLLUTION: The Econom-
ics of a Cleaner America.
47
-------
treatment or even for sewers. A septic
tank or even an outhouse may ade-
quately treat such waste if the site is
isolated enough. (In effect, this is na-
ture's way.) As people continue to
crowd into urban areas, however, the
need for sewers and secondary treat-
ment grows. Thz Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Agency (now the Water
Quality Office) estimates that by 1974,
90 percent of our urban population
will need secondary sewage systems.
To bring us up to that level, expendi-
tures of over $10 billion in water treat-
ment plants (exclusive of land costs)
and over $6 billion in sewers will be
required during the years 1970-74." To
separate storm and household sewers
could cost anywhere from $15 to $50
billion.5 Construction of secondary
treatment facilities for industrial wastes
will require close to another $5 billion,
and control of sediment and acid
drainage from mines could require
from $2 to $5 billion. To control ther-
mal pollution (overheating the water
by discharging water used for cooling)
will cost yet another $2 billion al-
though heightened standards may soon
necessitate a figure as large as $4 bil-
lion. This would bring the total in-
vestment required for industry to some-
thing like $9 and $14 billion. Total
capital requirements for secondary
treatment of water therefore will prob-
ably range between $40 and $80 bil-
lion. The Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Administration estimates that an-
nual operating costs for all these facili-
ties would reach almost $2 billion for
municipal plants, $3.5 billion for in-
dustrial plants, and about $1 billion
for thermal processes.
If we were forced to move to ter-
tiary treatment, the total for all con-
struction costs in Table II would prob-
ably jump from $40 billion to about
$90 billion. Even if very few Ameri-
can cities decide to move to tertiary
treatment and only a few spend the
money to separate storm and house-
hold sewers, it is still easy to see why
some authorities estimate the ultimate
cost at close to $100 billion.'
Costs to producers
It is necessary to remember that not
all of this expense is incurred at the
treatment end of the process. Large
sums of money will also have to be
spent periodically by manufacturers to
alter their product mixes to make them
less destructive to the environment.
For example, it is calculated that the
shift to soft or biodegradable deter-
gents cost the chemical and soap indus-
try over $100 million. Such a move
was ordered in Germany in October
1964, and later adopted by individual
American states like Wisconsin because
more and more sewage plants found
they could not eliminate the growing
sea of suds in their sewage. Finally in
July 1965, the whole American chemi-
cal industry started to make detergents
out of linear alkylate sulfonite instead
of the hard alkyl benzine sulfonite,
that could not be decomposed easily
in most sewage treatment plants.
About five years later the soap manu-
facturers were faced with the need to
spend millions of dollars more to make
another set of changes. This time the
focus was on the reduction of phos-
phates in the detergents. The usual
secondary treatment system is unable
to remove sufficient quantities of phos-
phates from the water. Since phos-
phates are also used as fertilizer, the
discharge of large quantities of phos-
phates into the water has had the ef-
fect of stimulating the rapid growth
of aquatic plant life. This has increased
the spread of algae and seaweed, which
in turn eat up the oxygen in the water,
hasten the formation of swamps, and
accelerate the demise of the water
course. (Technically this is called eu-
trophication. What is happening to
Lake Erie is a prime example.) While
one solution to this problem would be
to build tertiary treatment plants across
the country, the cheaper approach is
elimination or reduction of the phos-
phates at the soap factory before they
even enter the sewers. Nonetheless the
search for a suitable substitute and the
alteration of the production process
will seriously affect an industry which
48
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TABLE II: The Costs of Air, Water and Solid Pollution Control for the Years
1970-74 (in billions of dollars)
Total
Construction
Costs
Annual
Operating
Costs
A. Water Treatment Costs
(Secondary Treatment
1. Household sewage
a. Treatment plants ,
b. Sewers
Sewer separation
Industry
a. Industry treatment costs
b. Sediment & acid drainage costs
c. Thermal pollution
Total Secondary Treatment
Tertiary Treatment
B. Air Pollution
1. Stationary sources
2. Automobile pollution
C. Solid Waste
Total Pollution Control
(Secondary Water Treatment Only)
$10
$6
$16
$16
$15-$50
$5
$2-$5
$2-$4
$9-$ 14
$40-$80
$90-$ 100
$2
$3.5
$1
$6.5
$8-$10($50-$100)*
$.3-$2
$2-$3.5
$l-$2
$l-$3
$50495
$3-$8
$12-$20
does a business of about $4 billion a
year. Similar examples of how money
for pollution control has been spent be-
fore the product was produced, rather
than on the treatment of the resulting
effluent, can be found in the produc-
tion of paper, where manufacturers
stopped using the sulphite process and
switched to the sulphate process.
Manufacturing fresh water
Another way to calculate the cost
of eliminating water pollution is to see
how much it would cost to manufac-
ture fresh water. This presumably
would represent the outer limit of pos-
sible coSts, but in some areas reproc-
essed water is the only alternative
source available. Therefore the cost of
such reprocessing might serve at least
as the upper limit for the value of the
water, even though such estimates do
not measure the cost of pollution di-
rectly. This may be a fairer estimate
of the cost of polluting the water, since
the practice otherwise is to set the
price of fresh water at the amount
necessary to cover only the operating
costs of the well. Such a system fails
to make allowance for the fact that the
well may be slowly going dry, as is
often the case in the West.
Traditionally attention has been fo-
cused on the cost of refining sea water.
Given present technology, this is quite
expensive. The best desalinization
plants can almost produce drinking
water at a cost of one dollar per
thousand gallons. The facility at the
United States Naval Base in Guan-
tanamo, Cuba, produces one thousand
gallons for $1.16. This is a consider-
able improvement over the $14 per
thousand gallons that water desaliniza-
tion cost in 1952. At one time it was
hoped that with the aid of special sub-
sidies, an atomic-powered desaliniza-
tion plant could be built to serve Los
49
-------
Angeles. It was assumed that the sub-
sidies, combined with the revenue
from the sale of electric power, would
make it possible to price water at about
27$ per thousand gallons. In late 1970,
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. intro-
duced a reverse osmosis system that
costs from 25-650 per thousand gal-
lons depending on the salinity of the
water and the scale of the desaliniza-
tion plant. Yet unless special subsidies
are provided, as was contemplated in
Los Angeles, it is unlikely that de-
salinated water will be cheap enough
to compete with the normal cost of
well or reservoir water which averages
about 150 per thousand gallons. How-
ever if the cost of sewage treatment is
added in, the total cost is closer to
about 230 per thousand gallons. Some
authorities have argued that this cost
disparity between fresh water and de-
salinated water will always exist be-
cause scientists are misdirecting their
attention toward desalinization. Instead
such critics urge that more effort be
devoted to reusing sewage water. Sew-
age often has only 1 percent impurities
while sea water has about 3 percent
impurities and therefore is harder to
clean.
Getting rid of sewage
A related problem is the disposal
of sewage water. In some areas there
is no convenient body of water that
can be used as a dumping ground for
a city's sewage. This is the problem
at Lake Tahoe. If the lake, one of
nature's purest, is not to be used as
a sewer itself, some other repository
must be found. Unfortunately there
are no other outlets available in the
area so plans have been drawn up to
pump the sewage several miles over
the mountains. Conservationists in the
USSR have argued for a similar ar-
rangement to dispose of effluent from
the paper plants on Lake Baikal, but
to no avail. The Russian authorities
simply argue that it is too expensive.
Santee, California, also had a dis-
posal problem. A treatment plant was
built and the water was then further
purified by being run over a dried-up
50
riverbed. After a mile of this natural
filtration, the water was stored in
small artificial lakes stocked with fish
and opened to boating. Although un-
fit for drinking, some of the water
is being sold to golf courses for wa-
tering the grass. The price is \1i per
thousand gallons, which is cheaper
than fresh water. Since some nutri-
ents are probably still left in the wa-
ter, this may actually turn out to be a
bargain since the water can aso be
used as a fertilizer.
Estimates of eliminating air pollu-
tion are even more complicated. Pro-
jected operating costs range from
$300 million a year to $2 billion and
capital costs over the five years from
$8 to $10 billion.7 According to the
maximum forecast, that would mean
capital expenditure of slightly less
than $100 billion by the year 2000.
Twenty billion dollars is probably a
much more reasonable figure. But these
cost figures only cover emissions from
stationary sources. Currently, the great-
est source of air pollution in many
cities is the automobile. A variety of
solutions for reducing emissions from
the internal combustion engine have
been suggested. They include every-
thing from outlawing the combustion
engine itself to eliminating gasoline
with lead. The cost of the cure varies
with the severity of the remedy. There
seems to be some agreement (this may
merely be a sign that everyone is re-
peating the original estimate) that
proper control equipment and the
elimination of leaded gasoline would
result in a 10 percent yearly increase
in the cost of operating an automobile.
The cost per car would be about $30
a year based on the average per capita
expenditure of $300 a year that Amer-
icans spend on their automobiles. For
the country as a whole, the total an-
nual outlay could range from $2 to
$3.5 billion.
Another cause of air pollution is
the jet airplane. Generally airlines
claim that they contribute only 1 per-
cent of the nation's air pollution. How-
ever, the amount of jet pollution va-
ries from city to city and neighbor-
J. 528-735—(P.O. 32)
-------
hood, depending on proximity to the
airport. New York City reportedly re-
ceives one and a half tons of air pollu-
tants a day. As a result of new laws
instituted by officials in New Jersey
and Chicago, which now allow state
officials to exact fines as high as $5,000
for planes which violate exhaust stand-
ards, the airlines have agreed to curb
their exhaust emission by 1972. Ini-
tially airline officials claimed this would
cost $30 million. Subsequently they
lowered their estimates to $12-$ 15
million.
Benefits from clean air, water
Although it is not indicated in Table
II, it is necessary to remember that
some of the cost incurred in reducing
water and air emission will be offset by
savings that come with cleaner air and
water. One benefit of cleaner air would
be a reduction in cleaning bills and
medical expenses. Another saving will
result from increased utilization of the
by-products of combustion. This will
permit greater recycling of nature's re-
sources and will mean less exploitation
of new resources. It is estimated that
approximately 23 million tons of sulfur
dioxide are discarded into the air each
year as part of the combustion process.
If recovered this could provide about
5 million tons of sulfur or 15 million
tons of sulfuric acid. Although the
price of sulfur has fallen in recent
years so that recovery is less attractive
than it once was, such a program of
resource reuse would virtually satisfy
the entire demand for some sulfur
compounds.
Institution of $50 to $100 billion
worth of air quality controls over the
next few decades would not mean the
elimination of all air pollution, nor
of the costs that arise from it. Never-
theless, substantial savings could be
realized and therefore used to defray
the cost of the annual expenses en-
visaged as necessary to clean up the
air. This could go a long way if not
all the way toward offsetting the annual
$5 to $13.5 billion in operating ex-
penses that would be needed to curb
air pollution as indicated in Table II.
The cost estimates for solid waste
disposal are somewhat less complicated
but still something less than precise.
They are less complicated because in
the present state of the art, the tech-
nology is even more primitive than it
is in water and air treatment. Usually
solid waste disposal involves nothing
more than an incinerator and often
just an empty field and a fleet of dump
trucks. Sophistication may mean noth-
ing more than an automobile shredder
which may cost $3 million. Under the
circumstances, the capital expenditures
required for solid waste disposal are
negligible compared to the investment
required for air and water treatment.
Thus to dispose of the estimated 5
pounds a day in household waste dis-
carded by an average American, the
major costs are collection, transporta-
tion and disposal. It is estimated this
amounts to from $3 billion to $8 bil-
lion a year.
Bottom line: about $100 billion
It is unlikely that the exaggerations
have balanced the understatements of
these various estimates. Consequently
combining the sums of the different
construction projects and operating
costs makes it doubtful that the un-
certainties stressed above have been
eliminated. Having gone this far how-
ever, we might just as well add them
together to have a rough picture of
how much they would all cost. The
overall total of the different projects
indicates that reducing environmental
disruption could cost anywhere from
about $50 billion to something ap-
proaching $100 billion. Annual op-
erating costs would probably range
from about $12 to $20 billion. These
operating costs amount to approximate-
ly 1 to 2 percent of the annual GNP
and 4 to 7 percent of the value of our
industrial, agricultural, mining, and
transportation output. Construction
costs average about 3 to 7 percent for
industry but may total more than 10
percent of the capital costs of some
projects.
It is necessary to reemphasize that
all such calculations are imprecise.
51
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Even if it is assumed that we know
what standards we want to attain, it
is still hard to project meaningful fig-
ures. Treatment technology is as yet
relatively primitive. Technological
breakthroughs could reduce costs sig-
nificantly. Moreover, the estimates will
be affected by what happens to popu-
lation growth and concentration. If
population increases, so will costs, It
will also depend on what new indus-
trial processes complicate existing
treatment methods. Care must also be
exercised in judging cost estimates be-
cause there is a tendency to overstate
costs. Sometimes this is done by those
who feel that the only way to obtain
action is to create a crisis atmosphere.
Regrettably, too often it takes a scan-
dal or crisis before public support for
meaningful programs can be obtained.
At other times the costs are exagger-
ated for just the opposite reasons: to
discourage pressure for change and
also to win admiration for the expendi-
tures already made. This is under-
standable, since almost everyone agrees
that pollution control expenditures
usually add nothing to profits. On the
contrary, they generally result in di-
minished profits for industry (except
for the producers of pollution control
equipment) and in higher taxes.
Man's work or nature's?
Finally, it is difficult to determine
how much man must do to clean up
his water and air. Up to a certain
point, water courses and air sheds
have a natural self-cleaning power.
This regenerative process has served
admirably for the last several thou-
sand years. It breaks down, however,
when a threshold is passed and the
amount of newly added dirty water and
air suddenly overtaxes nature's cleans-
ing capacity. The question that arises
is how much should we expect nature
to do on its own and how much
should we require man to spend to
facilitate the process? In some cases,
man's help is a necessity; in other
cases it is unnecessary. Deciding
where nature's work ends and man's
work begins is not easy.
One of the greatest challenges open
to an economist today is to make a
careful study of the effects of pollu-
tion. Unfortunately neither exaggera-
tion nor understatement will ordinarily
advance the long-run cause of those
who seek reliable economic data. Until
there are reliable estimates of dam-
age, no appropriate value can be at-
tributed to clean air and water. And,
as long as the cost of clean air and
water is undervalued, they will be used
wastefully and irrationally.
Some critics have argued that the
only long-run solution to environmen-
tal disruption is to call a halt to in-
dustrialization and economic growth.
They argue that it is our fetish growth
that has caused such abuse to nature.
To some extent they are right. Indus-
trialization is like cooking an omelette.
There is no way to avoid cracking
eggs. Not only is this hard on the
egg, but we then have the shells to
dispose of. Yet it is unrealistic to ex-
pect that many people will agree to
forego their expectations of increased
comforts, much less give up existing
comforts.
Notes for
Paper 3
' Robert E. Kohn, "Evaluating Air Qual-
ity Standards by Comparing Abatement
and Damage Trade-offs Between Pollutj
ants," mimeographed, paper presented at
Winter Meeting of the Econometric So-
ciety, December 8, 1969; Robert J. Ander-
son, Jr. and Thomas D. Crocker, "Air
Pollution and Residential Property Val-
ues," mimeographed, paper presented at
Winter Meetings of the Econometric So-
ciety, December 28, 1969.
3 Fred Singer, "Environmental Quality;
When Does Growth Become Too Expen-
sive?" mimeographed paper presented in
the Symposium "Is There an Optimum
Level of Population?" American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science, Bos-
ton, Mass., December 1969, p. 13.
3 Ibid.; Gene Bylinsky, "The Limited
War on Pollution," Fortune, February
1970, pp. 104-5, 194.
' Federal Water Pollution Control Ad-
ministration, U.S. Department of the In-
52
-------
terior, The Cost of Clean Water, Summary
Report, Vol. I (Washington, D.C.: Gov-
ernment Printing Office, March 1970), pp.
5-8.
5 A system of holding tanks for the tem-
porary storage of storm water overflows
might obviate the need to construct sepa-
rate sewers. This would cost a mere $15
billion. (See ibid.; also New York Times,
February 25, 1970, p. 59; Fortune, Feb-
ruary 1970, p. 195.)
6 New York Times, March 17, 1970, pg.
29. CEQ Environmental Quality, Second
Annual Report (Washington, D.C.: Gov-
ernment Printing Office, August 1971), pp.
Ill, 123. The CEQ's cost estimates for
1970-75 are slightly lower than ours would
be if extended to 1975.
'Committee on Public Works, United
States Senate, On Pollution, 1967. (Air
Quality Act) S. 780, Part 3 (Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office), p.
1361; Fortune, February 1970, p. 123;
James J. Hanks and Harold D. Kube, "In-
dustry Action to Combat Pollution," Har-
vard Business Review, September-October
1966, p. 57; The Working Committee on
Economic Incentives, Cost Sharing With
Industry? (Revised) (Washington, D.C.:
Room 325, Executive Office Building, No-
vember 20, 1967), p. 21, CEQ Second
Annual Report, p. 111.
53
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11.4 Residuals &
environmental
management
BlairT. Bower*
Environmental resources have one
feature in common: they are subject to
congestion. In a low-density or eco-
nomically undeveloped setting, an addi-
tional user of the natural environment
may well impose essentially no cost on
other users. As the density of develop-
ment and the level of output increase,
in the face of finite environmental re-
sources, each additional user will im-
pose additional costs associated with
congestion on other users. This condi-
tion is termed an "externality" by
economists—that is, the additional user
does not take into account the costs
he imposes on others in his decision to
use a common property resource. Be-
cause there are no prices on the services
rendered by the environmental media
and since they cannot be exchanged
between buyers and sellers in a market
context, the usual mechanism in a mar-
ket economy is not effective in limiting
the use of environmental resources.
This leads to excessive use of the nat-
ural environment, with resulting envi-
ronmental "pollution," and the necessity
for collective or public management.1
The same failure to consider the finite
assimilative capacity of the environment
has resulted in overuse and environ-
mental pollution in non-market econo-
mies as well.
One of the major problems for en-
vironmental management stems from
*Blair T. Bower is Associate Director
and Research Engineer, Quality of the
Environment Program, Resources for the
Future, Washington, D.C.
Reprinted by permission of the Ameri-
can Institute of Planners from Journal of
the American Institute of Planners, Vol.
37, No. 4 (July 1971), pp. 218-220.
the use of the environment for the dis-
position of residuals, the "leftovers"
from production and so-called con-
sumption activities. There are, of
course, other aspects of the environ-
ment as a common property resource
which do not involve residuals, but
rather involve the direct effects of eco-
nomic activities on the use of the
environment. Examples are the impacts
of the design and location of transmis-
sion lines, billboards, highways, and
other transportation facilities on the
testhetic appearance of the landscape;
modification or elimination of unique
historical, scenic, and ecological re-
sources by man's activities; and the
direct impacts of mining and forestry
activities on the visual qualities of the
landscape and hence on other uses.'
Only the residuals aspect of environ-
mental management will be considered
here.
Residuals and the environment
Residuals, operationally defined,
comprise—at a given point in time—the
difference in weight and energy between
the fuel, food, and raw material inputs
to production and so-called consump-
tion activities, and the outputs of those
activities. Among the outputs are serv-
ices such as heat and light; durable and
nondurable consumer goods; the liquid,
solid, and gaseous residuals which are
not yet recycled into production; and
energy residuals such as waste heat and
noise.
Several "facts of life" with respect to
residuals must be understood. First, the
generation of residuals is pervasive; all
human activities result in the generation
of material and energy residuals. In
fact there are no "consumption goods."
So-called consumption goods eventual-
ly become residuals—junked cars, dis-
carded furniture, demolition materials
from urban redevelopment. Goods
which have traditionally been labeled as
being "consumed," in reality only ren-
der services temporarily. Their material
substance remains in existence and must
either be reused or eventually dis-
charged into the environment, the only
two methods of disposition possible.
54
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The law of conservation of mass cannot
be denied.
An important corollary stems from
this first fact of life. Prohibiting the
discharge of all residuals into the envi-
ronment—in effect placing an infinite
value on "virgin" environmental quality
—would make production of goods and
services impossible, because no physical
process is totally efficient.3 Even in
an economy in which total reuse were
practiced, an economy which is simply
impossible on a planetary scale, the
energy requirements for physical recov-
ery and reprocessing of residuals for
reuse inevitably produce at least one
unavoidable residual—heat.
The second fact of life is that there
are physical, technologic, and economic
interrelationships between the two ma-
jor types of residuals—material and
energy—and among the various forms
of material residuals—gaseous, liquid,
solid.' Efficient and equitable residuals
management cannot be achieved by
dealing separately with individual resid-
uals or individual environmental "me-
dia." Air quality management, water
quality management, and solid residuals
management should not be approached
as separate activities.
The third fact of life is that the incre-
mental costs of removing additional
quantities of residuals prior to discharge
into the environment increase very
rapidly as 100 percent removal is ap-
proached.5 The cost of removing the
last increment of a residual is substan-
tially higher than the cost of removing
the first increment. It must be remem-
bered that the traditional so-called
waste treatment processes merely modi-
fy the original forms of residuals. These
processes themselves require inputs of
materials and energy and result in the
generation of residuals. Essentially the
objective of such processes is to modify
the form of residuals to other material
or energy residuals which presumably
have less adverse impacts on environ-
mental quality and on those exposed to
the environment. Thus, it is clearly im-
possible to prevent completely the dis-
charge of residuals.
The fourth fact of life is that all
production and consumption activities
utilize the assimilative capacity of the
land, air, and water environments.
While the services rendered by these
environments are essential inputs into
these activities, traditionally, no prices
have been placed on these factor in-
puts. Hence, far more of them have
been used than would be the case if the
damages stemming from their use were
properly taken into account through
pricing. An optimal level of use would
result under the proper pricing of en-
vironmental assimilative capacity.
Residuals and social choices
Having described the role of the
environment in providing residuals as-
similation services, we can consider
some of the salient issues and the
societal choices they reflect.
First, the driving force of the resid-
uals problem stems from the prolifera-
tion of goods and services "demanded"
by an affluent society. The "throw
away" philosophy has important im-
plications for residuals-environmental
quality management. Thus, to produce
a specified set of goods and services,
the total materials throughput necessary
—and hence the quantity of residuals
generated—decreases as the efficiency
of utilization, including reuse, increases
and the useful lifetime of goods in-
creases. The longer machinery, cars,
buildings, and other "durables" last,
the fewer new materials are required to
compensate for depreciation and/or to
sustain a given rate of capital accumu-
lation; consequently fewer residuals are
generated in total. The same is true
with respect to energy production—the
more efficient combustion and energy
generation processes are, the fewer
residuals will be generated for a given
energy output.
Second, there are many alternatives
for handling reisduals and for affecting
environmental quality. These involve
policy decisions relating to types of raw
materials permitted for use in produc-
tion processes, types of product outputs
permitted, pricing policies relating to
55
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residuals discharges, location of eco-
nomic activities in space, levels of en-
vironmental quality desired, distribution
of costs of improving environmental
quality, and specifications relating to
methods for handling residuals (such
as requiring specific levels of "waste
treatment" rather than specifying a per-
mitted quantity of discharge or estab-
lishing an effluent charge on each unit
of residual discharge).
Third, environmental quality varies
both in time and space, because of time
variations in assimilative capacity of the
various environmental media and in
generaton and discharge of residuals.
Failure to consider the time and spatial
variations of assimilative capacity can
double, or more than double, the costs
of achieving a desired level of quality.
Fourth, some types of residuals-en-
vironmental quality management poli-
cies can have significant economic im-
pacts beyond the particular area or
legion in which the policies are applied
to residuals dischargers. For example, it
has been estimated that requiring the
use of low-sulfur coals to reduce sulfur
dioxide discharges could result in the
unemployment of 25,000 to 40,000
miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois,
and Indiana—at least in the short run.
Fifth, because environmental quality
is comprised of a "mix" of elements, or
environmental quality indices, and be-
cause not all the benefits corresponding
to different levels of each index of en-
vironmental quality can be estimated,
what is an optimal mix of environ-
mental quality considering the range of
residuals which affect the various en-
vironmental media and their users? Is a
mix involving a reduction in liquid and
gaseous residuals by 85 percent, lower-
ing the intensity of background noise
by 25 percent, and reducing the visi-
bility and proximity of solid residuals
by 50 percent better than, as good as,
or not as good as a "mix" represented
by reductions of 50 percent, 50 percent,
25 percent, respectively—or any other
combination?
Decisions and choices within the en-
vironmental sector are linked to deci-
sions and choices in other sectors of the
economy. Just as there are limited en-
vironmental resources, so there are lim-
ited human and capital resources.
Environmental planning and manage-
ment must explicitly recognize this
allocation problem and seek to articu-
late the multiple trade-offs among
societal values involved.
Notes for
Paper 4
1 Manmade facilities, such as most road-
ways, bridges, and public recreation spaces,
take on similar common property or col-
lective good aspects, including congestion,
as long as access to them is not controlled
by property rights.
2 These activities also typically result in
the generation and discharge of residuals.
3 It should be emphasized that the dis-
charge of a residual into one or more of
the environmental media does not in-
evitably result in a change in environmen-
tal quality. Nor do all changes in environ-
mental quality have adverse effects.
4 Water-borne, air-borne, and land de-
posited is another system of classifying
residuals. Here again there are interrela-
tionships. For example, some air-borne re-
siduals are deposited on land and/or on
water courses via "washout" from the at-
mosphere.
6 For discussion of this point, see,
Kneese, A. V., and B. T. Bower. (1968)
Managing Water Quality: Economics,
Technology and Institutions (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins), pp. 44-62.
56
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11.5 A Local
government
administra-
tor view of
environmental
management
Charles T.Henry*
Awareness or perceptions of com-
munity objectives, "critical environ-
mental needs," and alternative strate-
gies for improving the environment
vary enormously among communities
and their leaders. The leadership for
ghetto residents might seek better em-
ployment opportunities, other family
income sources, better schools, elimi-
nation of delapidated buildings, and
improved housing, while the leadership
for affluent communities want hand-
some public facilities, physically at-
tractive neighborhoods, and elaborate
housekeeping and leisure time services
provided with maximum efficiency to
their citizens. Both may seek safe and
healthy environments.
The word, "environment," by re-
ferring to everything around us, covers
enormous territory. Discussions of "en-
vironmental management" often limit
the subject to the physical environ-
ment, including air and water pollu-
tion, solid and liquid waste disposal
systems, and resource recovery. Each
of these are likely to be concerns of
city managers and other local chief
executives. Even while defining envir-
onment in the narrowest terms, one
cannot ignore other interdependent
*CharIes T. Henry is City Manager,
University City, Missouri. His article was
prepared for this volume.
features such as the economic health of
communities and their capacity (peo-
ple, legal, and financial resources) to
combat environmental problems. Most,
if not all, of the daily concerns of city
administrators relate to some broadly
defined aspect of the urban environ-
ment, be it routine city services oper-
ations, utility operations, community
development, people-problem solving,
or even funding policies.
Local administrators as
chief environmental officer
Generally, local administrators have
tended to act as the guardians of their
respective municipal environments and
might be described as the chief en-
vironmental officer for their respective
communities. Traditionally, they have
sought to improve urban environ-
ments mainly by providing better pub-
lic "housekeeping" and beautification
services, by seeking better public facil-
ities and by working for more effective
regulation through municipal codes en-
forcement. At other times, however,
they have given priority to improving
their communities' economic environ-
ment either by supporting road build-
ing, more highrise buildings, or indus-
try. This has been done perhaps to the
long-term detriment of the rural en-
vironment.
In general, local administrators tend
to be pitted against special interest
groups on behalf of the total com-
munity's interest. Other times, their
efforts have been directed at citizen
apathy or lack of understanding, and
corresponding taxpayer resistance to
pay for community betterment, as in
the case of a bond issue for sewage
facilities. Improving the environment,
at the local level, depends on the diffi-
cult policy questions associated with
determining who pays for what, when,
how much, and for whose short or long
term bjnefit. It is largely a matter of
making the trade-offs vital to most po-
litical processes.
Obstacles to cleaning up
Managing the urban environment
might be denned as securing the best
57
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quality of life from the resources at
hand. The local government admin-
istrator must contend with (1) finan-
cial obstacles; and (2) interjurisdic-
tional problems; (3) legal inhibitions,
rooted in state and local law; and (4)
inadequate technology. Often these
obstacles may be a matter of econom-
ics and politics. For example, "inade-
quate technology" may actually mean
that local decision-makers are unwilling
to pay the current price for existing
technology.
Although confronted by numerous
obstacles, the local government ad-
ministrator is faced with expanding
opportunities and obligations to meet
the environmental challenges. First, the
ecology movement, in addition to fo-
cusing public attention on possible fu-
ture world-wide disasters, has contrib-
uted greatly to making "John Q. Citi-
zen" aware of his own community's
environmental deficiencies. Although
this heightened awareness may have
complicated the lives of many local
administrators, their struggles for a
healthier, more attractive, and nuis-
ance-free urban environment have
gained many new allies in the process.
These range from "grandma eco-
freaks" to eager school children seek-
ing environmental projects. Public
agencies at all levels of government
and private agencies in various types
of business activity are putting forth
more funding for environmental pro-
grams than ever before. In order to
meet the added burdens precipitated by
this new movement, local administra-
tors must seek out new resources, new
organizational approaches, new proce-
dures and programs. The remainder
of this paper is addressed to such con-
siderations.
Organizing local government
In true bureaucratic fashion (but
with legitimate reasons) the initial re-
sponse of many local administrators
for meeting the environmental chal-
lenges may be a request for additional
staff. Alternatives, such as creating
new citizen committees or study com-
missions, are likely to lead to the same
result with delays. Volunteer commis-
sioners may give only so much of their
time before they must request staff
help. Moreover, many cities already
have too many citizens' commissions
dealing with overlapping environmen-
tal responsibilities such as beautifica-
tion commissions, park and recreation
commissions, sewer and water boards,
public works boards, zoning boards,
and planning commissions. Tradition-
ally, the local administrator seeks to
coordinate their activities through his
staff which may be assigned to servic-
ing these commissions. All too often
he is refereeing their conflicts while
trying to moderate their staff and re-
source demands.
University City, a St. Louis suburb
of 50,000, some years ago created a
permanent, advisory and coordinating
staff position on environmental affairs.
This person reports directly to the
manager and is essentially a managerial
assistant. Not the least of his duties
has been that of first reviewing the
avalanche of publications and reports
on new environmental technology, new
state and federal legal requirements,
new environmental needs, and all of
the management procedures and sug-
gestions on these matters that come
pouring every day into City Hall. Sim-
ilarly he has to deal directly with newly
formed local special-interest groups
and citizens who are concerned about
environmental issues. Increasingly, he
has become engaged in a considerable
amount of environmental intergovern-
mental contact.
His most important assignment is to
evaluate the broad spectrum of city
operations and facilities that relate to
the most pressing environmental needs.
These assignments include; reviewing
the quality and nature of city solid
waste operations, the status of air pol-
lution and noise pollution conditions;
researching possible improvements in
procedures and technology within the
city's available resources; developing
school recycling centers in cooperation
with the children and school staffs;
researching pesticide control ordi-
nances; and devising a better record
58
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system for environmental sanitary in-
spectors. This position thus serves as
the first screening and evaluation
center for local government policy and
implementation in environmental af-
fairs.
In many cities, lack of funding and
political infighting may require the
local administrator to assume the duties
of environmental management himself.
This is particularly true in smaller
communities. In other cities, he may
assign environmental responsibilities to
existing positions in the governmental
structure. In larger jurisdictions, sev-
eral positions may be performing en-
vironmental control functions within a
single department, and several depart-
ments may be deeply involved in en-
vironmental matters. For example, an
electrical services department of a ma-
jor city has to be increasingly con-
cerned with such matters as air and
noise pollution control equipment at its
own generating stations, as well as fuel
content, waste disposal facilities and
beautification of plant environs. The
more environmental responsibilities are
distributed among several departments
and the larger the jurisdictions, the
greater become the problems of coordi-
nating major environmental strategies.
Concurrently, the need to coordinate
activities from a chief administrator's
office also becomes greater.
Environmental code development
The demands for a better urban en-
vironment tend to increase the volume
and complexities of local, as well as
state and federal, regulatory law. New
environmental policy development in a
municipality is expressed, in large
measure, through revised city codes
and ordinances. Apart from any fed-
erally imposed codes instigated under
the old Workable Program require-
ments of the federal government,
many municipalities recently have ex-
panded and refined codes relating to
the "environment" of private property.
Control over "outside" environment is
written into sanitation codes and in
certain provisions of housing codes,
both of which have procedures govern-
ing the removal and storage of solid
and liquid wastes, derelict and unli-
censed vehicles removal, control of
weeds and high grass, dead trees re-
moval, the paving and drainage of lots,
overall control of litter on private
property, and elimination or improve-
ment of defective structures. Other
controls have been introduced into zon-
ing provisions, such as private land-
scaping controls, building size regula-
tion, architectural design, sign controls,
the undergrounding and placement of
wiring, and various other attempts to
minimize visual pollution. Community
noise regulation in zoning and nuis-
ance ordinances exist in relatively
primitive forms. Many of these types
of provisions are supplemented and
reinforced through continual refine-
ments in building code regulation for
new construction of both residential
and commercial buildings. Building
maintenance codes, as distinct from
building construction codes, are in-
creasingly being enacted. More com-
monly known as housing codes, they
are applied to both inside and outside
elements of structure. Fire codes and
heating and electrical equipment regu-
lation codes for private buildings have
grown in numbers and complexity in
recent years.
Communities tend to adopt nation-
ally recognized codes by references
and utilize the experience of other
jurisdictions as may be appropriate to
their own situation. In some instances
statewide codes requiring local en-
forcement have been enacted. City
staffs, citizens' committees, and elected
officials at the local level have borne
the brunt of preparing most of this
local government legislation. Man-
agers often have difficult logistical
problems in trying to supply the nec-
essary information and the legal and
technical resources, so that appropriate
programs are formulated for adoption
by city councils.
Code policy implementation
Substantial administrative changes
have become necessary as a reslult of
the growing body of code regulation.
59
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These include increased staffing of
specialist inspectors and legal assist-
ants, as well as the development of spe-
cialized procedures and techniques
such as elaborate record keeping
systems. University City's sanitary
inspectors routinely record litter vi-
olations by Polaroid camera, and
issue summonses which are processed
through the record system, ultimately
to the court. In a given year, about
1,500 litter notices are issued by a
staff of 2 to 3 inspectors, and about
10 percent result in court appearances.
This same group of inspectors will
record about 600 weed violations a
year, thereby initiating a process of
notices, city weed cutting, and ultimate
tax billing. They are supervised through
a radio communications network. The
Police Department, in another highly
routinized process, annually serves no-
tices on approximately 500 unlicensed
vehicles on private property, quite
apart from those on public streets. An
adequate record system must back up
this process so that the 10 percent
uncooperative violators can be prose-
cuted in court and action taken, even
after court prosecution. With respect
to housing and commercial building
maintenance, in 1967 this city adopted
an occupancy permit approach where-
by, on any change of occupancy, the
building and premises are inspected.
Residences are brought within reason-
able compliance before new occupancy
is permitted. About 1,000 buildings are
so processed each year, and some
10.000 violations corrected. About 250
court cases support this effort. A well
organized staff of housing inspectors
and administrative personnel sustain
this operation, along with the legal
staff for court prosecutions. Some 29
cities in St. Louis County alone have
adopted this occupancy permit ap-
proach to control neighborhood hous-
ing and, in effect, the neighborhood
environment. To operate such complex
programs with equity and efficiency,
constant training and vigilant super-
vision of staffs, backed up with ade-
quate records and controls, become
imperative. Also needed is a coopera-
tive court system and an overall base
of community support.
Legal enforcement of the code
Federal and state agencies have been
securing acceptance of greater envi-
ronmental regulation through a number
of techniques ranging from public re-
ports to court injunctions imposed
upon both public and private organiza-
tions. They have had additional car-
rots and clubs at their disposal by of-
fering or withholding funding grants,
whil; imposing a wide variety of con-
ditions on local governments, ranging
from the preparation of environmental
impact statements to requiring con-
struction of sewage plants. Although
some cities may be in a position tem-
porarily to withhold certain services,
such as electricity, water or refuse
collection, enforcement must rely on
local court adjudication. Nothing may
be more essential to securing local code
compliance than an administrator's ca-
pacity to bring violations into a local
court promptly (in a manner of two
or three weeks). Failure to do so on
a rather consistent basis jeopardizes
pending and future enforcement ac-
tions. Capability thus means having
an easily accessible municipal court or
an equivalent county or state court
which is available and familiar with
these forms of law and willing to par-
ticipate. Regrettably, such conditions
seldom exist without considerable
stimulation due to the newness of
many of these regulatory activities.
In the St. Louis area the need grad-
ually is being met with the creation
of municipal housing courts, which
might be better termed environmental
courts, since they deal with local gov-
ernment regulatory law on matters well
beyond housing maintenance. The role
of these, as any municipal court, is
to secure compliance and not simply to
impose fines or penalties. Thus, var-
ious forms of leverage such as sus-
pended and conditional penalties and
escalating penalties for repeating of-
fenders, may be appropriately imposed.
Although litter and many sanitation
violations might be considered routine
60
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and easily processed, zoning and hous-
ing code violations are relatively com-
plicated. Thus, prosecution staffs and
the court judges may develop effective
processing only after considerable ex-
perience.
Inter-departmental committee
As the multiplicity and complexity
of environmental policing actions grew
within University City, it was neces-
sary to create a permanent inter-depart-
mental staff committee. This need was
dramatically illustrated by many ear-
lier failures to achieve successful en-
vironmental (housing) court actions.
All the administrative staff needed
training in matters of court procedures,
and the prosecuting staff in matters
and purposes of the codes.
This intergovernmental committee
consists of representatives from almost
all major city departments and de-
partment heads, including the Urban
Renewal Director. Other regular at-
tendees engaged in regulatory activities
include high level supervisors from the
police, fire, public works, housing,
zoning, building and forestry depart-
ments, as well as other staff repre-
sentatives whose clients may be af-
fected by such regulatory actions,
such as those of the Human Relations
Department. The weekly meetings are
chaired by the city manager or an
assistant. The legal department is rep-
resented by the prosecuting attorney
and/or an assistant. Each case which
is to be brought to court is reviewed,
and penalties are recommended or
other negotiations suggested as means
of securing compliance now and in the
future. The prosecuting attorney then
tries the case in the environmental
court and presents the committee's
recommendations to the judge. Fre-
quently, many different departments
and divisions simultaneously handle a
single property or single family, there-
by resulting in a useful exchange of
knowledge. Since its inception, this
inter-governmental committee's pur-
poses have been broadened consider-
ably to include discussions of various
strategies, such as improvements in city
services.
Conclusion
The foregoing discussion focused on
managing a predominantly developed
urban environment. It represents a case
study of selected actions for conserv-
ing existing urban neighborhoods,
rather than providing an examination
of managing expanding or high-growth
environments. For example, in a high
growth area, the environmental con-
trols requiring most attention would
be new subdivision regulations, the
placement and nature of new public
facilities, private and public land-use
designs, and the community's overall
comprehensive development plan. Plan
Commissioners, planning staffs, and
building and zoning inspectors would
be among the leading local actors in-
volved in these decisions. In contrast,
neighborhoods already built would seek
solutions to environmental problems
by total obliteration and redevelop-
ment.
The challenge facing local chief
administrators begins with keeping
abreast of the environmental move-
ment and its ramifications so that they
may assist councils and community
leaders in decision making. The recent
upsurge of environmental concerns
certainly has forced local government
officials to rearrange their priorities
and the assignment of community
resources.
61
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11.6 Environ-
mental deci-
sion-making
John Wentz *
I have organized my remarks under
five sections. First, I am going to give
you my personal definition of the scope
of environmental management. We
have had some difference of opinion
already on what that ought to be. Then
I am going to suggest at least one of
several ways to organize to accomplish
something. I am going to note some
changes in city operations, which are
being and should be caused by our
interest in the environment, highlight-
ing, of course, the Phoenix experience.
Then 1 am going to comment about the
strategy of balancing the pressures that
city officials are under, both pressures
for action, and pressures for restraint
or no action. Finally I will give just a
brief comment on what the future may
hold.
Defining environmental goals
In defining the scope of environ-
mental management, "life style" is per-
haps the key term. It is the variable
that we attempt to influence. Our ob-
jective is to enhance the quality of life
style is affected by many things, such
as law and order, welfare, jobs, salaries,
and social programs. All of these are
important, and do affect the quality of
life. For my definition, however, we
should for the moment restrict our con-
cern to the physical, visual, sensory
aspects of the world around us. At
least with this agreed upon, we may
then accept as a goal that one stated
in the summary report by the California
Governor's Planning and Research
*Presented by John Wentz, City Man-
ager, Phoenix, Arizona, at the National
Conference on Managing the Environment.
Office, entitled "Environmental Goals
and Policy."
The overall environmental goal for
California, "It states: is to create and
maintain a productive harmony be-
tween man and his environment, the
physical space in which he lives." The
word "productive harmony" is impor-
tant, because it does not mean all one
direction or the other. It means a bal-
ance. Of course, it means the prevention
of air and water pollution which we
talk most about, as well as visual and
landscape pollution. It means the use of
management of our resources. Most
important, it implies achieving a bal-
ance between the desire for quality of
these surroundings, and a willingness
to pay the bill.
Managing the environment, inci-
dentally, is no different than managing
anything else. It is simply applying
conventional organization, research,
education, and management practices to
a new objective.
Organizational options
How does one organize to accom-
plish environmental management at a
city level? There is no one right way;
what works is correct. However, at least
three elements are required in any or-
ganizational effort. One is enlightened
citizen input; another is adequate staff.
Third is interest and support of top
management. If any one of those three
is absent, we will probably fail.
Enlightened citizen input is needed
for two purposes. First, it provides the
ideas and support that you receive from
the citizens, and perhaps more subtly,
provides an opportunity for them to
become educated themselves about
the problem.
A staff should consist of at least one
or more persons devoting full time to
the problem. I think that the problem
today has become important enough
so that it cannot be solved out of the
hip pocket of a budget and research
department, or planning department. It
needs the interest and support of top
management. Nothing without that sup-
port will get accomplished.
In Phoenix we are still in the em-
62
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bryonic stage, but moving, cautiously
and deliberately, and with the full sup-
port of the mayor and the council. In
July of 1971, the City Council of
Phoenix, by ordinance, created a
twenty-one member Environmental
Quality Commission, with staggered
three year terms, to function as a rec-
ommending body to the City Council,
with primary duties to identify environ-
mental problems. Their duty is also to
recommend solutions of these problems
to the Council. Upon careful study,
this commission may recommend
changes in regulations or policies, city
procedures and programs, or it may
hold public hearings to determine feel-
ings of citizens. The latter is sometimes
dangerous, but nonetheless, a useful
device.
Making people aware
Another major objective of the com-
mission is to create an awareness
throughout the community of environ-
mental problems and to encourage com-
munity cooperation in resolving those
problems. The city planning department
has created a staff environmental plan-
ner position to assist this commission
in its work and to coordinate activities
with the management staff. This pro-
fessional staff member was hired
through the Housing and Urban Devel-
opment Comprehensive Planning As-
sistant Program. The direction for the
enviornmental planner is very simple.
It is to identify environmental issues,
problems, and opportunities and to
serve as an information source and con-
tact point for city evaluation of envi-
ronmental implications (including im-
pact statements) and to facilitate the
effective functioning of the citizens'
commission.
The key to success will be the co-
ordination of action to implement
manager's office and the mayor's staff
improvements or changes. The city
will work closely with this commission,
and assert sufficient thrust to propel the
program through all departments.
Perhaps more important are some
changes in the city operations caused
by the current interest in the environ-
ment. When Phoenix addressed itself to
this subject about two years ago, the
first thing that we did was to examine
what we were doing now that we had
something to do with the environment.
We found that we were already doing
many things in the interest of environ-
mental quality. I now propose to list
these environmental activities in inven-
tory form. For convenience I have
organized these activities under the
more or less responsible department.
With the aid of the planning depart-
ment, the legislature recently passed
the first state enabling legislation in the
field of planning. This was a new ac-
complishment for us. It includes sec-
tions on the conservation element of
natural resources and also a recreation
element. It allows the establishment of
flood-plain zoning and provides the
municipality with power to reserve
parks and recreational facilities within
subdivisions.
In the planning department we have
also adopted a number of hillside ordi-
nances, which will control the quality
of development of those hills that we
are going to allow to be developed. We
have developed three ordinances: (1)
a grading and drainage ordinance; (2)
an amendment to the zoning ordinance;
and (3) an amendment to the subdivi-
sion ordinance, all of which control size
of lot, or what you do, for example,
with the cut and fill, steepness of drive-
way, and the runoff. The most impor-
tant end result of these laws is to reduce
the density. The developers, of course,
bitterly opposed these regulations. How-
ever, they have been adopted.
Theory of density transfer
We have adopted the theory of
density transfer in the design of PAD's
—planned area developments. We allow
a slightly heavy density in the flatland
in return for keeping the hillside open.
We have gone into the sign business.
That falls under visual pollution. We
have stepped up our enforcement by
doubling our fees and doubling the
number of staff, starting a perpetual
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inventory, and requiring a bi-annual
permit to maintain the inventory. We
are cutting down rather heavily, for
a large city, on signs. We are also study-
ing amendments which may further
crack down on the visual pollution from
signs.
We are working very closely with the
FHA in requiring back-up treatment
for residential development so that we
will have no more "Allen's Alleys" or
those bleak backwalls along major
streets.
Under the park department, we are
working hard to develop a greater
street-tree-planting program. Nurseries
are being built in order to grow stock
economically. Many of our street-tree-
planting programs along major boule-
vards are purposely concentrated in the
inner city area. What we call a slum
looks pretty good compared to the east-
ern slum, even though for Phoenix it is
a depressed area. Beautifully land-
scaped center strips and towering palm
trees can be seen in this neighborhood
as though it were on Sunset Boulevard.
This type of improvement helps to raise
the spirits of that portion of our com-
munity.
The most exciting thing we have
done recently is to get into the open
space program in a major way. In this
regard we are indeed following the
advice of the man for whom I am
pinch hitting, Mayor Pete Wilson of
San Diego, who has said:
Land use really is the starting point
of most of man's polluting activi-
ties. Land dedicated to park or
open space makes a significant
contribution to environmental
quality in two ways. It is enjoyable
both in itself and also for the relief
it provides from other surrounding
and polluting land uses. It may be
that the greatest contribution cities
could make to improve their qual-
ity of life is the acquisition of as
many desirable parcels as possible,
as early as possible, before land
prices soar out of range or compel
development and permanent loss
of open space. The time is now
—before it is too late.
The city already has the largest mu-
nicipal park in the United States. It
includes approximately 15,000 acres of
mountain area and is called South
Mountain Park. It is a desert park on
the south end of the town. In the middle
part of the city is a large mountain
range called the Phoenix Mountains.
For years people have been worrying
about how urbanization would affect
these mountains. It became perfectly
obvious what was going to happen when
people began to creep up the sides and
build. If something were not done, it
would soon become the Hollywood
Hills all over again. We had a consult-
ant do a study to determine what he
thought might be done about this open
space. He recommended that we pre-
serve it, which was a rather simple
recommendation although it will cost
$40 million. It is all privately owned.
We did not know how to cope with
that, so we appointed a citizens com-
mittee. It consisted of 125 members,
and was called the Phoenix Mountains
Preservation Commission. Some people
criticized the Commission because of
its size. We broke it down into sub-
committees, and eventually they devel-
oped a financing plan. They had a little
help from the staff, but it was basically
their own plan. They also came up
with a plan for selling the idea to the
community.
Rocks gain vast support
Recently the citizens voted by a two-
to-one margin a $22.5 million bond
issue to help buy those "rocks." We are
pledging $13.5 million of our federal
revenue sharing funds toward it. The
rest will come from federal revenue
sharing, which should continue past
the first five years. We are starting out
very aggressively to buy this 9,000 acre
mountain range and have already spent
about $3 million from accumulated
funds. It will be an open preserve of
pristine quality in a densely populated
area.
On the west side of the city we are
buying, with the assistance of HUD
open space grants, land along a dry
creek. Eventually this will be Cave
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Creek Regional Park, a strip of land
seven miles long with golf courses on
former sanitary land fills and a variety
of other open space uses. Beyond the
present city limits to the north we are
obtaining from the Bureau of Land
Management large mountain areas
which will eventually become regional
parks. One such area of about 1,000
acres will be combined with a sanitary
land fill of 900 acres to form, in
twenty-five to thirty years, the Skunk
Creek-Deems Hills Regional Park.
Another stimulating project is the
current Rio Salado study under the
auspices of the Maricope Association
of Governments, our local COG. This
proposes to develop the waste land
along the normally dry Salt River for a
distance of forty miles through the
valley with recreation and economic
uses.
Federal money for open space
Downtown, in the interest of open
space, we are also spending some fed-
eral revenue sharing money to buy
a downtown block, demolish a number
of pawnshops, and make a Pershing
Square out of it. It is the anchor of
our governmental mall. We are also
buying five blocks in the governmental
mall, along with other governmental
agencies, so that it will stretch from
the city hall to the state capitol some-
day, fifteen blocks long, with an open
green sword going down between.
This project is striking a blow toward
improving the environment, and we are
having a lot of fun doing it.
In the water and sewer area, the
city is improving the appearance of
many of its facilities by painting and
landscaping. Most exciting, however,
are the experiments using the effluent
from the sewage treatment plant. One
project is funded by an EPA grant and
is trying to determine, with the help
of ASU, how we can purify the water
somewhat more, so that it can be used
for the purpose of irrigation of truck-
farm crops. We are already selling
70,000 acre feet of our effluent to an
irrigation district, which is using it
for forage crops. We have not yet
reached the point of using it for edible
truckfarming crops.
Six cities, all using the same sewage
plant as Phoenix, have agreed to sell
the waste product from the sewage
plant to the ANPP, which is the Ari-
zona Nuclear Power Project. It will
be the first nuclear power plant to use
sewage as cooling water. That is a
very productive use for sewage. In
addition, we will receive between
twenty and thirty dollars per acre-
foot for it. That is probably the high-
est priced sewage in the country.
Under the engineering department,
we are requiring contractors to dispose
of their soil in landfill, instead of lay-
ing it over the desert (which is tempt-
ing, because there is so much of it).
We are entering into an expensive
service center beautification program.
These centers house the refuse and
street department trucks; we are land-
scaping them heavily. Our Omaha
orange-colored trucks, which used to
be thought desirable from the stand-
point of safety, are being changed to
desert biege so that they blend into the
landscape. These are simple, little
things, but they are all in line with
the general movement. They give us
a chance to score a few minor vic-
tories early in the game and to build
up some momentum for the program.
In the city manager's office, we run
an inner city neighborhood environ-
mental improvement program headed
by an administrative assistant in charge
of our south Phoenix branch office of
the mayor and city manager. He is co-
ordinating activities of various operat-
ing departments on a block-by-block,
boot-strapping basis, working through
neighborhood councils of the city's
CAP agency (known as LEAP), which
operates as a department of the city in
Phoenix.
Public support is vital
In summary, while some of these
actions probably could have occurred
anyway in the society twenty years
ago, most of them are possible now
only because of the tolerance and the
support of the public.
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For the strategy of balancing pres-
sures for action and restraint, we need
a check system for pre-analysis of the
environmental aspects of all new proj-
ects. The potential environmental im-
pact of a project must be determined
before a project is built. We need a
better, more objective cost-benefit anal-
ysis. This is the main issue in environ-
mental protection. How much are you
willing to pay to have the kind of
environment you want? We need more
citizen involvement, certainly far be-
yond the commission. Several area
planning councils have been established
in our city, and they are very active,
not only in planning their areas, but
in environmental concerns.
We are working through our neigh-
borhood councils in the depressed areas.
We believe that the people in the dis-
advantaged areas have just as great a
stake in the environment as anyone else.
One of the greatest problems is under-
standing the alternatives. For example,
we have a freeway problem in our city.
In a recent poll, people voted to aban-
don a freeway which was ten years
in the planning. Nobody in the com-
munity thought seriously about possible
alternatives, but they have decided
against the freeway. Now we have the
problem of a massive educational pro-
gram of trying to determine how to
preserve our mobility.
How do we cope with these two pres-
sures? Pressures for precipitative or
unreasonable action are offset by strong
organization and objective research and
analysis. Pressures for restraint are off-
set by good education and good citizen
involvement. It is a delicate balance,
but those of us at the local level are
experienced, or should be, in maintain-
ing that delicate balance.
What does the future hold? The en-
vironmental issues will remain. The
only question is: what action are we
going to take? Interest will remain
high. The management of the environ-
ment will become more realistic and
more down-to-earth as accomplish-
ments prove successful, as we achieve
some minor victories along the line of
the Lindblom theory of incremental
approach.
A touch of pragmatism
The involvement of pragmatic ad-
ministrative officials will balance the
enthusiasm of impractical activists in
order to achieve a productive balance.
We are not going to return to caveman
life. The era of growth, expansion, and
exploitation is peaking. The era of con-
solidation, of polishing off the rough
edges, of emphasis on improving the
life style, is on the rise.
It behooves government and indus-
try managers to pay attention to these
indicators. They must and will be in
the forefront of action programs for
two reasons. First, to balance the un-
realistic emotional demands of certain
members of the society and second, to
ensure that something really gets done.
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11.7 Planning
for quality
growth
Shelley M. Mark*
Hawaii is the newest, one of the
smallest, and probably the most en-
vironmentally fragile State of the
Union. Because of its fabled climate
and natural beauty, Hawaii is a prime
attraction for tourists. Because of its
strategic central Pacific location, it is
a major military outpost. Because of
fortuitous combinations of climate and
soil, labor and capital, research and
technology, it has supplied world mar-
kets with sugar, pineapple, and other
tropical products. With this obvious
interdependence between economic
prosperity and environmental quality,
Hawaii has long been concerned with
protection and enhancement of its en-
vironment. Because of its small size,
the threats to both environmental
quality and economic life-blood are
more readily recognized and preventive
action more easily galvanized. Because
the State is new (14 years old), it is
not hampered by age-old structures,
practices, and traditions, and is more
apt to venture into pioneering ap-
proaches to solution of environmental
problems.
The Hawaiian land-use law
Hawaii's pioneering has been recog-
nized nationally among specialists in
land use control. In "The Quiet Revo-
lution in Land Use Control," a major
national survey prepared for the U.S.
Council on Environmental Quality
(December 15, 1971), the authors,
*Presented by Dr. Shelley M. Mark, Di-
rector, Department of Planning and Eco-
nomic Development, State of Hawaii, at
the National Conference on Managing the
Environment.
Fred Bosselman and David Callies,
wrote:
"It all began in Hawaii. The
quiet revolution in land-use con-
trol saw its first legislative success
with the Hawaiian Legislature's
passage of the Land Use Law in
1961. In the initial years after its
passage, mainlanders typically
brushed it aside as a strange phe-
nomenon from a strang land. But
now as other States begin reform
of their land regulatory systems,
it is increasingly apparent that
Hawaii's ten years of administer-
ing a system of Statewide controls
offers a valuable source of prac-
tical experience."
Hawaii's Land Use Law was itself a
direct outgrowth of the nation's first
State General Plan and remains an in-
tegral part of the State's planning and
environmental management process. It
was passed in response to certain wor-
risome environmental trends in the pe-
riod just prior and subsequent to our
attainment of Statehood. The State's
usable lands are extremely limited; our
prime agricultural lands were facing
pressure from urban sprawl; scattered
developments and speculative subdivi-
sions raised questions of public costs
vs. private benefits; the necessity to
protect our shorelines and other scenic
assets, our forest, water and other
natural resources was clearly recog-
nized. Thus, the Hawaii Land Use Law
sought to preserve prime agricultural
lands, to guide urban growth for more
efficient use of public services and
facilities, while permitting reasonable
housing, commercial and industrial ex-
pansion, to establish a system for pru-
dent management of our environmental
resources.
The Land Use Law provides for a
State Land Use Commission appointed
by the Governor and confirmed by the
Senate. The Commission is authorized
(1) to classify all public and private
lands in the State, in one of four clas-
sifications—urban, rural, agricultural,
and conservation, (2) to establish spe-
cific boundaries for each classification
throughout the State, (3) to revise
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these district boundaries on the basis
of a petition and hearings procedure
or a mandated comprehensive review
every five years, and (4) to prescribe
general uses permitted in each dis-
trict—with detailed uses in the urban,
rural, and agricultural districts to be
administered by the counties and in
the conservation district by the State
Department of Land and Natural Re-
sources.
Extensive data available
Today, the State has detailed maps
showing precisely which lands are in
each classification. These district
boundaries must be reviewed compre-
hensively every five years. Preparations
for the next review in 1974 are now
under way. The Land Use Commission
also operates under specific regulations
intended to clarify and implement the
law.
Thus, we have had a State Land Us?
Law in effect for the last eleven years
and a Land Use Commission for ap-
proximately the last nine years. What
have been their impact and effect on
the growth of our community and
quality of our environment? As in most
public and controversial bodies of this
type, there have been opposing views
and differing interpretations. At the
time of the last mandated five-year
boundary review in 1969, the planning
firm of Eckbo, Dean, Austin and
Williams of San Francisco noted these
positive results: (1) the State Com-
mission has been stricter than the
counties in approving petitions for re-
zoning; (2) scattered development—
with one or two notable exceptions—
had largely been brought to an end;
(3) speculative subdivision of new
lands beyond the need for new home
sites had been greatly reduced; and
(4) prime agricultural and conserva-
tion lands had been protected from
urbanization.
Critics, however, have been con-
cerned about continuing conversion of
agricultural lands, especially the most
highly productive ones, into urban use;
speculation causing land and housing
prices to rise while lands are withheld
from use; and instances of a lack of
coordination between State and county
decisions, and between State zoning
and State real property tax assessment
practices. Issues have not been resolved,
but the various attempts over the past
decade to have the law repealed have
been roundly defeated, while a number
of key amendments strengthening the
powers of the commission have been
passed. This is not to say that the
commission is one of the more popu-
lar institutions in the State.
Role of State planning
in land use regulation
Our recent experience has empha-
sized that a State land use control
policy can only be effective as part of
a comprehensive planning program
which embraces social, economic, en-
vironmental, administrative, and finan-
cial aspects. This planning has to be
long-range, and requires coordination
and interaction of functional plans by
governmental and private agencies in
order that the community's total re-
sources be used to meet the needs of
its citizens in optimal fashion. There
is a strong need for comprehensive
planning at the State level not only to
examine and evaluate such functional
plans (e.g., transportation, agriculture,
recreation, education), but also to pro-
vide new insights, new directions, new
information, new programs, and new
methodologies for State government
generally. Without this solid grounding
in a comprehensive planning process,
the flexibility deemed desirable in land
use administration may easily become
merely expedient, ad hoc actions.
The paucity of State general plans
or of viable State comprehensive plan-
ning processes, however, indicates seri-
ous political obstacles not only to plan-
ning implementation, but to the
concept of centralized planning itself.
Thus, State planning agencies have
been preoccupied with the search for
relevance—for organizational structures
or roles which may assure their ex-
istence amidst ever-changing Federal
guidelines and ever-restive local juris-
dictions. The end result of the State
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planning exercise has been to place the
State planner in the Governor's office
without either one knowing exactly
what he was supposed to be doing
there. In Hawaii's case, a relatively
strong centralized government facili-
tated the passage of appropriate en-
abling legislation and the working out
of administrative procedures necessary
for the redistribution of traditional
zoning powers. In the general case,
this should not pose an insurmountable
obstacle, since it is axiomatic that if
a State can delegate its police power
to regulate private land use in the pub-
lic interest, it can also exercise it. The
serious interest of a growing number
of State and national officials in the
Hawaiian experience, along with the
expected passage of a National Land
Use Policy act, suggests the sort of
change in public climate which is nec-
essary for any such exercise of power
to occur.
States and the new federalism
The National Land Use Policy Act
has been hailed as a principal means
by which state and local governments
will be assisted in making the transi-
tion from a chaotic crisis-by-crisis ap-
proach to a decision-making process
based on a rational long-range plan-
ning. This may yet be, although the
measure in its current form does not
move strongly in the direction of a
"national policy" on land use. There
are few national goals or guidelines,
and the economic sanctions originally
designed to compel compliance with
the measure have been weakened. One
possible outcome of the Act might be
the emergence of fifty state variations
of national land-use policy.
The Act seeks (correctly) to build
up State planning capability by pro-
viding funding, staff, a data and in-
formation base, and appropriate au-
thority. Its approach is to focus avail-
able resources and expertise on "criti-
cal areas and uses of more than local
concern." In so doing, it excludes
existing incorporated areas in each
State, which exercise often crucial
planning and zoning powers, thus lim-
iting its applicability. As the Hawaiian
experience has demonstrated, land-use
policy needs to be long range in con-
cept and application, and the planning
upon which it is based should be com-
prehensive in scope and jurisdiction.
The Coastal Zone Management Act
of 1972 makes state governments the
focal point in a related strategic area of
environmental management. While the
legislation does not require State par«
ticipation, the prospect of Federal
funds, as well as the privilege of re-
quiring Federal projects and permits to
conform with State management pro-
grams, are strong incentives. Without
an approved state plan, Federal agen-
cies could start projects without state
approval. The law gives considerable
freedom to the States to do as they
wish in coastal zones, but what they do
and how well they do it will depend on
how quickly they can firm up their
planning capabilities and how willing
they are to tackle directly the complex
problems of interjurisdictional manage-
ment.
Another example is the proposed
special revenue-sharing Better Commu-
nities Act of 1973, which purports to
strengthen the hand of state govern-
ments and governors, while at the same
time providing for the bulk of funds
to flow to cities and urban counties.
Congress is concerned that these funds
may not be used in ways responsive to
national priorities, such as housing, and
that States are being required to ad-
minister programs without the benefit
of national growth policies. The net ef-
fect may be to give States certain added
responsibilities, without providing them
with the effective authority to carry
them out.
There are numerous other elements
of the New Federalism that I cannot
touch upon. Nor does it seem appro-
priate to resurrect or renew the debate
on whether it is indeed the way to solve
the complex social and environmental
management problems. For those inter-
ested in this issue, a recent New York
Times column by Professor Henry
Stesle Commager states: "The notion
that voluntarism and local authorities
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can deal effectively with the national
and global problems which crowd about
us is without support in logic or his-
tory" and concludes: "Only the national
government has the constitutional au-
thority, the financial resources, the ad-
ministrative talent and the statesman-
ship to deal with these problems on a
national scale."
Time for state action
These matters have been and will be
decided at a higher level than state gov-
ernment by the interplay between the
national administration and the Con-
gress. While the debate continues and
new legislation and guidelines are ham-
mered out, the states have the oppor-
tunity to use the period of "creative
pause" to solidify the character of their
planning and develop their own initia-
tives in order to come to grips with the
forthcoming programs.
The National Land Use Policy Act,
the Coastal Zone Management Act, and
the Better Communities Act urge states
to take the first steps (for some) in this
direction. The challenge to the states
is whether they can build up their plan-
ing capabilities and develop their plan-
ning processes in order to deal with
their most critical environmental man-
agement problems in a far-sighted and
comprehensive manner. The mandate to
the Federal government is not simply
to satisfy itself that the states are doing
this, but to coordinate its own divergent
planning interests and set forth goals
and guidelines appropriate to a true na-
tional growth policy.
Nevertheless, the states now have at
least the opportunity, with Federal
statutory and financial support, to set
their own directions, and to delve into
the bewildering complex of local juris-
dictional problems that have hampered
rational environmental and land use
decision-making in the past.
In the past, state planning has been
preoccupied with its search for rele-
vance—for systems, structures and roles
to insure its continued existence. For
the future, state planning must start
building substance within structure, and
directly face the environmental issues
people are concerned with, no matter
how difficult the task and unpromising
the early returns.
Planning for quality growth
More than a decade ago, the people
of Hawaii concluded that land is what
matters, ultimately and environmen-
tally. We passed our State Land Use
Law, reflecting this realization and the
desire of our people to establish rules
and priorities for the use of our very
limited land resources. The law was an
outgrowth of these needs and its ad-
ministration is an integral part of our
comprehensive state planning process.
In recent years our land-use controls
and planning process have become in-
creasingly intertwined with a variety of
policies, programs and projects which
have as their common focus the quality
growth of our State.
Public concern with quality growth
has, of course, long preceded the recent
legislative actions and popular discus-
sions on the subject. In the case of
Herman v. Parker in 1954, Justice Wil-
liam Douglas wrote: "The concept of
the public welfare is broad and inclu-
sive . . . The values it represents are
spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic
as well as monetary. It is within the
power of the legislature to determine
that the community should be beauti-
ful as well as healthy, spacious as well
as clean, well-balanced as well as care-
fully patrolled . . ."
Following perhaps from Justice
Douglas' suggestions that "it is within
the power of the legislature to deter-
mine that the community should be
beautiful," the 1972 Hawaiian State
Legislature passed a law, mandating
that a Quality Growth Policy be de-
veloped for the State by the Chief Ex-
ecutive. This legislation was also a key
recommendation of Stewart Udall's
Comprehensive Open Space Plan and
an outgrowth of his feeling that a mean-
ingful open-space program for the State
could only be developed within the con-
text of total environmental quality, with
full consideration of population policies,
urbanization patterns, resource uses,
transportation alternatives and other
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man-made growth factors. Hence, the
legislative mandate to halt urban
sprawl, preserve open space, protect
and enhance the environment of Hawaii
and uplift our quality of life through
the identification and implementation of
fundamental State growth policies.
Laws are only a first step
However, the passage of legislation
does not assure quality growth in a
state. It is a necessary first step; it pro-
vides the structure, but substance has
to be provided within the structure be-
fore a government can effectively come
to grips with its most pressing issues of
environmental management. This is
what state planning is all about, and
this is where the states may seize the
initiatives and opportunities promised
them under the banner of the New
Federalism.
Accepting quality growth is a proper
focus for carrying out the mandates
under the new Federal legislation; it is
then possible to outline the main ele-
ments of a state planning process de-
signed to achieve it. These include:
(1) definition and standards of meas-
urements, (2) identification of principal
problems or issues, (3) addressing these
issues in a systematic, comprehensive,
and far-sighted manner, (4) devising
the instruments appropriate to the solu-
tions required, and (5) gaining popular
understanding, acceptance, and support
for both the process and its recom-
mended solutions.
While quality growth is difficult to
define or make operational, it is never-
theless a useful disciplinary concept.
Generally, it suggests multi-dimensional
growth that achieves a socially desirable
balance among economic, social, and
environmental elements. This is in basic
contrast with "quantity growth" which
emphasizes growth along traditional
economic and population dimensions.
However, it is incumbent on each state
to develop its own, unique, operational
definition of quality growth, which em-
phasizes local attitudes and priorities
with respect to the appropriate balance
between economic development and en-
vironmental protection.
Basic obstacles to developing
a state policy
Several basic problems must be over-
come in attempting to develop a state
quality growth policy. They include:
(1) arriving at a consensus on the
appropriate balance among eco-
nomic, social, and environmen-
tal objectives;
(2) achieving sufficient control over
the rates and kinds of growth to
be able to direct them toward a
desirable balance; and
(3) gaining knowledge of the system
which will allow us to predict
the effects of our actions on dif-
ferent growth dimensions.
The major difficulty, of course, is
that our system may be too "locked
in" on quantitative, economic growth to
be able to redirect itself toward quality
growth. That is, economic and political
self-interests are too tied into the pres-
ent pattern of growth to allow for
change.
The formidable challenge would be
to devise a widely accepted policy,
comprehensive planning process, and
authoritative management program to
break open these locks (to use a poor
Washington analogy). Since quality
growth is a change-oriented concept, a
quality-growth policy or planning proc-
ess must also be change-oriented. At
present no clear consensus exists on
precisely what quality growth is and
how it is to be achieved; hence, a plan-
ing process built around this concept
cannot be rigid and inflexible. The proc-
ess must be incremental and concerned
with asking questions about growth and
increasing our ability to deal with these
questions and make decisions about
them. Thus, the process must be "ex-
perimental" where feasible; it must be
constantly generating new ideas and
testing them.
The states will need to build or re-
build their planning information bases.
Decision-makers need to be informed
and pressed with the questions sug-
gested by the concept of quality growth.
They need to be apprised of the impact
of different decisions. We can best build
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this information base by careful plan-
ning studies aimed at specific, manage-
able policy questions. As consensus is
reached and our information is broad-
ened, we can then increase the scope
of our efforts. We cannot be overly
comprehensive and still produce timely
and useful plans and studies at the same
time.
The key: control development
As much of the impending national
legislation suggests, physical develop-
ment controls will continue to be the
major means available to government
for implementing growth policies. These
include land use controls, capital im-
provements programming, environmen-
tal quality standards, and actual public
participation in the development proc-
ess. Raising the quality of the man-
made environment will require that gov-
ernment form a more effective partner-
ship with the private sector in the
development process.
Using environmental
impact statements
Controls of some type are needed to
force consideration of the full range
of impacts of government policies and
actions and private and public develop-
ments. The only available device of this
type is the environmental impact state-
ment. The rationale underlying the EIS
procedure has generally been that the
EIS was only a first step that would
lead to other institutional changes de-
signed to give greater weight to en-
vironmental considerations in decision-
making. However, the changes have
been slow in coming and the EIS is be-
coming an end in itself. What seems
desperately needed also is an EIS on
the EIS, which would relate it to the
state planning process and provide har-
ried readers with better criteria for
judging whether they are good or bad.
The pragmatists will say the concept
of quality growth is too elusive, that
the means of attaining it are too ob-
structed by immutable self-interest, and
that we lack the information, know-how
and techniques to achieve our goals.
Perhaps the way out is for each of us
in planning and environmental man-
agement to broaden our perspectives
further.
Governor John A. Burns offers us a
clus in his 1973 "State of the State"
message to the Hawaii Legislature: "At
the heart of it, the central element in
'quality growth' is a social one: It in-
volves people. It means the creating
and improving of Hawaii's economic
and social conditions so that all men,
women and children in our Islands can
retain the full sense of their human
dignity and proper pride, through mean-
ingful employment of their God-given
talents and the pursuit of worthy per-
sonal objectives."
This is a broader view of "quality
growth" than is customarily found in
discussion of the environment. Perhaps
there has been too narrow a perspective
which sees only physical dimensions,
urban design, the ideal placement of
buildings, and preservation of open
space. Perhaps the nation's concern
about environment has put too much
stress on capital improvements, city
plans and economic plans and master
plans and general plans—which limit
our vision to the physical and economic
elements of "quality growth." The new
vision is to the growth of the human
person, in an environment which he
both shapes, and is shaped by. It is the
only environment he has, and one
which must bring him happiness and
fulfillment. Quality growth through in-
telligent planning contributes to that
goal.
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11.8 Next big
industry:
environmental
inprovement
James Brian Quinn *
The often strident cries of the "en-
vironmentalists" have raised a funda-
mental challege to the private enterprise
system. Questions like these are basic
concerns for all:
• Can a free society have both a
high standard of individual wealth
and a clean environment?
• Is the private enterprise system
capable of providing those ele-
ments of "an improved quality of
life" which represent public—
rather than private—demands?
• Can industry meet environmental
demands yet maintain its capaci-
ties to compete internationally?
I believe private enterprise cannot
only meet the challenge but thrive on
it. To do so, however, requires some
basic rethinking of the whole environ-
mental issue. The following ideas are
basic to this reconceptualization:
1. The demand for environmental
improvement offers opportunities to
nearly all types of companies to share
in huge untapped primary markets.
2. Properly developed, these markets
will create economic growth, which can
pay for many of the environmental im-
provements sought.
*James Brian Quinn is Professor of
Business Administration in The Amos Tuck
School of Business Administration at Dart •
mouth College. He is currently on sabbati-
cal at Monash University, Victoria, Aus-
tralia. Reprinted with permission from Har-
vard Business Review, Vol. 49, No. 5, Sep-
tember-October 1971, pp. 120-131. Copy-
right 1971 Harvard Business Review by
the President and Fellows of Harvard
College.
3. Much of what appears to be "the
national cost" of environmental im-
provement really represents new mar-
kets created by unfilled public demands.
4. Business and public policy should
focus on: (a) developing these markets
rationally, and (b) minimizing the real
overhead costs of environmental im-
provement; i.e., unproductive bureauc-
racies, improperly established standards,
unnecessary dislocations, and ineffective
public expenditure systems.
5. It is not enough to approach en-
vironmental improvements as a "busi-
ness responsibility." Fair and well-
enforced national regulations, sensibly
developed public-market mechanisms,
and fiscal policies which support in-
tended growth and investment patterns
will be essential.
For purposes of this discussion, I use
the term "environmental improvement"
in its broad sense—to include not only
such matters as cleaner water and air
but also safer highways, healthier com-
munities, and a better-educated popu-
lation.
Creating public markets
Our private enterprise system has de-
veloped the capacity to satisfy almost
immediately the most detailed demands
of any consumer, household unit, com-
pany, or institution in which a single
authority can make purchasing deci-
sions and has independent access to
funds. But the system has been consid-
erably less adept at developing and fill-
ing demands for public consumption
and investment—hospitals, schools,
water supplies, sewage systems, roads,
parks, airports, waste disposal systems,
and so on. If such public markets could
be developed by private enterprise,
however, they would provide exciting
growth opportunities for many indus-
tries and simultaneously ameliorate
many pressing social problems. For
example:
• To clean up a river—and the
shorelines and beaches it affects—re-
quires sewage treatment plants, heat
transfer units, cooling towers, waste and
by-product processing units, improved
storm drain and sewage systems, so-
73
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phisticated monitoring apparatus, and
so forth. These, in turn, create supplier
markets for steel and metal products,
construction equipment, pumps and
treatment equipment, meters, switches,
wire, electronic controls, construction
materials, glass, ceramics, plastics, and
chemicals in profusion.
This example suggests that demands
for '"a cleaner environment" or "a bet-
ter quality of life" could create new or
expanded markets for almost every in-
dustry—no matter how basic.
How do public markets come into
being? They may be produced by (a)
aggregating individual demands through
public expenditures, and/or (b) forcing
individual action through regulation or
tax policy. Let us examine each of
these forces in turn.
Aggregating demands
In some—but by no means all—
cases, government bodies have to aggre-
gate and dispense funds to purchase
items individuals cannot afford. Refuse,
sewage, transportation, education, rec-
reation, and public safety systems would
all fall in this category.
Can such expenditures result in net
growth for society? Some traditional
economists might argue that tax-
financed public expenditures only trans-
fer funds from one source to another—
and consequently cannot provide net
growth. But past experience does not
support this view. For instance:
• In recent years publicly financed
interstate highway systems and subsi-
dized aircraft development have stimu-
lated the growth of public travel, truck-
ing, airlines, transportation fuels, and
other related industries.
• The U.S. space program created
a whole new market never previously
conceived.
Environmental improvements could
have a similar effect. Economic growth
occurs whenever a society begins to com-
mit energies and resources to fulfill
"felt needs" beyond those it has been
able to or willing to fulfill in the past.
Almost all society's needs—beyond min-
imum food and shelter—are psychologi-
cally based. People need vacation
homes and skis because they think they
need vacation homes and skis. Simi-
larly, as people begin to think they
want an improved environment, this de-
mand can be converted into a series of
new markets. These markets merely re-
quire public—rather than private—ac-
tion to aggregate and channel the re-
sources needed to satisfy the demand.
Although the American consumer
seems to have an extremely high ca-
pacity for absorbing ever more intricate
trinkets, many consumer markets are
approaching saturation—with growth
essentially linked to population growth.
By contrast, markets for improved pub-
lic well-being seem remarkably unsatu-
rated. Consumers are ready to spend
much more in these areas. In addition,
most forecasts show non-defense public
expenditures increasing at a more rapid
rate than private consumption. In fact,
public markets probably offer the fast-
est growing primary markets of the next
two decades. The real problem is to
develop these markets so they contrib-
ute to national growth, and well-being
and do not become endless "resource
sinks" without significant social gain.
Potential of regulations
Properly administered, government
regulations and standards can expand
market opportunities. Obviously, the
television and radio industry could not
have developed without standardized
signal patterns, regulated frequency al-
locations, and safety regulations for re-
ceivers. Individual companies had to
change practices that initially appeared
to be in their own self-interest, but they
ultimately gained because their total
markets expanded. Similarly, regula-
tions of the Food and Drug Adminis-
tration and the Department of Agricul-
ture forced all companies to meet prod-
uct quality and safety standards that
some producers found objectionable.
But such regulations helped create the
consumer confidence that was essential
to mass markets for most packaged
foods, drugs, and household products.
Can this pattern also apply to cur-
rently proposed social and environmen-
74
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tal regulations? I feel it can. Consider
the following possibilities:
• When electric utilities install air
and thermal depollution equipment,
their rate bases need to be increased
(to maintain their return on invest-
ment), thus allowing higher prices, dol-
lar profits, and taxes. Power use for in-
stalled capacity is quite insensitive to
small price changes, especially in the
power-short East, where pollution is
worst. Consequently, power companies,
construction groups, and depollution
equipment suppliers all gain (and pay
increased taxes). And jobs are created
in the area, with corresponding multi-
plier effects on all household and con-
sumer items—including electric appli-
ances.
• More stringent radioactive emis-
sion and waste disposal standards—
which recent cases indicate nuclear pro-
ducers can already meet—would in-
crease confidence in atomic power
plants and thus expand the market for
them.
In short, the net effect of government
regulation can be to express, through
political processes, fragmented demands
that individual consumers cannot effec-
tively express in the market-place.
Proper regulation can create new pri-
mary markets which contribute to na-
tional growth in the same way as a new
product innovation. Just as television
satisfied a latent demand for visual
home entertainment, safety and depollu-
tion devices can fulfill latent demands
for personal health and other intangible
"qualities of life." Effective regulations
simply aggregate these demands to a
sufficient level to call forth the produc-
tive resources needed to satisfy them.
Needless to say, all government regu-
lations affecting products and services
do not create new market opportunities.
They certainly do not if standards are
developed, administered, or enforced in
an illogical or haphazard manner. The
point is that the potential often exists
for regulation to increase total market
opportunities, rather than to hinder or
thwart real economic growth. But gov-
ernment and industry action is neces-
sary to bring out this potential.
Costs vs. markets
Clearly, improved environmental
quality and public services are not free.
What portion of proposed expenditures
consists of self-supporting new markets?
And what portion is really an increase
in national overhead?
There is no question that each sew-
age treatment plant, air scrubber, or
cooling tower represents a cost to its
owners—as opposed to dumping waste
into the environment. This is why so
little action has been taken in the past.
How, then, can depollution be anything
but an added cost to society?
Environmental improvement can cre-
ate self-sustaining domestic markets for
better health care, housing, education,
transportation or depollution systems.
If people really want such benefits, they
must be willing to pay for them just as
they would pay for hair styling, mod
clothes, or snowmobiles.
But can the values of growth more
than offset the overhead costs of (a)
collecting and dispensing needed funds
and (b) regulating industrial practice
when necessary? Assuming that our so-
ciety has underemployed human and
fiscal resources, each additional person
employed in a new or expanded indus-
try creates three or four new jobs in
service and support industries, including
retail and wholesale trades. If each of
these people and their employers are
paying taxes, it is not hard to see that
the additional revenues from these
groups alone could pay for the over-
head costs of their industry—and, in-
deed, for a large portion of the new
services themselves.
Add to this the employment and in-
novative effects of a generally higher
demand level, and enough expansion
could occur to exceed all of the costs
of new public markets.
Serving the public market
Under the specified conditions, the
industries serving public markets be-
come self-sustaining. Buyers pay the
full cost of the benefits they receive,
and the new industries do not become
a drain on other sectors. It is plain
fallacy to state that if people choose
75
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to spend part of their incomes on parks
or health, this will somehow increase
the cost structure for steel or chemi-
cals. Even when the regulatory ap-
proach is used—for example, in depol-
lution—buyers, not producers, ulti-
mately pay the cost of services de-
manded. Producers actually have an
opportunity to sell a product with
greater value added; i.e., their product
plus environmental improvement—just
the kind of opportunity most are nor-
mally seeking.
The growth process just described is
not immutable, of course. Two assump-
tions are vital: (a) the demands ex-
pressed through public purchases or
pressures must be stronger than those
substituted for: and (b) there must be
some slack in the economy, i.e., some
underemployment of people and capital.
Otherwise the new industry would
merely take away from one or more
existing ones, and no real growth would
result. But even when resources are
limited, the public can increase the
value (or utility) it receives—if it sub-
stitutes marginally important public
purchases for less desired private con-
sumption.
Note, that added capacity usually is
available. There are unemployed people
who want and are able to work. There
are employees who, with training or
better management, could become more
productive. Investments could be made
in new technologies that would free
employees for work in other areas; and
so on. So long as conditions like these
are present, the environmental-improve-
ment industry can add to GNP as other
new industries have in the past.
Sizing up the costs
Actually the nation is already ab-
sorbing many costs that would be elimi-
nated or reduced with environmental
improvement. Polluted riverbeds and
estuaries cause reductions of fishing,
recreation and housing-development po-
tentialities that may be greater than de-
pollution costs. Air pollution leads to
physical plant depreciation, acidification
of soil, cleaning bills, personal discom-
fort, and deteriorated health. And in-
adequate air traffic systems cost millions
of dollars in personal delays and extra
equipment operating costs, not to men-
tion human life.
All of this is little comfort to the
company, community, or individual
who must suddenly pay the cost of a
new depollution system. If a unit has
capital, it could presumably devote its
funds to purposes that yield more di-
rect and shorter-term gains. However,
many companies—including some
prime producers of toxic effluents in
the air—could pass depollution costs
along, with little or no negative impact
on profits. And many basic processing
companies have found that they actu-
ally save money when forced to inno-
vate in response to environmental con-
trols. To illustrate:
• American Cyanamid Company is
using new processes in Polk County,
Florida that return ecologically harmful
and unsightly phosphate strip mines to
usable purposes, yet reduce costs by
as much as one third.
• Dow Chemical Company recently
reported that to date it has almost al-
ways found ways to lower costs when
it improved effluent controls.
In many industries primary demand
is relatively unchanged by small indus-
trywide price changes—although similar
price shifts by any one producer could
cause a substantial shift in selective de-
mand. In such cases, minor cost in-
creases caused by depollution or safety
regulations—applying to all produc-
ers—could be passed along in prices
with a negligible impact on individual
producers. Even in industries with
higher depollution costs, demand shifts
may be limited if there are no feasible
substitute products or if functional com-
petitors' costs increase by a similar
amount.
Nevertheless, there will be some very
real costs as society shifts its energies
to environmental improvement. The fol-
lowing seem to be most important:
1. Lower growth in private demand
for certain goods and services will un-
doubtedly occur in the short run.
2. Displacement costs can hit indi-
vidual companies or communities hard.
76
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For example, marginal companies in
small towns may lack the capital needed
to meet new regulations.
3. Small price changes may seriously
affect some industries' primary demand.
This occurs when another product or
service can be easily substituted for
the one in use—for example, coal for
oil in power plants. In these cases, siz-
able industrywide displacements could
result from increased investments or
operating costs due to new standards.
In time, this displacement would be
absorbed by the growth in the indus-
tries with the substitute products or
services.
4. Government bureaucracies could
become an expensive result of environ-
mental-improvement programs.
Softening the blow
The first three costs are merely char-
acteristics of a market economy under-
going a demand change. If we really
mean to have a market economy, the
consequences of shifts to public de-
mands should be accepted in the same
vein as private consumption shifts. And
the temporary distress these changes
create can be relieved in familiar ways,
such as stretching out the impact of
the change, providing temporary tax re-
lief, imposing short-term quotas, or
helping communities injured by indus-
try displacement. All of these have long
been standard tools of public policy.
But, as soon as possible, such sup-
ports should be dropped so that each
industry and company is competing on
its own merits and absorbing its full
costs. Society must ultimately pay—
through higher prices, if necessary—
for the added demands it places on
producers. In a market economy the
impact of these choices should be dis-
tributed through industry by the price
mechanims, with each company and in-
dustry absorbing the full cost of its
existence.
International competition poses some
special problems. For example, although
the depollution industry could become
s-lf-sustaining on a domestic basis, in-
dividual producers' costs could increase
vis-a-vis competitors in foreign coun-
tries with lower environmental stand-
ards. Foreign products shipped into the
United States would, of course, be sub-
ject to U.S. product standards (e.g.,
automobile safety). But lower produc-
tion costs—from more lax pollution
standards—could allow equivalent for-
eign products to enter with a price
advantage. And U.S.-made products
would face similar price disadvantages
in most overseas markets. The net im-
pact on U.S. balances of trade and
payments would undoubtedly be nega-
tive in the short run.
The problem is very real and should
not be minimized. Still, it is mitigated
by several factors. For one thing, a
number of important U.S. companies
overseas have production bases that can
help them to relieve these cost disad-
vantages. For another, some of the in-
dustries most affected by environmental-
improvement costs—for instance, elec-
tric utilities and basic process indus-
tries—are either not large exporters or
are insulated from foreign competition
by high transportation costs. Also, many
important exports—like high technology
products—should be relatively unaf-
fected by environmental costs unless
basic materials represent a high per-
centage of their cost. Finally, some
U.S. antipollution devices and proc-
esses should become highly salable ex-
ports in themselves.
Another alleviating factor is that for-
eign countries too are becoming highly
sensitive to ecological needs. Effluent
charges have long been used along the
Rhine river. Great Britain is now im-
plementing a program for cleaning up
the Thames and other rivers by means
of better effluent control; Italy has
drafted legislation that will control the
pollution of its inland water systems
through the construction of purification
plants; and Sweden now requires new
plants to incorporate the latest tech-
nology for pollution control. There are
many other such examples.1 Actions
like these will certainly help equalize
international competition.
Nevertheless, some U.S. industries
will doubtless need temporary quotas,
tax relief, or other protection. Multi-
77
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national agreements on "off-sets" for
relative pollution standards seem too
difficult to achieve within the time span
needed.
Restructuring the markets
In this country, there has long been
a demand for improved refuse, sewage
treatment, transportation, medical, edu-
cational, housing, and recreational sys-
tems. More recently the public has de-
manded industrial water, air, effluent,
and safety systems. However, these de-
mands have not been converted into
effective markets that producers can
sensibly anticipate and serve. No one
can now predict exactly how these mar-
kets can ultimately be best structured.
In many ways today's public market
mechanisms are as undeveloped as con-
sumer mass marketing was in the
1890's. But given a proper outlook, in-
dustry and government can together
develop needed solutions—just as they
evolved the social innovations that per-
mitted mass private markets. Let us ex-
amine some of the main problems and
most encouraging current trends.
New political units
Precinct, town, county, and state
units provide the electoral base for
politicians and the funding base for
taxation. But the boundaries of these
units bear no relationship to today's
public purchasing or regulatory prob-
lems. For example, water depollution
may require consistent policies for a
multistate river basin; air pollution
abatement may require coordination on
a broader regional basis; and so on.
Our traditional political units compli-
cate the processes of: (a) obtaining
popular support for taxes needed on a
regional level; (b) standardizing sys-
tems, components, and building specifi-
cations to achieve scale economies; (c)
developing administrative units to over-
see and/or manage regional expendi-
tures; and (d) setting priorities among
programs at a regional or national
level.
But recently a new level of quasi-
governmental "authorities" has evolved
to coordinate action on specific func-
tions or problems throughout the areas
they affect. These authorities include
river basin commissions, air quality
agencies, regional transportation com-
missions, emergency service coordina-
tors, port authorities, and so forth.
Although not completely effective
now, these regional bodies may eventu-
ally provide a much-needed decision
mechanism for many new public mar-
kets. The big questions are whether
they will be properly funded and
whether they can force a reasonable de-
gree of uniformity and coordination on
local political units. If Congress uses
these regional bodies to enforce na-
tional standards, and channels the bulk
of its environmental funds through
them, they could have enormous im-
pact. Many county and state regulatory
and purchasing functions could dimin-
ish in importance or disappear. And
new mechanisms would be necessary for
people to adequately express their pref-
erence on priorities for the regional
authorities themselves. This poses for-
midable problems.
Improved political practices
Political decisions often seem to be
keyed more to creating local headlines
or maintaining power positions than to
solving problems. Legislators frequently
support this year's flashy ideas—the
ones with high current visibility or emo-
tional content—while prosaic tasks with
a higher pay-off limp along. These fads
often move too rapidly and inconsist-
ently for industrial suppliers to risk
development funds on them or to effec-
tively plan other needed responses.
The problem is especially perplexing
in new fields of government action like
this one of environmental improvement.
For a company to make the required
long-term commitments, it needs some
real assurance of long-term consistency
in government regulations or fiscal sup-
port. Some answers to the latter may
lie in trust funds, effluent fees, and fee-
for-s;rvice pricing by public corpora-
tions. Although still experimental, such
devices could provide relatively inde-
pendent long-term financing for specific
environmental improvements. Such
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funding, effectively administered
through professional regional authori-
ties, could eventually decentralize pub-
lic-spending decisions to the degree
needed to assure rational public mar-
kets.
Poorly formulated political standards
have also been counterproductive. For
example:
• Many informed observers feel that
Congress' decision 'to move 1980 auto
exhaust standards ahead to 1975 was
made with inadequate recognition of
some very serious technological prob-
lems faced by manufacturers. It may
well be technically unfeasible to meet
these standards without prohibitive price
increases or solutions that markedly in-
crease fuel consumption. Automotive
company protests were ignored because
Detroit had lost credibility during its
earlier protests against pollution stand-
ards.
Actions like this erode the confidence
of all parties and make rational prog-
ress difficult. Companies become de-
fensive and will promise nothing in the
fear that politicians will always demand
more. Government agencies become
frustrated by company intransigence
and confused as to whether standards
are real or merely strawmen. And the
public becomes cynical as promised
standards are never met or enforced.
Political factors will always enter
regulatory and public expenditure deci-
sions. But more thoughtful business
leadership could (a) anticipate and
avoid many crisis situations, and (b)
actively stimulate programs that offer
growth in markets and public well-
being.
Better public management
Ineffective administration and poor
planning have often overwhelmed well-
intended public programs. Early public
housing programs are a case in point.
Individual programs often destroyed
more existing housing than they cre-
ated. Currently the negative "second
order consequences" of fertilizer, insec-
ticide, "green revolution," superhigh-
way, and welfare programs have been
astonishing.
There is a great need to manage
public expenditure programs better. Es-
pecially, new methods must be devel-
oped to measure the overall perform-
ance of regulatory and purchasing
agencies and their subunits. Without
such measures public administrators
must follow costly, detailed contracting
and internal control procedures that
make it difficult to pinpoint responsi-
bility and remove all efficiency incen-
tives from contracts or operations. Of
course, higher-caliber, professional and
technical managers are essential to cope
with planning, evaluation, and organiza-
tional problems at all agency levels. But
entirely new institutional forms and
management approaches are also need-
ed to streamline regulatory and public
purchasing agencies and to free them
from undue political influence on their
decisions.
What can business do?
Now, what can business executives
do—in their own self-interest—to help
achieve the needed changes?
First, public markets and environ-
mental controls must be approached as
major strategic issues and not be rele-
gated to back-bench decision makers.
These issues pose some of the most
critical opportunities and threats facing
private enterprise in the next few dec-
ades. As such, they require company-
wide—if not industrywide—perspective
and action. If companies do not respond
to public demands effectively, the pre-
rogatives of private enterprise can be
swept away or drastically changed here
as elsewhere. The threat is real. But
so are the opportunities. As Henry
Ford II said:
"The successful companies of the
last third of the twentieth century
will be the ones that look at chang-
es in their environment as oppor-
tunities to get a jump on the com-
petition. The successful companies
will be those that anticipate what
their customers, their dealers, their
employees and their many other
publics will want in the future,
instead of giving them what they
wanted in the past. . . . Triese are
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the companies that will earn the
highest profits for their stockhold-
ers by discharging their responsi-
bilities to the society." 2
Second, today's public demands can-
not be dismissed as fads. They result
from fundamental changes in popula-
tion concentrations and affluence that
will continue into the future. As one
set of public problems is "solved," these
and other forces will create new de-
mands, which in turn will create new
industries.
These new industries—to the extent
that they add to production—will create
some negative consequences. But, since
their central purpose is to improve en-
vironmental quality, their net impact
on the environment should be positive.
However, in any complex system in-
volving energy, manpower, and resourc-
es, there are likely to be some unpre-
dictable consequences which may them-
selves create new challenges.
Any sensible scheme to satisfy them
will leave essentially all production—
and most technological—choices in pri-
vate hands. But public groups must set
the performance specifications and ag-
gregate the resources to express public
demands. To be effective their activities
need aggressive business participation
and support. Too often business groups
—because of traditional thinking—have
resisted legislation that could be in their
own as well as the public's interest.
To illustrate:
• Oil companies put up a powerful
defense against the gasoline taxes that
became the Highway Trust Fund. Yet
this fund opened incredible growth op-
portunities for the industry.
Third, the notion of "business re-
sponsibility" alone will not solve cur-
rent social problems. To gain short-
term profits, some companies will al-
ways cut corners, struggle against safety
or pollution regulations, and dogmati-
cally resist public expenditures for
health, education, or environmental
quality. Some managements must lead
the way—as many have in the past—
to support social programs and to sur-
pass all imposed environmental stand-
ards. Their leadership is absolutely es-
sential to (a) create the favorable po-
litical environment so necessary for all
business, (b) stimulate and restructure
public markets to serve new public
demands, and (c) develop standards
that are economic and effective through-
out industry.
Marketing and credibility
Developing public markets requires
a consistent, long-term program. At the
outset the company must identify where
its own best opportunities lie. For con-
sumer product companies this may
merely involve promoting their product
and its safety or environmental benefits.
Public utilities may sell both their direct
services and cleaner air or a less clut-
tered skyline. Other companies may
need careful input/output or other
analyses to see how larger public mar-
kets could benefit their particular opera-
tions, so that each can then select the
few significant public opportunities it
can most sensibly influence.
The next step may be to stimulate a
deeper public awareness of what could
be done. Depending on the status of
public and political perceptions, fairly
low levels of advertising and public re-
lations may be adequate at this stage.
The power of such efforts in the public
sector seems generally underestimated.
The average person now spends more
time in contact with TV and other
media than in any other waking activity
except his job. And these media are
prime creators of personal values. If
even a small percentage of media mes-
sages emphasize public needs, people
could be vastly influenced. No single
company has to dilute its product mes-
sage appreciably, provided that others
in the industry are working in the same
direction. Interestingly, last year's enor-
mous dissemination of environmental
concern was probably achieved more by
sponsored TV programs—new and oth-
erwise—than by any other single force.
The same power can be used to stim-
ulate other public demands.
Once these demands begin to crys-
tallize, more direct political action is
possible. Responsible politicians have
more latitude for action. And, if a com-
80
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pany or industry has built up its public
credibility and has a thoroughly thought-
out position on key features of needed
legislation, it can effectively lobby or
participate in decisions covering public
markets or regulation.
Such a program would have eased
the problems of the automobile indus-
try. Despite the substantial technical
work the industry had done on environ-
mental questions, the companies did
not adjust automobile designs to miti-
gate growing public disenchantment
with air pollution and accident costs.
As political pressures built up for regu-
lation, managements became increasing-
ly defensive and emphasized the dif-
ficulty or impossibility of improved
performance. Their intransigence gave
their opponents added opportunities for
attack. Public impatience increased. The
industry lost credibility. And political
activists forced more stringent regula-
tions than would have been necessary.
Setting standards
In the environmental sphere, develop-
ment of effective standards are the keys
to progress. What specific approaches
should industry support in its—and the
public's—interest?
1. Nation-wide standards uniformly
enforced are essential. Otherwise, some
local groups may lower standards or
not have the political will or power to
enforce them. Such situations create
competitive inequities that reward those
who act most irresponsibly. National
standards also help build aggregate de-
mand for depollution devices and sys-
tems, enabling some suppliers to
achieve economies of scale, lower de-
pollution costs, and create the jobs, tax
revenues, and growth that could help
pay for environmental improvement.
2. Standards should be set 'well in
advance. Except in emergency cases like
severe mercury contamination, stand-
ards should normally be announced at
least three to five years before their
effective date, and broad guidelines
should be projected for a decade ahead.
Only then can company and town man-
agers minimize total costs by efficient
planning of utility and plant locations,
process changes, product designs, fund
raising, and capital commitments.
3. Performance specifications should
be used whenever possible. Material,
practice, or product specifications freeze
design and innovation. But functional
or performance specifications can ex-
press the results desired. Managers can
then choose the lowest-cost method for
achieving these results, given the par-
ticular resources and processes avail-
able. Performance standards also en-
courage the research, innovation, and
competition that can minimize total
safety and depollution costs for so-
ciety.
4. Federal fiscal policies should be
pointed toward the maintenance of total
economic growth during the changeover
period to help absorb displacements and
short-term profit drains. Such measures
combined with carefully phased intro-
duction of regulations could allow many
industries' overall growth rates to more
than offset substitution losses from
minor differences in depollution costs
among functionally competitive indus-
tries.
5. Healthy regulatory agencies are
essential for equity and progress in en-
vironmental control. But they must be
kept to minimum sizes, be exceedingly
well-staffed, and be open to public
scrutiny and policy review. Each major
environmental agency should have the
support of a competent technical lab-
oratory system.
Legislation establishing regulatory
agencies should define the physical goals
to be accomplished along with fixed
dates for achievement. And perform-
ance against these targets should be
monitored, at least annually, through
public reports. The entire mission of
each agency should be reviewed and
explicitly revised every five years to
recognize the fact that environmental
needs will constantly change.
Conclusions
Needed practices and institutional
changes will only come about if an in-
fluential segment of industry acts vig-
orously and consistently in its long-
term self-interest. The essential actions
81
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must come from the very top of the
organization. If taken in time, such
actions can be effective.
Top executives may have to make
some critical changes in marketing at-
titudes and management controls to give
public-market programs needed momen-
tum. New-product efforts toward en-
vironmental improvement may need
special long-term recognition and sup-
port at the corporate level—such as
Carborundum and other companies
have already begun to give them. And
current profit and return-on-investment
standards in operating divisions may
need adjusting to allow the long-term
investments in research, marketing, pub-
lic relations, lobbying, and public ac-
tion programs that help build their
public markets. Further action may
be needed to insure that middle man-
agers do not cut regulatory corners
to increase short-term profits. Com-
panies seeking to build public markets
will have to accept—and even encour-
age—environmental control over their
own operations.
The public will not clean up dumps
and sewage spills unless industries con-
trol their effluents. And both water and
air depollution campaigns are integrally
intertwined with other demands for
better overall health care and recrea-
tional opportunities. These cannot be
separated from transportation, open
space, and housing demands, which in
turn relate to traffic control, urban de-
velopment, and other public-service
commitments, including education. In
short, these huge markets interlock and
grow together—and whether they grow
to become opportunities or threats de-
pends on how industry responds to
them.
Every new public demand for en-
vironmental improvement represents an
unexploited primary market. Companies
must take positive action to convert
these demands into viable opportunities.
Properly developed, such markets can
be financed from the economic growth
they permit; they need not create mas-
sive social overheads, as so many people
assume. But improperly developed, they
can become tax sinks, regulatory night-
mares, and bureaucratic potholes that
sap the resources of our whole society.
The choice is largely up to business
leadership.
Notes for
Paper 8
'See Theodore Swanson, "Europe Cleans
House," The Lamp, Spring 1971, p. 38.
2 The Human Environment and Business
(New York, Weybright and Tallejr Inc.,
1970), p. 63.
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11.9 Incremen
talism
and environ-
mentalism
Charles Lindblom *
In simplest form, the answer to the
question "How are we to translate
broad goals and comprehensive plans
into action programs" is "Don't!" That
does not mean that I oppose action
programs. I support action programs.
I also advocate planning. What I bridle
at is stress on the breadth of goal and
the comprehensiveness of plan.
The axiom that plans ought to be
comprehensive and goals ought to be
broad which is an axiom many of us
take for granted, indicates that the
study of planning and policy making
and the practice of them are still in
their infancy. On any kind of sober
view of how to go about planning and
goal setting, two attributes of action
programs to beware of are breadth
and comprehensiveness.
As I see the world of policy-making
or the study of decision-making, there
are fundamentally — speaking very
broadly — two hypothetical alternative
approaches to making intelligent deci-
sions on complex matters. The first is
to aspire with never-ending frustration
to be comprehensive, broad and com-
plete, to wrap up together all aspects of
a program, to master it intellectually,
to comprehend it in all aspects. To suc-
ceed in this is, however, in actual fact
impossible. For any complex problem,
it cannot be done. I am not on that
point idiosyncratic. If you examine
some of the rich contributions to the
literature on policy-making and deci-
*Presented by Charles Lindblom, Pro-
fessor, Yale University, at the National
Conference on Managing the Environment.
sion-making, particularly in the last ten
or fifteen years, you will see that an
increasing number of people recognize
that these are really foolish aspirations,
since one cannot be comprehensive, one
cannot be complete, one cannot be com-
pletely broad (only erratically broad)
for complex problems.
Selective decision-making
The alternative and feasible method,
therefore, of getting into action pro-
grams, or thinking intelligently, or act-
ing intelligently, on complex problems—
the problems we face in the public
policy and environmental fields—is to
be discriminating, selective, corner cut-
ting, tricky, cunning, strategic, and tac-
tical. The second broad alternative is
to recognize that we must reach a de-
cision before we have intellectually
mastered the problem and that we will
somehow have to make a decision and
begin to act long before all the facts
are in. We shall have to come to some
kind of conclusion long before we can
achieve any kind of comprehensive or
broad mastery of a plan.
What a skillful planner ought to do
consequently is to ask, "What are the
defensible, skillful, or tactically useful
ways to cut corners? What are the de-
fensible ways, to put it crudely, to botch
a job, since all policy-making is going
to be botched to some significant de-
gree?" The decision maker must face
up to the fact that he is going to make
mistakes. He must decide, therefore,
how to pick and choose among ele-
ments of his problem in order to de-
vise in some skillful, imaginative way
a realizable solution. His will be a
method full of error, but errors that
are somehow easier to live with or
more correctable than others or errors
that give him more feedback informa-
tion for future decision steps than do
others. Skill in policy-making, talent,
inventiveness, or genius is not in pur-
suing the will-o'the-wisp of breadth and
comprehensiveness, but in developing a
kind of low cunning or brilliance in
improvisation, in tactics for corner cut-
ting, in learning a high degree of se-
lectivity and discrimination, in making
83
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up highly focused rather than broad
attacks on problems. Good action pro-
grams should lay out sequences of at-
tacks, so that sustained attack may be
sustained in the face of repeated in-
evitable error and in fact draw infor-
mation through feedback from that
error to make the sustained attack in-
creasingly well-focused and precise.
Planning as scholarly group therapy
Why planners resist the common sense
choice between the impossible and the
possible—why they often persist in
broad goals and comprehensive plans—
needs explaining. Several considera-
tions throw light on why we are wed-
ded to the old-fashioned axiom that
the way to be intelligent about policy
is to be broad and comprehensive, in-
stead of selective and strategic.
One is that this old axiom is conven-
tional scholarly wisdom. We draw our
canons of good policy making proce-
dures from the scientific method. In a
conventional understanding of the sci-
entific method, man attempts to grasp,
to master, to understand, to compre-
hend. Consequently, all the prestige of
science bolsters the conventional notion
that these are virtues for policy makers
too, regardless of the complexity of
policy problems when compared to the
relatively constrained scientific prob-
lems that most scientists deal with in
their own academic work.
Second, modest and realistic tactical
or strategic selective approach to policy
is painstaking hard work and not very
exciting. It requires that social change
be smuggled into the social system,
rather than introduced with flags flying.
Many of us recoil from meticulous, per-
sistent repair work and lunge off in the
direction of glamorous comprehensive
plans. We may do so for the same
reason that many people enjoy buying
something new as therapy. Comprehen-
sive planning is one of the great thera-
pies of hard-pressed policy-makers. It
is a way of getting into something fresh
and new. Among its other attractions
are the minor therapies of white paper
and unsoiled notes instead of messy old
files and the dismal record of past
failures.
A third reason for a bias toward the
broad and comprehensive is that most
of us believe that because we became
involved in our environmental difficul-
ties piecemeal, we shall have to get out
comprehensively. If piecemeal gradual-
ism was the way that we blundered
into our environmental problems, then
clearly we shall have to devise some
other method to get out.
Clearly the argument contains a fal-
lacy. We did fall into our environ-
mental problems through piecemeal
gradualism. That still leaves open the
possibility that the same route is the
only route out of the problems. There
are no logical defenses for "in one
door, out another."
Everything is connected . . .
but to what?
Finally, many of us resist selective,
highly focused programs because we
now understand that the environment
is all interconnected. It is a system. We
are deeply impressed as we have never
been before with the interrelation of
parts. Believing, then, that everything
is interconnected, we fall into the logi-
cal fallacy of believing the only way
to improve those interconnections is to
deal with them all at once.
Clearly, everything is connected. But
because everything is connected, it is
bsyond our capacity to manipulate var-
iables comprehensively. Because every-
thing is interconnected, the whole of
the environmental problem is beyond
our capacity to control in one unified
policy. We have to find critical points
of intervention—tactically defensible, or
strategically defensible points of inter-
vention.
I have presented two models—the
traditional, conventionally scientific
method of policy-making, and the other,
the much more highly selective, incre-
mental, tacitcal focused method of
policy-making. There is no doubt about
which one we can more skillfully ex-
ploit.
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11.10 Decision-
making for
environmental
quality
Peter W. House *
Rather than assume the initiative, our
society tends to react passively to en-
vironmental problems. Pollution is treat-
ed as a problem to be corrected not
avoided. The instinct is for each Fed-
eral, State or local agency to treat in-
dividual environmental problems as
separate entities and to concentrate on
short-range crises rather than long-
range trends. This approach is ineffi-
cient, not only because of its tendency
to duplicate efforts, but also because it
ignores the fact that pollution abate-
ment problems are long term, inter-
twined and mutually dependent. One
problem cannot be attacked without
having a short- or long-range impact
on several others.
This paper will consider the two re-
lated concepts of comprehensive plan-
ning and long-range planning as they
relate to environmental efforts. Compre-
hensive decision-making is concerned
not only with the local impact of deci-
sions but also with the effects of a
policy decision throughout the entire
system. Long-range decision-making
takes into account the full time-frame
necessary for the total significant im-
pact of a decision to be felt.
Competition vs. planning
These two concepts are not uniformly
implemented by all levels of decision-
*Peter W. House, Ph. D., is Director of
the Environmental Studies Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. This
paper was presented at the Sixth Hawaii
International Conference on System Sci-
ences (HICSS-6) January 9-11, 1973.
makers. For example, individual gov-
ernmental departments or private firms
tend to be primarily interested in their
own survival or growth. The competi-
tion at these levels is, by its very nature,
not conducive to cooperative, compre-
hensive planning. The decision maker
at a higher policy level does, however,
have an interest in cooperation since
his main strategy is to maximize the
quality of life of his constituency. His
interest is in getting agencies to work
together to improve (at least marginal-
ly) the conditions of life in the area.
While social strategies ought to be
judged in terms of long-run quality-of-
life measurements, such measurements
and goal statements are not universally
agreed upon, nor are the sacrifices that
the goals may require acceptable to all.
Since most of the severe pollution
problems are associated with urban
areas, efforts at comprehensive planning
and at avoiding detrimental side effects
from environmental correction actions
are complicated by the complex and
dynamic nature of urban existence.
Consequently, this paper will begin by
discussing the effectiveness of existing
pollutant - oriented decision - making as
contrasted with a more system-wide or
"holistic" approach. The second section
provides a brief overview of the histor-
ical development of both urban areas
and urban theory, presenting those
areas as dynamic systems and illustrat-
ing the impact which prevailing urban
theory has upon the environmental de-
cision-making process. Urban environ-
mental planning is the focus of the
third section, reflecting the earlier dis-
cussion of decision making and the ur-
ban theory. Finally, the problem of
planning in a rapidly changing environ-
ment is discussed from the decision-
maker's viewpoint.
Framework for decision-making:
the comprehensive approach
Decision-making in environmental
matters must be done with an overview
of the system-wide application of each
decision—a holistic approach. This is
made obvious by two factors: the na-
ture of the pollution process and the
85
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cumulative impact that urbanization,
population growth and economic devel-
opment have on pollution levels.
The pollution/natural cleansing proc-
ess in the environment reaches a critical
breakdown point (in lakes the process
is called eutrification) when the natural
system is overloaded with more waste
matter than can be absorbed and re-
cycled. When this happens each indi-
vidual pollutant may augment the dam-
age caused by other pollutants and
thus compound the damage to the sys-
tem as a whole. To be most effective,
therefore, the enivronmental decision-
making must concern itself with the
sources and interactions of all forms
of pollution rather than simply treating
each pollutant as a separate problem.
The second factor encouraging a
more comprehensive system-wide ap-
proach to environmental decision-mak-
ing involves the dynamic and cumula-
tive effect of population levels, eco-
nomic growth and urbanization on pol-
lution trends. A growth in any of these
three factors can result in an even
larger proportional growth in pollu-
tion. Consequently, attempts to curb
pollution should recognize the com-
plex, dynamic interactions between eco-
nomic and demographic factors that add
to environmental problems.1 Prior to
discussing the urban situation, however,
it is necessary to investigate the deci-
sion-making apparatus itself.
Two approaches to decision-making
The decision-making activities of the
Federal, regional and local environ-
mental commissions are often notable
for their reactive tenor. They "react" to
specific pollution crises or polluting
agents with action decisions intended to
alleviate the crisis while minimizing
their disruptive impact on existing in-
stitutions. On the other hand, the origi-
nal mandate given the Environmental
Protection Agency and the Council on
Environmental Quality was to look at
the environment from a comprehensive
or holistic point of view. The National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 au-
thorizes and directs that all agencies
of the Federal Government shall utilize
an interdisciplinary approach to assess
every major program, project or piece
of legislation which might have a sig-
nificant environmental impact.
The differences between situation-
oriented decision making and systems-
oriented decision making are illustrated
in Figure 1. This illustration demon-
strates both the short- and the long-
range effects of these two types of de-
cision making. In the short run (i.e.,
situation 1 and 2 arrive simultaneous-
ly), situation-oriented planning treats
each problem (in this case a polluting
agent) as a separate entity. As such, a
duplication of efforts may result, or
two programs might be working against
each other. A comprehensive approach
could avoid such wasted effort by treat-
ing each situation as part of a larger
structure, defining the relationship be-
tween situations, and finding common
solutions to multiple problems. In the
long run, the holistic approach might
avoid the possibility of the solution
to one problem creating or compli-
cating other problems.
In general, this decision process in-
cludes: (1) perception of the environ-
ment, (2) definition of the purpose of
the changes one wishes to effect in the
environment, and (3) design of the
acts whereby the environment will be
altered. Perception of a problem or a
situation in need of an improvement is
the first step and is a function of the
individual's, group's, or society's pre-
vailing value system. It is only in
terms of such a value system that
judgments can be made as to the nature
of the situation and the immediacy of
the need for action.
If planning is viewed as simply a
problem-solving device, then the em-
phasis will be on changing the en-
vironment while leaving the value sys-
tem untouched. If, on the other hand,
planning is viewed as a continuous long-
range organization of progress through-
out the environment, it is necessary to
consider changes in the value system
as well as the environment to keep the
two in harmony.
86
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FIGURE I.—COMPREHENSIVE VS. FRAGMENTED DECISION-MAKING
DECISION MAKERS:
POLLUTION PROBLEMS:
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS:
Either the same agency at
different times, or two differ-
ent agencies at the same
time.
Fragmented Approach
The Comprehensive Approach
Fragmented Approach
A comprehensive approach to decision-making looks to finding the solution which will have the least negative (or most positive) affects on
the entire system. Solutions which work against other solution (A,-A) are identified and avoided.
-------
Long-range planning
Given the extreme complexity of
those factors which affect environ-
mental quality and the dynamic chang-
es constantly being introduced into the
system by social and technological de-
velopments, accurate long-range plan-
ning is becoming an increasingly diffi-
cult task. But, at the same time, it
is becoming even more necessary. A
century or more in the past when
changes were less radical and occurred
more slowly, a simple extrapolation
based on then-prevailing patterns could
be made by planners—with a high de-
gree of confidence. Today, however,
major social and technological changes
occur with such rapidity that long-
range plans are made only with a high
degree of uncertainty regarding their
relevance in terms of distant future
conditions.2
This uncertainty is being lesssened to
some extent by the increasing power of
our society to mold the future. Govern-
mental decision-makers are becoming
increasingly conscious of this power
to control the future. In some areas
environmental concerns (for example,
the shape of transportation, water qual-
ity and energy production and con-
sumption) are being committed decades
into the future. Such extensive, long-
range planning efforts to mold the
future require a continuous, consistent
and cooperative pursuit on the part of
the decision makers involved.
Such consistent pursuit of a long-
range goal may give rise to serious con-
flicts of future interests with the in-
terests that motivate the original plan.
In periods of rapid change, contem-
porary planners are locking future citi-
zens into forms which are being dic-
tated by present, not future, interests.
This "imperialism" on the part of con-
temporary planners requires that they
make every effort to consider future
evolving interests as they create their
plans, and to somehow make the plan
sensitive to evolving interest patterns.
As if such considerations were not
sufficient to overwhelm most long-range
planning, it should be remembered that
all of this interest-weighing is taking
place within the context of the political
system. This system imposes severe
constraints on the planning process. In
cases where the future condition of a
system is poorly defined, the tendency
of the government is to adopt a "wait-
and-see" attitude while the situation
ripens. Thus, a problem may be allowed
to develop into a crisis before any
remedial action is taken, and the long-
range planner is wasting his breath if
he cannot support his warnings with
proof that the problem in question will
definitely damage the interests of a sig-
nificant socio-political grouping unless
acted upon immediately.
Another problem imposed on the
long-range planning process by our po-
litical system is the tendency of some
elected officials to over-promise and
under-deliver. This proclivity has jaded
the public and made them skeptical of
any long-term analysis coming from
governmental sources. As a result, espe-
cially in the environmental area, people
are reluctant to make present sacrifices
for future benefits.
The urban phenomenon
As mentioned earlier, urban areas,
with their high concentration of people,
transportation facilities and industry,
have been a major focus of pollution
control efforts.
It is beneficial to the urban environ-
mental manager to have an under-
standing of the popular theories of
urban growth and how these theories
are evolving—not only to improve his
understanding of the development of
urban areas, but also to develop an
appreciation of how the planner con-
ceives of urban growth. For these rea-
sons, the following section will con-
sider the development of cities and of
urban theory.
Explanations of why cities are lo-
cated in particular places have generally
divid:d into two theories: the central
place theory and the "break-in-trans-
portation" theory. The central place
theory views cities as regional service
centers which provide goods and serv-
ices for the agricultural hinterland.
88
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The specific locus of these cities is de-
pendent on the topography of the re-
gion approaching a central position as
the terrain becomes more uniform.
The "break-in-transportation" theory
is quite similar, relating the location of
cities to points in the transportation
system which require a change in the
mode of travel, e.g., land to water,
road to rail, etc. These places, referred
to as "break-of-bulk locations" often
grew where it was necessary to do the
phyical work of loading and unloading
cargo. They became not merely a meet-
ing of transportation modes but also
served as centers for the processing
of various goods." Numerous other rea-
sons have been given for urban loca-
tions, including political considerations,
religious factors, and so forth.
Moving from analyses of urban loca-
tion to urban development, a compre-
hensive analysis of city growth stages
is presented by Wilbur Thompson's four
stages of urban growth. These stages
are: (1) the town is largely built
around a single industry or firm; (2)
the "company town," if the industry or
plant is successful, grows to include
other industries which either handle
some phase of the manufacturing proc-
ess of the original firm or require the
output of the parent firm; (3) the local
economy begins to expand and to sup-
ply its own local needs through other
industries; (4) the city becomes the
controlling node of a group of cities
and now exports not only the goods
supplied by the original firm and its
later symbiants, but also exports serv-
ices to the surrounding cities which are
still too small to support their own.*
It is important to note that each of
these stages of industrial-commercial
growth has shaped the character and
form of urban areas. Decisions made
by present-day decision-makers should
take into consideration that their locale
is only at a point in its development
and should not regard the present as a
constant.
The urban pattern and its concurrent
theoretical descriptions can be viewed
as having progressed through four
states: (1) the clear-cut rural-urban
dichotomy; (2) the development of
cities with identified hinterlands, where
both areas are still clearly distinguish-
able; (3) the development of the metro-
politan area where the city fades grad-
ually into the rural countryside; and
(4) the growth of large numbers of
multiple nuclei resulting in no clear
city or rural distinction in the metro-
politan area. The growth and develop-
ment of urban land forms thus follows
an observable pattern.5 This growth pat-
tern determines the distribution of land
uses within the city itself, and hence
the impact, both localized and regional,
of the city upon its natural environ-
ment. (See Figure 2)"
Urban problems are moving targets
Ignoring urban dynamics has led to
the concentration of pollution-control
efforts on the immediate symptoms of
the problem. Many such efforts are
now, or eventually will prove to be,
ineffective in the long run. Ignoring
the complexity of urban forces has re-
sulted in pollution-alleviation efforts in
one sector which have either aggravated
problems in another sector, or have
created new and undesirable forces.
For example, the attack on air pollu-
tion has been conducted by a variety of
agencies each with responsibility over
some aspect of air quality control. The
lack of a holistic approach to urban air
quality efforts can have a far-reaching
impact on the rest of the urban environ-
ment. For instance, added mass transit
facilities, if electrically powered, place
increased strains on power generation
stations during peak-use hours. This
can cause power companies to employ
older generators or less clean fuels thus,
again, adding to air pollution. The spe-
cific examples are almost endless.7
A condition similar to the air quality
example exists in the area of urban solid
waste treatment. The solid wastes which
are of greatest concern to urban areas
are municipal refuse, industrial wastes,
and the solid residue remaining after
volume reduction operations on liquid
and solid wastes.
Of an estimated national annual solid
waste total of 3.6 billion tons, almost
89
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FIGURE 2.
200 million tons are household waste or
4.3 pounds per person, per day. The
collection and disposal of municipal
and industrial wastes cost approximately
$4.5 billion per year. As a result of our
improving standard of living and the
trend toward disposal products, it is
estimated that each of us will be dis-
carding eight pounds of solid waste a
day by 1980.8
Here again is an example of the in-
terrelatedness of urban environmental
problems. Refuse collection is far more
difficult in the central city because of
traffic problem which contributes sub-
stantially to air pollution impairs the
freedom of refuse vehicles to move ef-
fectively along their routes. Finally
incinerators currently in use represent
another "problem" to the central city
principally in their inadequacies and
in their contribution to air pollution.
As a result of the uncoordinated
effort, pure improvement is rare. In-
stead, improvement in one area often
causes deterioration in another. More
research is needed to coordinate efforts
and obtain the most dssirable long-term
results with the most efficient methodol-
ogy. Less work, in a relative sense,
should be done to "band-aid" the prob-
lem.
Long-range planning
in a changing world
Planning is a process of projection
under uncertainty. The projections are
based upon present data and knowledge
90
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with continued monitoring and replan-
ning as necessitated by a changing en-
vironment. The planning process should
be dynamic in application.
The purpose of the environmentally
conscious planner is to develop a meth-
odology that avoids conditions which
would significantly damage the "quality
of life" as perceived by this and future
generations.
There are three characteristics of ef-
fective planning: First, plans are direct-
ed toward creating new norms and val-
ues which will be more conducive to
environmental harmony. Second, goals
are set with a view toward their feasi-
bility given the available resources.
Third, administrative capabilities are
created to implement desired strategies
in terms of the priorities, schedules, etc.
In dynamic planning, periodic re-
assessments are carried out to assure
that planned activities remain consis-
tent with the evolving facts (the data
base). Through these reassessments, the
planning process evolves in a self-regu-
latory fashion. The next stage in the
process sounds as though it were formu-
lated with a "buzzword generator."
Nonetheles, an improved environ-
mental planning technique would take
a holistic approach involving a multi-
media, comprehensive, and long-term
analysis of the situation. The tools and
methods that exist, however, permit no
more than a beginning for such a
task. (See Figure 3)
Figure 3 is adapted from the Inter-
national City Management Associations'
book entitled, Principles and Practice of
Urban Planning. The diagram suggests
an approach that can be used by the
state or local planners to prepare a
standard comprehensive plan, which
considers the environmental impacts of
the plan. The comprehensive plan, if
well-conceived and supported by the
populace, is a powerful instrument of
policy guidance and control. Under
such conditions it sets boundaries for
the local citizenry and developers as
the area moves through time. Concom-
itantly, it sets goals for the policy
maker to maintain and foster, if he is
to remain popularly elected. Research is
currently underway to devise a tech-
nique for preparing an environmental
impact statement on a total compre-
hensive plan rather than on each in-
dividual project. If such a technique
can be implemented, the synergistic, as
well as the direct, effects of decisions
can be more readily taken into con-
sideration. Several efforts within the
EPA and elsewhere have begun re-
search in the areas of designing and
perfecting such analytical techniques.
Barriers to environmental planning
There are several reasons why plan-
ning for the environment is generally
not carried out on either a compre-
hensive or long-range basis. In no case
are the following general rules sug-
gested as exhaustive but they do serve
to illustrate the range of possibilities.
(A) Those who are professionally
concerned with environmental issues,
as well as those whose interest grows
out of avocation, seem automatically to
assume that everyone percieves the en-
vironment as they do. Pollution pre-
vention, however, is not without cost,
and those who must pay the cost are
often less than enthusiastic about the
crusade. The industry or farmer which
faces large capital costs to improve en-
vironmental practices is seldom an en-
vironmentalist. The list of such disen-
chanteds is likely to be quite long and
makes up a considerable backwash for
the environmental movement. This po-
tential opposition helps to define the
constituency of a policy maker. Not
only does it make a difference who
brings ideas to the decision-maker and
how ideas are transmitted to his con-
stituency (and the feedback to him)
but the opponents' strength and position
will also help shape policy.
(B) As almost everyone who deals
with large numbers of people knows,
the training one receives in a profes-
sional discipline colors one's whole out-,
look and helps determine the way one
carries out analysis and develops policy
suggestions. The following typology is
suggestive of this phenomenon: '
(C) The frame-of-reference of the
decision-maker is a further extension of
91
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FIGURE 3.*
THE GENERAL PLANNING PROCESS
INTRODUCTION: Reasons for G.P.; roles of council, CPC, citizens; historical
background and context of G.P.
SUMMARY OF G.P.: Unified statement including (a) basic policies, (b) major
proposals, and (n) one schematic drawing of the physical design.
GENERAL PHYSICAL DESIGN
Description of plan proposals in relation
to large-scale G.P. drawing and citywide
drawings of:
1. Working-and-living-
areas section.
2. Community-facilities
section.
3. Civic-design S3ction.
4. Circulation section.
5. Utilities section.
These drawings
must remain general.
They are needed
because single G.P.
drawing is too
complex to enable
each element
to be clearly seen.
(Plus regional, functional, and district
drawings that are needed to explain G.P.)
BASIC POLICIES
1. C9NTEXT OF THE G.P.:'
Historical background;
geographical and facts
physical factors; social trends
and economic factors; assumptions
major issues, forecasts
problems, and
opportunities.
2. SOCIAL OBJECTIVES AND URBAN
PHYSICAL-STRUCTURE CONCEPTS:
Value judgments concerning social
objectives; professional judgments
concerning major physical-structure
concepts adopted as basis for G.P.
3. BASIC POLICIES OF THE G.P.:
Discussion of the basic policies that
the general physical design is
intended to implement.
.Continuing Studies Based on G.P. that Suggest G.P. Improvements and Formal Amendments
_± ± •» *•
Detailed Development Studies
Individual-District Citywide Studies
Development Studies for of Individual
Working and Living Areas Functional Elements
General Physical Design
I
1 1
C.B.D.
Indust. Dist.
Etc.
Res. Dist.
Res. Dist.
Etc.
General Physical Design
i
I I
Living and 1 1 ,. .,
Working 1 1 Transit
Civic Design
Separate Com.
Facilities
Separate
Utilities
Traffic
Ways
Railroads
Etc.
Environmental
Impacts
Air
Water
Solid Waste
Noise
Pesticides
I
(see next Figure)
"Adopted from Figure 13-1, page 359 of Goldman, William I., ed. Principles and Practice of Urban
Planning, by the International City Managers' Association, Washington, D.C. 1968.
92
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FIGURE 3. (CONT.)
i.
Future Desires
Policy Goals
current
newly identified
requirements
Optimizing
Programs
future
Inputs of
Future Parameters
Discrepancies Between
Future Desires
And Capabilities
1 problems
Policy Alternatives
Feasibility
And Cost-Benefit
Testing Of Alternatives
Feasible & Effective
Alternatives
Future
Capabilities
techniques and
resources
implications for
policy objectives
Satisfactory
Alternatives
Optimum Plans,
I
'Optimum' Plan
93
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Institution,
social role or
cultural subsystem
Economics
Religion
Philosophy
Science
Ecology
Arts
Technology
Jurisprudence
Politics
Law
Personal
Medicine
Decision method
Calculation of costs-
benefits
Contemplation
Logic, reason
Experiment
Field research
Design
Invention, test
Hear evidence
Bargain, compromise
Social need
Integrative, sacrifice
Diagnosis
Meaning—goal
Maximize benefits
Spiritual truth
Rational truth
Empirical truth
Fitness, adaptation
Expressive form, beauty
Efficiency
Justice
Equity
Rights, duties, order
Solidarity, love
Health
his professional prejudice. Not only
does the information for policy alter-
natives get prepared from specific policy
viewpoints, but the decision-maker him-
self also has a set of specialty blinders.
This feature of the power chain influ-
ences the type of people the decision-
maker is apt to have as part of his
advisory staff and defines the filter
through which the information is proc-
essed.
(D) The discipline of the decision-
maker can be tempered if he is the
type of leader who is willing and able
to assimilate new information. This
feature of the leader's personality re-
quires the endurance and stamina to
carry forward the new information to
an action stage.
(E) The above features of the de-
cision-maker all point to the very
real nature of the day-to-day world of
policy making. Activity at the top is al-
ways fierce and in constant motion. It
is the world of NOW, and the time
span beyond his purview is relegated to
taking care of itself. All of the reward
and threat of our system is structured
to support this mode of operation.10
(F) The concept of time itself con-
strains the decision-maker. The most
receptive time for information is at a
similar period of crisis. AJ1 problems at
these periods are immediate and re-
quire generous mixtures of insight and
action. As time goes on, more and
more of the organization is clothed in
laws and regulations. These were usu-
ally formulated during the period of
crisis. Both of these time-oriented fea-
tures tend to result in policy procla-
mations which are oriented toward the
immediate: the people who responded
best to the crises surrounding the de-
cision-maker are normally either titu-
larly or figuratively elevated to more
powerful positions. Since their reward
is the result of an expertise in short-
run policy analysis, they usually con-
tinue this tendency. The agency, with
its regulations and rules, becomes sim-
ilarly oriented. In short, there is little
in present day reality to facilitate either
long-run or comprehensive analysis.
The environmental analyst
The contention of this paper is
that there must be comprehensive and
long-run planning of the environment
if the decision-maker is to promulgate
policy which will actually have the
effect of both cleaning up and pre-
serving the environment. It is hoped
that the cursory excursion through ur-
ban theory (and history) has convinced
the reader that it is a dynamic and, in
some senses, living system which is
apt to respond in a perverse and often
unexpected fashion when fed piecemeal,
stopgap measures. Finally, even though
this argument appears convincing and
methodologies exist for accomplishing
environmental comprehensive planning,
it is seldom done. The reasons are
legion but they can be summarized
most logically under the heading of
94
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poor, inadequate, and misinformed ad-
visors to the policy-maker.
This feature is not a result of capri-
ciousness on the part of the advisors,
but of the fact that these people are
also constrained by their training and
by the need to satisfy their professional
community.8 There does not appear to
be any group which would be dedicated
to supporting the policy-maker in en-
vironmental issues, as a full-time voca-
tion. To further illustrate this void let
us visualize the following typology:
support. Unfortunately, numbers of the
people who would like to fulfill this
function find it too risky, in a profes-
sional sense, to become tainted with
"merely" implementing somebody else's
research. Those who bridged the chasm
between basic social research and the
political arena have been called popular-
izers, especially by the basic scientist
who does not see the translation of his
jargon to more generally readable form
as being useful, in the sense of ad-
vancing the state-of-the-art.
Basic research
Physical and natural
sciences
Social sciences
Transfer agent
Engineer
Planning
Operations research
Popularizing
Transfer process
Market place
Political arena
Output
Product
Policy
To effectively support the policy-
maker on environmental issues, we will
have to create and support a new scien-
tific layer in the professional com-
munity of the social sciences. In the
natural-physical sciences the basic re-
search that is carried out is generally
of a nature which is unsatisfactory for
implementation. Generally the research
is of a more esoteric quality and the
usefulness of the research to groups
outside the particular discipline is sel-
dom a criterion in judging its quality.
In order to facilitate the transfer of a
select number of these research findings,
the portions of society concerned with
production have been willing to support
a group called "engineers." The en-
gineers are accepted by not only the
producers but by the basic researchers.
The situation results in the engineers
developing their own professional ethic.
Because this group of professionals is
supported by the producers, the objec-
tives of the engineers reflect the needs
of this group. The engineer prides him-
self on being a problem solver; he sel-
dom looks at a problem from the per-
spective of how the objective can be
accomplished.
The policy-maker in the government
arena really needs this same sort of
Another, more readily definable
group has attempted to fill the gap.
These are the planners. Their profes-
sion has grown up as complimentary in
the sense of the engineer. The planner
has tended to define his areas of in-
terest in line with political and admin-
istrative jurisdictions. Unfortunately,
for the policy community, these people
are not usually available for day-to-day
support, nor do they usually possess
the skills necessary to handle the analyt-
ical chores required by comprehensive,
long-range policy-making. This gap is
being rapidly filled by still another con-
tingency—the operations researcher.
Search for a policy scientist
The purpose of this sorte through the
search for a legitimized policy scientist,
or environmental analyst, is to suggest
that it is only when such a profession
is created that the decision maker will
have the impetus to take the future into
consideration. The environmental an-
alyst will have this long-range viewpoint
because of the training provided in his
discipline, and his logic will be re-
inforced by his peers. The decision
maker will have the confidence (right-
ly or otherwise) to meld these factors
into his policies, or his advisors will do
95
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it for him and attest to the soundness
of the practice. It is not, in short,
logical to assume that the decision
maker—who is a successful political
animal—will change his habit pattern to
a less certain strategy. Therefore, the
change will have to come from his ad-
visors, who concomitantly will have to
receive support and encouragement
from their own peer groups.
In conclusion, comprehensive long-
range planning is both vital and in-
evitable. Vital because of the oppor-
tunities missed and the dangers risked
by any other approach to environ-
mental planning. Inevitable because the
complex dynamics of modern socio-
political and economic structures can-
not be handled in any other way. Such
an approach to planning will, however,
breed a whole new set of problems,
some of which have been mentioned
above. Anticipating these problems and
encouraging the trend toward long-
range comprehensive planning will im-
prove both the efficiency of policy ac-
tions in the short run and the possi-
bilities of obtaining the desired future
in the long run.
Notes for
Paper 10
1 "Forecasting," Environmental Quality,
The Third Annual Report of the Council
on Environmental Quality, August '72, pp.
72-73.
"See also Leonard J. Duhl, "Planning
and Predicting," in Daniel Bell (editor),
Toward the Year 2000: Work in Progress,
(American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
1968), pp. 147-156.
"Chas. Horton Cooley, Sociological
Theory and Research (Clifton, N.J.,
Kelley, 1930), pp. 17-118.
1 Wilbur R. Thompson, A Preface to
Urban Economics, published for Resources
for the Future, Inc., by the Johns Hopkins
Press, Baltimore, 1969, pp. 15-16.
5 See, for example: Ernest W. Burgess,
"Urban Areas," in T. V. Smith and Leon-
ard D. White (eds.), Chicago: An Experi-
ment in Social Science Research (Chicago:
Univ. of Chicago Press, 1929), pp. 114-
123; and Homer Hoyt, The Structure and
Growth of Residential Neighborhoods in
American Cities (Wash., D.C., Federal
Housing Authority), pp. 112-122.
7 "Solid Waste," Improving the Inner-
City Environment, A Report to the Ad-
ministrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, by the Task Force on En-
vironmental Problems of the Inner-City,
Jan. 31, 1971, p. 2-2.
7 See also Harvey S. Perloff, "A Frame-
work for Dealing With the Urban Environ-
ment," introductory statement in Perloff
(editor), The Quality of the Urban En-
vironment, (Washington, D.C., Resources
for the Future, Inc., 1969), p. 21.
"Typology from Farness, Stanford S.
"Resources Planning versus Regional Plan-
ning," Future Environments of North
America.
10 It is interesting to note that consult-
ants who have developed powerful decision
making tools for the policy levels have
noted great problems in transferring the
tool. Because of day-to-day pressures of
the job at the top, the only way to transfer
or upgrade the decision team is to follow
the business practice of keeping two ma-
chines in operation until the new machine
is ready to take over. The problems of
such staffing are obvious, but other solu-
tions seem just as untractable.
11 Perusal of college catalogues shows
that, for those who majored in the areas of
law, social science, business, public ad-
ministration and liberal arts more than a
decade ago, few had any training in an-
alytical subjects and probably none in com-
puter sciences. This means that a large
portion of our policy leaders and their ad-
visors are conversant with modern deci-
sion-making tools only to the extent that
they have educated themselves. The sub-
sequent fear of the new and unknown is a
serious impediment to change.
96
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Ill: Organizing for
Environmental Management
INTRODUCTION
"It appears that the awareness level of the citizens throughout the
United States is centering a growing concern for the environment on
the various governing bodies and their staffs to effect meaningful
programs. . . ." This citizen concern, as noted by Richard Gray, City Manager
of Norman, Oklahoma, opening the discussion of "Local Government
Experience," has been communicated clearly to public officials at
all levels of government. The resulting rise of environmental awareness
and the increase in environmental programs have been accompanied
by changes in the organization for environmental management.
One of the fundamental tasks of managers is organizing available
resources to address specific problems. Because organizing involves
the distribution of an agency's resources—staff (size, expertise,
and role), budget, and authority—it is one of the crucial determinants
of program success. An "organizing" decision is made on every problem
facing a manager, even when the decision is not to make an organizational
change and to address problems through existing arrangements.
The manager's decision on "organizing" depends upon his perception
of the problem. Environmental problems can be viewed narrowly or
broadly. For example, exceeding the capacity of the sewage treatment
plant and dumping untreated sewage into a river can be seen as either
too small a plant or unbalanced (or too much) urban development. Most
likely a manager would address these two problems quite differently.
Other factors that influence "organizing" decisions include: political
pressures, financial status, federal or state requirements, existing staff
capacilities, relation to other policies and programs, and the
personal knowledge and skill of the manager.
In making organizational decisions, it is necessary to consider the
dynamics of the organization that will exist after the decision is
made. An organization can be described as a system of mutually
dependent variables, including: the individual, formal arrangement of
functions, informal arrangements of functions, behavior patterns
resulting from role requirements of the organization and role perceptions
by the individual, and the physical environment. All of these factors
should be considered in planning organizational changes as well as for
97
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evaluating organizational effectiveness. The remainder of this chapter,
however, will deal mainly with the formal arrangement of functions.
FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONAL EFFORTS
An important move toward consolidating environmental responsibilities
occurred in 1969 when the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) was
established by statute (the National Environmental Policy Act) to provide
top-level policy advice and coordination in the environmental area. The
CEQ is the only major part of the Executive Office of the President
devoted exclusively to a particular substantive policy area. The rationale
for making this exception is the special nature of the environmental problem,
affecting the entire fabric of the federal government.
The second major organizational change was the consolidation of all
the major pollution control programs under the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The creation of EPA was recommended by the President's
Advisory Council on Executive Organization. The Council's recommendation
was accepted by President Nixon, who sent it to Congress as Reorganization
Plan Number 3 of 1970. In his message to Congress, President Nixon
criticized the existing piecemeal approach and stated that "our national
government today is not structured to make a coordinated attack on the
pollutants which debase the air we breathe, the water we drink, and
the land that grows our food. ..."
On December 2, 1970, EPA came into existence by Executive Order 1170.
EPA inherited $1.4 billion in appropriations, twenty-one diverse grant
programs, and 5,400 people in 157 locations. Placed in the agency were
programs from five departments and independent agencies, including the
Interior Department's Federal Water Quality Administration; the HEW
Department's National Air Pollution Control Administration, Bureau of
Solid Waste and Bureau of Water Hygiene; pesticide registration,
research and regulation functions of Agriculture, Interior, and HEW
Departments; and certain radiation functions of the Atomic Energy
Commission, the Federal Radiation Council and HEW's Bureau of
Radiological Health.
Major program omissions were: the authority retained by the Food
and Drug Administration to confiscate pesticide-contaminated food;
the HUD sewer construction program; and programs for community
environmental health (mainly rat control and lead paint control) in HEW.
Details of the initial organization were worked out by a fifteen-member
task force from a variety of federal agencies (not directly affected
by the organization) under the auspices of the Office of Management and
Budget. The two primary organizational goals which shaped the development
of EPA were: functional organization and decentralization.
An interim organization was created featuring five topical "offices" for
water, air, radiation, pesticides, and solid waste, each headed by a
commissioner. On April 30, 1971, a major reorganization occurred; since
then, all subsequent changes have been modifications of that structure.
The basis for the organization is partly along "functional" lines—Planning
and Management, Research and Development, Enforcement and
General Counsel—and partly in "program" lines—Air and Water Programs,
98
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Categorical Programs (radiation, solid waste, pesticides, noise, etc.).
EPA also gave priority to decentralizing its operations as much as possible
to the ten regional offices. Regional administrators were given a broad
charge by an internal EPA Order (No. 1110.19) to "develop, propose
and implement an approved regional program for comprehensive and
integrated environmental protection activities; be responsible for
accomplishing national program objectives within the region; and exercise
approved authority for implementation plans." On June 28, 1971, the
regional offices were reorganized along the more functional lines
of the national office.
EARLY OBSTACLES FACED BY THE EPA
There is no doubt that the development of an integrated organization
has been a difficult task. William Ruckelshaus commented that "when
I first came into this job, I said it would take three months to get settled. . . .
For nine months we've put up with people's jobs changing and with
uncertainty about who will be located where and who will be responsible
to whom." 1
Some of the chief obstacles initially facing the new organization were:
(1) physical separation of employees—originally there were ten locations
in Washington, D.C., alone; (2) pressures from statutory timetables
and other sources to get on with the job; (3) lack of senior career
administrators and key technical personnel in several program areas;
(4) delay in determining precisely which people, funds and facilities
belonged to EPA; (5) difficulty in realigning budgets; (6) establishing
jurisdictions among organizational units; (7) individual resistance to change;
(8) reluctance by central offices to surrender powers to regional
counterparts; and, (9) attempting to decentralize before centralization
had been achieved. During the first year of its existence, EPA tackled these
obstacles while carrying out its other duties as well.
According to Howard Messner, EPA Deputy Administrator for
Administration, some of the benefits which the organizational changes were
intended to effect were tighter administrative control, freer communication,
simplified lines of authority, and greater accountability.2
Lynton Caldwell, Professor at Indiana University, reviewed for the
conferees the forces leading to the creation of CEQ and EPA and
recommended another organizational change at the National level—the
establishment of an Environmental Reconstruction Agency. Caldwell's
explanation of how this agency would be able to respond to environmental
problems of the future can be found in the following papers.
CHANGING STATE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
According to a report issued by the Council of State Governments,
approximately forty state legislatures enacted laws to preserve environmental
quality during 1971. Actions were taken on a broad spectrum of programs ,
from wetlands protections, land-use controls, and noise regulations to
administrative reorganizations. The Citizens Conference on State Legislatures
reported that six states now allow citizens to file suits against polluters—
Michigan, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nebraska.
99
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As with the federal government, states have responded to the increasing
concern of their citizens over environmental quality by adopting larger
appropriations for environmental programs as well as more comprehensive
environmental controls. Most of these actions have occurred since 1970.
As states assume greater environmental responsibilities, they are
frequently inhibited by archaic governmental frameworks. Legal authority
is frequently inadequate. Institutions created in the 19th century are
ill-equipped to deal effectively with environmental problems which are
complex and interdependent and have radically changed in scope over the
past twenty years. Elizabeth Haskell reports that "Not only were
environmental institutions coming under fire, but, by 1970, a general complaint
has surfaced that government agencies of all kinds and at all levels were
not able to respond effectively and swiftly to new social needs. But, this
'institutional lag' of organizations behind problems is particularly
unacceptable when a politically popular issue, such as the environment,
is affected." 3
Even when the role of states in environmental management was more
restricted, management responsibility was dispersed throughout the
administrative organization. In general, state organizations were bulky
assemblages of elected and appointed boards and agencies. Environmental
responsibilities were fragmented between several boards, e.g., Conservation
Commission, Natural Resources Council, Development Commission, Health
Commission, and the like. These boards usually possessed policy-making
duties, if not full administrative responsibility.
As states began to centralize or integrate their organizations, environmental
functions came to reside in a few state agencies such as the Health
Department, or Conservation Department. Reorganization efforts generally
developed along six main themes: "(1) concentration of authority and
responsibility, (2) departmentalization or functional integration,
(3) undesirability of boards for purely administrative work, (4) coordination
of the staff services of administration, (5) provision for an independent
audit, and (6) recognition of governor's cabinet."4
By 1912, all states had created an administrative unit for health
functions.5 The first health departments were controlled by a board or
commission. Some were interagency boards, drawn from other state
agencies, other boards were composed of private citizens, representing both
political parties, appointed for a specific term by the Governor. Gradually,
however, the boards tended to lose their administrative authority and
to become predominantly advisory bodies.
While no pattern existed for the functions performed by state health
departments, the more common functions as reflected in the administrative
structure were: (1) vital statistics, (2) communicable disease control,
(3) public health laboratories, (4) industrial public health, (5) food and
drug inspection, and (6) environmental sanitation. The environmental
sanitation section often included activities in the areas of water pollution,
sewage disposal, solid waste disposal, and the like. While this section often
consolidated existing pollution control staff responsibilities in a single
division, the division was often not particularly prominent in the departmental
structure and competed with many other programs for staff and funds.
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SHARING IN THE ENVIRONMENT
Sharing the environmental functions at the state level, conservation
departments contained programs for fish, wildlife, forests and parks. These
programs are often considered "promotional" programs because they
generally regulated use of natural resources while encouraging use as well.
The various sportsmen—fishermen, hunters—as well as resource-extracting
industries—such as lumber companies—frequently developed close
working relationships with the agency.
Federal legislation, in the 1950's provided financial incentives to encourage
states to form Air Pollution Control Boards and Water Pollution Control
Boards. The boards were established either as independent agencies or as
part of the Health Department. Their principal functions included
policy-making, standard setting, and appeals. Most of these boards are
still in existence due to federal requirements, although many other of the
state boards and commission have been eliminated or consolidated. Most
recently members of these boards from private industry and municipalities
have been attacked in regard to possible conflict of interest.
Beginning in 1970 and following the lead of the federal government in
establishing a separate environmental agency (the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency), several states followed with separate departments of
their own (see Table). It should be noted here that these recent
reorganization did not succeed in centralizing all environmental functions
under one agency. Other state agencies often hold responsibilities for such
activities as: soil and water conservation, agriculture, forestry, fish and
game, state parks, public lands, natural resources, water resources,
mines and geology, and extension services.
The reorganization of environmental functions by states have generally
been made for the following reasons:
—Consolidate fragmented activities to make program administration
match the integrative way problems occur in the environment.
—Reduce the proliferation of boards and commissions to make state
government more manageable, and in some cases change their role
and composition to 'professionalize' state environmental
policy-making, and make policy-makers more responsive
to elected leaders and the public.
—Transfer pollution programs from the health department
to broaden pollution concerns beyond health.
—Create a stronger regulatory role for the state and an agency
advocate for the environment.
TABLE OF STATE ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENTS
Alabama—Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Alaska—Department of Environmental Conservation
Arkansas—Department of Pollution Control and Ecology
California—Department of Environmental Protection
Connecticut—Department of Environmental Protection
Delaware—Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Georgia—Department of Natural Resources
Illinois—Environmental Protection Agency
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Iowa—Department of Environmental Quality
Maine—Department of Environmental Services
Maryland—Maryland Environmental Service
Minnesota—Pollution Control Agency
Nebraska—Department of Environmental Control
Nevada—Environmental Protection Commission
New Jersey—Department of Environmental Protection
New York—Department of Environmental Conservation
Ohio—Environmental Protection Agency
Oregon—Department of Environmental Quality
Pennsylvania—Department of Environmental Resources
South Dakota—Department of Environmental Protection
Vermont—Agency of Environmental Protection
Washington—Department of Ecology
Wisconsin—Department of Natural Resources
—Design a new environmental department that will be more publicly
visible, thus demonstrating the state's commitment to environmental
protection and rallying environment interest groups to form a
stronger political base for environmental control.
—Increase accountability of public officials and public programs.
—Facilitate administrative efficiencies."6
Changing organizations for environmental management has taken
different forms in different states. The actions of several states, such as
Minnesota, have simply combined the pollution control programs into
a single agency. Other states, notably Wisconsin and New York, have
attempted to consolidate both pollution control and natural resource
programs. A more detailed explanation of the alternative organizational
structures and their relative merits can be found in Elizabeth Haskell's
paper, "State Governments Tackle Pollution," later in this chapter.
Internal organization of these agencies is based on either program
categories (e.g., air, water, solid waste) or function (e.g., planning,
research, standard setting, enforcement). An example of the functional
organization adopted in Ohio is shown in Figure 1.
ORGANIZING LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT EFFORTS
As local governments have assumed responsibility for various
environmental programs, such as water supply, sewage treatment, solid waste
disposal, and parks, they have traditionally established distinct organizational
units based on those programs, e.g., Sanitation Department, Water
Department, Refuse Department or Parks Department. Other local
departments with environmental responsibilities might include the Planning
Department, Health Department, and Inspections Department. Attempts
at consolidation led to the creation of Public Works Departments that
include some or all of the following activities: engineering, street cleaning
and maintenance, traffic control, street lighting, water, sewage, refuse,
inspectional services, and equipment management (see Figure 2). Pollution
control functions are generally located in the local health agency, either
city or county sponsored (see Figure 3).
Currently, environmental activities remain fragmented between several
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FIGURE 1.—ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY.
FIGURE 2.—SAMPLE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
DIRECTOR
BUREAU
OF
ENGINEERING
TRAFFIC
DIVISION
WATER
DIVISION
BUREAU
OF
EQUIPMENT
REFUSE
DIVISION
SEWAGE
DIVISION
STREET
DIVISION
BUILDING
DIVISION
Source: ICMA, Municipal Public Works Administration, 1957, p. 11.
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FIGURE 3.—DADE COUNTY (FLA.) HEALTH ORGANIZATION
County Manager
State Board of Health
Advisory Board
State Laboratory
Assistant Director
Adult Health
and Agmg
Tuberculosis
Control
I
Maternal and
Child Health
Veneral Disease
Control
Public He:
Nursing
Health
Education
Ith
Envtronmenta
Sanitation
Business
Administration
1
Sanitary
Engineering
Mental
Health
Research and
Epidemiology
Dental Vital
Health Statistics
Source ICMA, Com
nity Health Services 1968, p. 230.
agencies at the local level. Fragmentation occurs within municipal
governments, as well as between municipal governments and other local
jurisdictions, e.g., counties and regional bodies. However, just as previously
seen at the federal and state level, many local governments are
experimenting with new organizational units in an attempt to deal more
effectively with environmental problems.
There are basically five organizational approaches utilized by local
governments to consolidate environmental programs within the municipal
government. These include creating a separate "line" agency, creating
a separate "staff" agency, expanding an existing "line" agency, expanding
a separate "staff" agency, and developing some type of "team" management.
These distinctions are useful for the following discussion, although they
often become somewhat nebulous when describing actual situations.
The approach selected by a particular locality depends upon state enabling
legislation and/or local charter, the size of the entire organization, nature
and extent of environmental problems, political interest, staff expertise,
and a number of other factors.
NEW YORK'S SEPARATE LINE AGENCY
Perhaps the best example of the separate "line" agency, or one with
direct operational responsibility, is New York City's Environmental
Protection Administration. Created in March of 1968, this "superagency"
contains bureaus for air, water and sanitation as well as a central staff.
In addition to pollution control activities, New York City's EPA provides
the basic municipal services such as water and refuse collections. The
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budget of the agency in 1973-74 is nearly $500 million for operating
expenditures and approximately the same amount for capital expenditures.
Agency staff exceeds 21,000 employees, including 10,000 sanitation
workers. At the Conference, First Deputy Administrator of the City of
New York's EPA Paul Zimmerman described the strengths of the agency
staff expertise and ability to see beyond the tremendous everyday problems
and maintain a broad environmental perspective. He identified the key
components to a successful program in New York City to be support from
top management, extensive citizen involvement and education, and
effective legislation.
Zimmerman indicated that the agency had experienced some internal
conflict, for example, over a proposal to construct the largest incinerator in
the world, as well as with other municipal agencies, e.g., Department of
Transportation and the Planning Commission. In response to a question
probing the status of the EPA in relation to other departments, Zimmerman
explained that EPA was of equal status to other departments. Their
role is seen to be environmental advocate. It is the role of the Mayor and
Board of Estimate to set the priorities and resolve policy conflicts
between agencies.
Additional examples of the "little EPA's" can be found in Chicago,
Illinois; Washington, D.C.; and Huntington, New York. Simi Valley,
Lynton Caldwell states that "the ultimate task of environmental
quality agencies at all political levels, and especially at the top of each
administrative hierarchy, is a task of synthesis."7 He concludes that
the current fragmented responsibility for environmental programs throughout
several agencies is not conducive to the task of synthesis, and therefore
new organizational structures are needed. The following discussion examines
current organizational developments at the federal, state and local levels.
Since experience with new environmental organizational units is somewhat
limited in scope as well as time, little evaluation or analysis has been
made. It is all the more important, therefore, to stimulate a dialogue on the
subject of organizing for environmental management so that experiences can
be shared and previously encountered successes or problems can be
sought or avoided.
CONSOLIDATING FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTIONS
The administrative organization of environmental functions has long
been a concern of the federal government existing prior to the creation
of the Department of the Interior in 1849. In more recent times (1932)
President Hoover submitted a plan to Congress proposing to transfer
the Corps of Engineers' civil functions to the Department of the Interior.
Later, in 1937 the President's Committee on Administrative Management
recommended that the Department of the Interior be retitled Department
of Conservation. This, too, failed. Other minor changes were advocated
by the Hoover Commissions of 1949 and 1955. This gradual development of
environmental activities is documented in the first paper in this chapter.
A second organizational alternative is to establish a separate staff agency.
In many cases this may comprise from one to several staff members
assigned in the office of the chief executive officer to be responsible for
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environmental programs. The role of this staff person or agency usually
involves research, program planning and development, program coordination,
policy advice, public relations and liaison with other governmental
jurisdictions. Examples of this type of organization can be found in Palo Alto,
California, which established an Environmental Planning Office.
Montgomery County, Maryland, and Waco, Texas, have also established
separate environmental planning units. University City, Missouri, and
Manhattan Beach, California, have Environmental Control Officers in the
Office of the City Manager. In addition, Fairfax County, Virginia, and
San Jose, California, have created the position of Environmental Coordinator.
A third type of organizational change adopted by local governments to
increase the effectiveness of environmental programs is the expansion
of an existing line department to include responsibility for environmental
programs. For example, the City of Addison, Illinois, has staffed a
Pollution Control Officer position in the Engineering Department. His
function is to enforce environmental ordinances and review all
pollution control equipment in the city.
Fourth, local governments may expand the responsibilities of a staff
agency to include environmental considerations. Perhaps one of the
most popular alternatives at this time is to add an environmental section to
the planning staff. Richard Gray, City Manager of Norman, Oklahoma,
explained that environmental concerns are a part of every city program, and,
therefore, the key to coordinating environmental concerns among all city
departments rests in the planning function. For that reason, the
City of Norman hired an environmental planner in the Planning Department
to serve as executive secretary to the City's Environmental Control Board,
a citizen advisory body, and to provide direct input into the planning process.
Gray recommends that, in small cities that cannot afford a large
environmental staff, hiring an environmental planner may be the most
realistic alternative.
Other larger cities have adopted this approach also. Inglewood, California,
has a three-person environmental control section within the planning
department. Inglewood City Manager Douglas Ayres explains that this will
help bring environmental concerns into the city's decision-making process.
In addition, Phoenix, Arizona, recently appointed an environmental planner
to the planning department staff. Finally, Dallas, Texas, has an
environmental planning section located in the Planning Department's
Urban Design Division.
THE TEAM APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
A fifth method of organizing for environmental management is the "team"
approach. According to Mayor Beverly Briley, rather than establish
another agency, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville-Davidson County
formed a management team consisting of an assistant to the mayor, an
associate professor in the Graduate School of Management of Vanderbilt
University, and the Chairman of the Special Environmental Committee
of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The key working unit of
the program is an environmental management task force, an interdepartmental
team consisting of five department heads of the Metropolitan, including
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the Executive Director of the Planning Commission, Director of Planning,
Director of Health, Director of Public Works, and Director of Law. The
"team" has a three-person, full-time staff. The tasks of the "team" are to
identify, research, prepare and implement solutions to community
environmental problems and to coordinate Metro environmental activities.
A more complete explanation of this program is contained in the paper
by Project Historian Dick Battle.
The City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has set up a similar Administrative
Environmental Committee, consisting of key department heads, to oversee
city operations that involve environmental considerations and set
environmental standards.
In the final analysis, City Manager Gray states, "It is most important
that the city council as well as the city administration evidence a strong
commitment to generate both environmental questions and answers.
They must spread an awareness and concern for the environment throughout
the entire city government structure. There should be commitment
and participation by all departments of the city and all boards and
commissions. It is most important that the chief administrative officer,
through his attitude, help meld the various boards, committees and city
council into an integrated and committed whole. The manager's and mayor's
philosophy and interest will, to a great extent, determine how successfully
these groups work. . . ."
One final alternative exists for local governments to deal with
environmental problems that extend beyond municipal boundaries—a
regional organization. There are a variety of organizational structures
available for regional environmental management. These include but are not
limited to intergovernmental service agreements, regional planning
commissions, councils of governments, special districts, metropolitan
councils, metropolitan county and metropolitan federations. Some of the
weaknesses in current regional organizations and highlights the key
components that a regional environmental management system should contain
are summarized in a presentation given by Edwin Coats which
wraps up this chapter.
Additional discussion of these alternatives and the future role of
regionalism in the federal system can be found in Chapter VII, Intergovern-
mental Relations and Environmental Management.
EMERGING TRENDS
Since 1970, there has been definite movement in federal, state, and
local governments toward reorganizing environmental management by
consolidating environmental activities. In most cases this is probably
not a result of adding completely new environmental activities so much as the
desire for greater environmental visibility, advocacy and coordination.
It seems likely that this trend will persist for at least the next five to ten
years for two reasons. First, institutional changes usually lag behind the
conditions that give rise to the changes. These conditions, chiefly public
concern over environmental matters, continue to maintain their relevance;
and, therefore, additional organizational changes are likely to continue.
Second, federal environmental requirements for state and local governments
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that encourage institutional change have increased, and no doubt will
continue to increase. For example, as requirements for environmental impact
assessment expand to cover more activities (from only federally financed
projects to all actions that may impact on air quality), more state and local
governments will find it advantageous to officially incorporate the process
within their organizational structures. Also, the reassertion of states into
land-use decision making, plus imminent insertion of the federal government,
will result in significant organizational changes. Finally, the implementation
of Section 208 of the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972
calling for areawide water planning and management could have a
tremendous impact on the shape of future regional organizations.
It is difficult to predict the precise organizational forms that will emerge
in the future because the field of environmental management is changing
so rapidly. Furthermore, it is difficult to generalize since organizational
structures are responsive to the particular needs of their jurisdictions. Finally,
the absence of any meaningful evaluation of the alternative organizational
approaches for environmental management means that there is little overall
direction or guidance for state and local governments as they consider
making changes.
Notes for Chapter III
'Robert Gillette, Science, August 20, 1971, p. 703.
- Ibid., p. 707.
3 Elizabeth Haskell, Managing the Environment: Nine States Look for New Answers,
April, 1971.
4 A. E. Buck, The Reorganization of State Governments in the United States (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1938), p. 20.
5 Wilson G. Smillie, Public Health Administration in the United States (2nd ed.; New
York: Macmillan Co., 1940), p. 369.
"Elizabeth Haskell, op. cit., pp. 11-12.
7 Lynton Caldwell, "Environmental Quality as an Administrative Problem," An
Anthology of Selected Readings for the National Conference on Managing the Environ-
ment, p. 111-11.
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.1 NEPA
and the
environmental
movement: a
brief history
Lynn G. Llewellyn *
Clare Reiser
The purpose of this paper is three-
fold: (1) to trace a few of the critical
events which led up to the environ-
mental crusade of the past few years;
(2) to review the Federal Government's
response to public pressure on behalf
of the environment, particularly from
mid-1968 to mid-1970; and (3) to
examine the environmental movement
today—what the critics think of it and
some of the obstacles it must overcome.
The opening section is an attempt to
identify some of the forces at work
during the 60's which helped to mold
the environmental policies of the cur-
rent decade. Clearly, this is not a simple
task. The environmental movement
evolved from a complex interplay of
decision makers, institutions, critical
events, mass-media coverage and height-
ened public awareness of ecologi-
cal problems. A definitive discussion of
these factors is far beyond the scope
of the opening section; it does, how-
ever, touch upon three key elements in
the equation: some highly visible en-
vironmental mishaps, changing priori-
ties as reflected in public opinion polls
on environmental issues, and the in-
fluence exerted by prominent conserva-
tionists and the mass media.
*Prepared by Lynn G. Llewellyn, Re-
search Psychologist, and Clare Peiser, Op-
erations Research Analyst, with the Tech-
nical Analysis Division of the National
Bureau of Standards.
In many ways the second section is
a continuation of the opening theme. It
charts the activities of Congress and
the Administration from the 1968 Presi-
dential election until the 1970 Congres-
sional elections, a critical period in the
development of environmental policy.
As this section suggests, many of the
laws now on the books are as much the
result of political image-building and
jurisdictional disputes as they are of
more altruistic motives. The primary
focus of attention—here, and in the
final section—is the National Environ-
mental Policy Act (NEPA), surely one
of the most controversial pieces of legis-
lation passed in recent years.
The paper concludes wtih a critique
of NEPA's first one thousand days. In
particular it examines the requirement
for environmental impact statements
which has created a furor in the courts,
and some of the challenges facing the
environmental movement today.
Sources of environmentalism:
some critical incidents
Generally speaking, a political issue
becomes salient if (a) it is highly visible,
(b) the general public is aware of the
problem, and (c) the issues arouses
emotion among an influential segment
of the populace (e.g., the mass media,
opinion leaders, pressure groups, the
political elite, etc.). Thus, with the ex-
ception of localized concern about
smog, and the activities of conservation
groups, the environment was not a ma-
jor focus of attention until the last
decade. During the early and mid-60's
Americans were primarily concerned
about the threat of nuclear war with the
Soviet Union (viz., the Cuban missile
crisis), the Indo-China war, commu-
nism, inflation and unemployment, ra-
cial tensions and crime-in-the-streets.1
Exactly what happened to change the
public's sense of national priorities is
not entirely clear, but two events—
the Torrey Canyon episode and the
Santa Barbara oil spill—were probably
instrumental in drawing attention to the
fragile nature of our environment.
In March, 1967, the tanker Torrey
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Canyon, carrying 119,000 tons of crude
oil, broke apart in rough seas off Land's
End, England. Frantic efforts to prevent
the spill from doing extensive damage
only underscored the relatively unso-
phisticated techniques available to cope
with oil pollution of this magnitude.
Television audiences throughout the
United States witnessed the use of
everything from detergents to napalm,
all of which proved unsuccessful. Ulti-
mately, great quantities of oil enveloped
wide expanses of English beaches, kill-
ing countless shore birds and crippling
the coastal tourist trade.2 The testimony
of British investigators was illustrative
of the worldwide concern about the
high probability of future disasters:
The risk of accident is a very real
one. In the three years preceding
the wreck of the Torrey Canyon,
91 tankers were stranded in vari-
ous parts of the world, while 238
were involved in collisions either
with tankers or other vessels. Over
the world at large, tankers thus
have been involved in potentially
serious accidents on an average of
about twice a week for the past
three years (prior to 1967). Sixteen
of the 329 ships which were con-
cerned became total losses; in nine
of the collisions fires broke out
in one or both ships; and in 39
cases cargo spillage or leakage oc-
curred.3
Oil spill hits home
Another type of oil spill probably did
more to shake the American public
cut of its complacency than any other
event in recent history. In January,
1969, an off-shore drilling rig in Santa
Barbara Channel struck a large oil de-
posit but, in so doing, set off a cata-
strophic chain of events. The resultant
blow-out cracked the ocean floor, al-
lowing several million gallons of oil to
escape. Santa Barbara, an erstwhile
garden spot, became, at least tempo-
rarily, a massive ecological problem
area. Despite round-the-clock efforts to
contain the slick, miles of coastal water-
ways and beaches became coated with
crude oil. Untold numbers of waterfowl
and other aquatic life were killed.
Intensive coverage by the mass media
attracted widespread attention to the
plight of Santa Barbara. Television, in
particular, was responsible for arousing
public indignation over the incident as
it depicted the sight of youthful volun-
teers trying valiantly to remove oil from
dying shore birds.
Also contributing to the high level
of public interest in the Santa Barbara
incident was the fact that the Secretary
of the Interior, Walter Hickel, had only
recently been the object of a bitter con-
troversy over his confirmation. Faced
with some difficult choices, Secretary
Hickel ordered the drilling shut down.
In his words "the behind-the-scenes
battle . . . became a turning point in
the relationship between government
and industry."5 Hickel also makes the
interesting observation that the author-
ity to call a halt to off-shore drilling
in the Santa Barbara Channel was not
derived from any statute governing
pollution damage; rather, it was because
valuable oil was being wasted. Clearly,
the Department of the Interior needed
a better mechanism for responding
quickly to oil spills.
Cleaning up a spill cannot wait
for a court judge to decide who is
liable. It has to be done before
the pollution kills the wildlife and
ruins the beaches. For this reason
I demanded that all companies
who hold drilling leases on the
outer Continental Shelf accept lia-
bility for cleanup even before the
cause of a spill is determined. This
became known in short as "abso-
lute liability without cause." It also
became one of the most contro-
versial topics in both the executive
and legislative branches of the fed-
eral government."
There were other occasions on which
Mr. Hickel crossed swords with the oil
industry during his tenure as Secretary
of the Interior, including a landmark
court battle with the Chevron Oil
Company. In February, 1970, oil spilled
into the Gulf of Mexico when a Chev-
110
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ron drilling rig caught fire. A subse-
quent investigation revealed that a
storm choke had not been installed, a
serious violation of safety regulations.
After closing down the oil field, safety
inspectors found similar violations in a
significant proportion of the Chevron
rigs. The court fined the company one
million dollars but, more important
(according to Mr. Hickel) was the
amount of publicity the case received
from the newspapers.'
Although the discussion of critical
incidents has been confined to oil spills,
it should not be construed that oil poses
a greater threat to the environment than
other forms of pollution: from the
standpoint of the effect on human pop-
ulations, toxic substances such as lead
and mercury may constitute a greater
hazard. However, oil slicks generally
are more easily perceived than is the
presence of toxic substances and visi-
bility precipitates and intensifies public
indignation. In the final analyses, the
loss of the Torrey Canyon, the Santa
Barbara spill, and other subsequent
incidents appeared to have considerable
impact on public opinion. Data reflect-
ing public awareness are reported in the
next section.
Changes in public opinion
There was little public commitment
on a national scale to ecological prob-
lem solving during the early stages of
the last decade. Despite the activities of
various conservation groups (e.g., the
Izaak Walton League sponsored a
"Clean Air Week" in 1960) few Amer-
icans recognized the magnitude of en-
vironmental degradation.8 As late as the
Fall of 1964, a list of "concerns" of
the American public compiled by the
Gallup organization (from open-ended
questions) contained no reference to the
environment.8 Within less than a year
however, this picture began to change.
Political influence is a two-way street:
public opinion has an effect on the
decisions made by government officials,
and the reverse is also true. Each
stimulates the other. As an example
(although a cause-effect relationship
cannot be established), President John-
son spoke about the importance of
beautifying America in 1965, and
marked changes in public attitude sub-
sequently occurred. Late that year 43
percent of a Harris poll sample ex-
pressed concern about the pollution of
rivers and streams.10 Another index of
increasing public interest was the publi-
cation of 350 articles on pollution by
the New York Times, more than twice
the number published in 1964. It is not
surprising that four important pieces of
environmental legislation—the Water
Quality Act, the Water Resources Act,
the Rural Water Sewage Act, and the
Highway Beautification Act—were also
passed in 1965.
From 1965 through 1968. polls con-
ducted by the Opinion Research Cor-
poration continued to reflect increasing
awareness of pollution. For example,
the percentage of individuals who
thought that water pollution was a
"serious" problem increased from 35 to
58 in approximately three years.
Similarly, concern over air pollution
climbed from 28 percent to 55 per-
cent." Comparable data were not avail-
able after 1968; however, a 1969 poll
conducted on behalf of the National
Wildlife Federation showed that more
than eight out of every ten individuals
surveyed were at least "somewhat con-
cerned" about environmental deteriora-
tion. Another poll conducted in 1970
indicated that 90 percent of those sam-
pled were concerned about water pol-
lution."
While it is dangerous to generalize
from several different polls which var-
ied in terms of sample size and question
content, at least one conclusion appears
justified. The general public was be-
coming increasingly adamant in its de-
mand for more positive action in the
fight against pollution.
Another measure of public interest
in the environment was the accelerated
growth of conservation and related
pressure groups during the last decade.
The size of the Sierra Club increased
from 15,000 to more than 85,000; more
dramatically, its Eastern membership
111
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went from 750 to 19,000 according to
Trop and Roos.13 The collective politi-
cal "clout" of other similar organiza-
tions (such as Friends of the Earth, the
Conservation Foundation, the National
Wildlife Federation, the Nature Con-
servancy, and the National Audubon
Society) can be directly attributed to
more members, larger financial contri-
butions and a receptive public.
Opinion leaders and mass media
In its own way, Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring was as critical a contribu-
tor to the growth of an environmental
ethic as the Santa Barbara incident.
Frank Egler, a noted plant ecologist
went so far as to say that
The years 1962 and 1963 are so
completely dominated by one per-
son and one book that historians
of the future may well refer to this
period as the Carsonian Era . . .14.
A best seller for many months, Silent
Spring succeeded in acquainting the
public with the dangers of pesticides—
something that a number of concerned
scientists had been unable to do. As
Egler states, there was increasing ap-
prehension
... as to the side effects, the in-
direct effects, and the long term
effects of ... pesticides, not only
on the target organisms themselves,
but on other organisms, as the
pesticides moved through the en-
vironment interacting among them-
selves, following food chains as
predator ate predator, and acting
upon man himself, as in cancer-
producing substances, in ways most
difficult to document in a factual
manner.15
Government policies governing the use
of pesticides did not change significant-
ly for almost another decade; however,
the fact that change occurred at all is
due at least in part to Silent Spring.
The popular appeal of Silent Spring
marked the beginning of an informal
alliance between leading conservation-
ists and the mass media. From 1965
to 1970 the reading public was bom-
barded with environmental literature,
whose basic theme was a dying plant.
Commoner's Science and Survival, Ehr-
lich's Population Bomb, Ewald's En-
vironment for Man, and the Rienows'
Moment in the Sun were among the
most influential books of that period.
As time passed, there were predict-
able reactions to the constant litany of
"doomsday" predictions. For some in-
dividuals, fears of a nuclear Armaged-
don were replaced by anxiety about
"killer srnogs" (T. S. Eliot's version of
a world ending "not with a bang, but
a whimper" seemed suddenly pro-
phetic). Others became confused by
both the quantity and the ambiguity
of available informaion (e.g., the de-
bate over phosphate detergents) which,
in turn, resulted in loss of interest,
apathy, disbelief, and occasionally, de-
nunciation of environmental spokes-
men.
Unfortunately, the proportion of the
general public for or against sweeping
changes in environmental policies could
not be ascertained. In the absence of
rigorous, in-depth national attitude sur-
veys, the size of these groups, their
composition, and intensity of feeling
(or degree of commitment) was sub-
ject to misinterpretation. As noted in
the previous section, the polls reflected
growing concern over pollution, but not
how much people were willing to sacri-
fice (i.e., increased taxes, rising costs
associated with anti-pollution devices,
etc.) for clean air and water. Other
indices were equally unreliable. For ex-
ample, letters to newspapers and to pol-
iticians are often written by a dispro-
porionatley small segment of the ideo-
logical spectrum." In particular, pub-
lished letters have already been
screened, hence, a frequency count of
such letters might well reflect the phi-
losophy of the newspaper more than
public sentiment.
Support from the media
The last point relates to another po-
tentially dangerous measure of attitudi-
nal climate—that of media coverage.
At the close of the last decade most
television and newspaper accounts of
environmental controversies appeared
112
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to support conservationists." Both me-
dia devoted extensive coverage to local
confrontations between ecologists and
developers, citizen groups and highway
officials, wilderness advocates and min-
ing interests, and so on. The coverage
problem was mentioned in a recent in-
terview with an official of the Ameri-
can Petroleum Institute.
"It sometimes seems that I see
David Brower (president of ...
Friends of the Earth) every other
time I turn on my TV set," she
says. (The personable and articu-
late Brower has, in fact, appeared
frequently in such forums as The
Dick Cavett Show and in news-
broadcasts). "But it's very seldom
that I see an oil company or elec-
tric utility executive." "
At the same time it may be noted
that large sums are spent on institu-
tional advertising for the purpose of
image building with respect to environ-
mental affairs.
Some observations may be made
without taking sides in the dispute over
media coverage. As Joseph Klapper,
Director of Social Research for the
Columbia Broadcasting System, has
pointed out, although most research
indicates that the mass media are not
very effective at changing existing at-
titudes, they can stimulate the forma-
tion of new attitudes by conveying in-
formation to an uncommitted or dis-
satisfied audience—one "predisposed"
to change." Clearly, an audience recep-
tive to ecological appeals coalesced dur-
ing the period under discussion al-
though we don't know its size. Indeed,
if media coverage was as biased as
environmental critics contend, then the
environmental movement might have
appeared more pervasive than it was.
This point will be addressed in a later
section.
In summary, the environmental Zeit-
geist of the late 1960's was not the
result of any single factor; rather it
was the interaction of multiple factors.
Time magazine, for example, sug-
gested that the environment repre-
sented a new challenge, a problem
which American skills and "know-how"
might be capable of solving. By the
same token, however, the environmental
movement'1 . . . represented a creep-
ing disillusionment with technology, an
attempt by individuals to reassert con-
trol over machine civilization." *° Thus
far, the present discussion has touched
briefly on the impact of certain critical
events and the influence exerted by con-
servationists, public opinion, and the
mass media. In the next section, atten-
tion is focused on the role played by
the Federal Government specifically,
two years of environmental legislation
and what influenced it.
Government responds:
quest for environmental supremacy
As public pressure on behalf of the
environment continued to mount during
the late 60's, a number of Senators
and Congressmen contended for lead-
ership of the environmental crusade.
The competition became even more
keen in the wake of the 1968 elections
when the White House entered this
arena. Nonetheless, neither party's 1968
platform had devoted • much space to
ecological problems. The Democrats
outlined the need for clean air, clean
water, and improved methods of waste
disposal in a brief section which also
contained references to agriculture and
recreation; the Republicans covered
pollution in one sentence.21
Given the increasing public concern
it is somewhat surprising that neither
party's platform paid much attention
to the environment. Clearly, greater im-
portance was attached to other issues
such as "law and order" and Vietnam.
Another factor is mentioned in Scam-
mon and Wallenberg's analysis of the
1968 elections: in terms of national
polilics, ecology is akin lo "mother-
hood," and nobody is going to cam-
paign againsl it.22
If Scammon and Wallenberg are
correct, then the competilion for po-
litical dominance in environmental af-
fairs might have been motivated some-
what by the desire to be perceived as
the champion of "motherhood." Thus,
113
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Republicans and Democrats alike were
casting about for issues which might
be important not only in the 1970 Con-
gressional elections, but in 1972 as
well, and environmental quality ap-
peared to be a relatively "safe," yet at-
tractive issue. This factor, together
with traditional rivalries between Con-
gressional Committees and between
high ranking Administration officials,
furnishes the background for much of
the environmental legislation of the
last few years. As political scientist J.
Clarence Davies has noted:
One can search the Congressional
Record in vain for a defense of
foul air or dirty water. One can
similarly search in vain for a met-
ropolitan area which does not suf-
fer from the fumes of automobiles,
from belching smokestacks, or
from untreated sewage flowing into
its lakes and streams. The ex-
planation for the gap between in-
tention and reality lies to a great
extent in the realm of politics."
In the remainder of this section an
attempt will be made to review the
anti-pollution measures initiated by
members of the 91st Congress and the
Nixon Administration. This discussion
is essentially limited to the period sep-
arating the 1968 and 1970 elections,
primarily to highlight proximate events
leading to the National Environmental
Policy Act. The sequence of events can
also be followed in Figure 1 which
provides a month-by-month picture of
environmental initiatives taken by Fed-
eral policy makers.
Fall 1968
Introduction. John Steinhart, the As-
sociate Director of the Marine Studies
Center at the University of Wisconsin,
has emphasized that jurisdiction over
environmental legislation is somewhat
confused in the House of Representa-
tives.24 Part of this problem is defini-
tional in nature: "environment" is a
catch-all concept with ill-defined
boundaries. Responsibility for environ-
mental quality could equally well be
placed in any one of several standing
committees (e.g., Agriculture, Com-
merce, Interior and Insular Affairs,
Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and
possibly others) depending on what
facet of the environment was under
consideration. The guidelines governing
committee jurisdiction are sometimes
fuzzy, and overlapping responsibilities
frequently result. The situation is also
affected by the activities of powerful
pressure groups, and the need to in-
sure that constituents are not adversely
affected. The important role played by
committees was stressed in the recently
published Almanac of American Poli-
tics:
Lawyers and pollsters know that
the power to shape the question is,
by and large, the power to deter-
mine the answer. Congressional
committees, by hammering out
the legislation which the Congress
at large passes or rejects, do just
that. . . . Committee chambers . . .
are literally the back rooms where
decisions of Congress are shaped."
Reuss investigations. In September
1968, Congressman Henry Reuss, from
Wisconsin's fifth district, conducted a
hearing on research findings, related to
sulfur oxide pollution. Reuss, like many
others, was disenchanted with jurisdic-
tional squabbles, duplication of effort,
and lack of coordination within the
Federal bureaucracy.26 Later, as Chair-
man of the Government Operations'
Subcommittee on Conservation and
Natural Resources, he became known
as a staunch ally of conservation-
ists.27 Furthermore, the Subcommittee's
unique "watchdog" status allowed Reuss
to challenge other Congressmen (such
as Wayne Aspinall, Chairman of the
powerful Committee on Interior and
Insular Affairs) for pre-eminence in en-
vironmental matters.
White Paper on the Environment.
Another important figure in the House
of Representatives was Congressman
Emilio Daddario. During the mid-60's,
his Subcommittee on Science, Research,
and Development focused attention on
the problem of environmental quality.
Of particular interest is the Subcom-
mittee's 1968 report which called for
114
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FIGURE 1
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY-MAKING (1968-1970)
'68 1 '69
FALL WINTER
OCT|NOV|DEC| JAN|FEB|MAR
'69
SPRING
APR
MAY| JUN
'69
SUMMER
JULV]AUG|SEPV
'69
FALL
OCT
Nov|oec
'70
WINTER
JAN|FE6|MAR
'70 1 '70
SPRING 1 SUMMER
APR
IMAY | JUN|JULY| AU«|SEPT]
» REUSS INVESTIGATIONS ON SULFUR OXIDE POLLUTION
• CONGRESSIONAL WHITE PAPER ON A KATIOUL POLICY FOI THE ENVIRONIIEHT
• JACKS* BILL INTRODUCED • NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT [PL M-BJO) CEO CHEATED
• MUSKIE BILL INTIHOJCEO • ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACT (PL 9I-ZZ4)
• ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY DIVISION OF LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE CREATED
A REORGANIZATION PLAN! OMB AND WITEHOUSE DOMESTIC COUNCIL CREATED
A THE PRESIDENT S ADVISORY COUNCIL ON EXECUTIVE ORGANIZATION CREATED A DEPARTVENT OF NATURAL RESOUKES PROPOSED
A EO II4T2 (ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COUNCIL CREATED RENAMED CABINET COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT)
A EO IISOT (POLLUTION OF FEDERAL FACILITIES)
A EOII5I4 (PROTECTION AND ENHANCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY)
A EO 11923 (RATIONAL INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION CONTROL COUNCIL)
AREORtANIZATION PLAN 1 EPA CREATED
A REORGANIZATION PLAN 4 NOAA CREATED
I SANTA BARBARA OIL SPILL
I CHEVRON OIL SPILL
•J EARTH DAY
a systems approach to pollution prob-
lems. Daddario wanted the Department
of Interior to assume responsibility for
the coordination of Federal environ-
mental programs. He also emphasized
the need for an "Environmental Cabi-
net'' chaired by the Secretary of the
Interior and comprised of designated
officials from other Federal agencies.
For the first time a key phrase—"na-
tional policy for the environment"—
appeared, one with far reaching impli-
cations for the nation's future.28
In October 1968, Congressman Dad-
dario joined forces with Senator Henry
Jackson to develop the "Congressional
White Paper on a National Policy for
the Environment." Davies suggests that,
by calling for the establishment of a
joint Congressional committee on en-
vironmental management, Jackson was
trying to preempt Senator Edmund
Muskie who had for some time been
sseking the creation of a Select Senate
Committee on Technology and the
Human Environment.2"
Winter 1968-1969
Introduction. As previously indicated,
the Santa Barbara oil spill of January
1969 aroused considerable ire within
the body politic. Pressure from the gen-
eral public and the mass media became
more intense for strong Congressional
action. The Nixon Administration in
general, and Secretary Hickel in par-
ticular, were quickly introduced to en-
vironmental realities at the national
level.
Jackson Bill. In many respects, the
Santa Barbara oil spill served as a cata-
lytic agent in the competition for lead-
ership in environmental matters. In
February, Senator Jackson, Chairman
of the Interior and Insular Affairs Com-
mittee, introduced a bill which eventu-
ally was to become the National En-
vironmental Policy Act. Jackson's bill
called for (a) the Department of the
Interior to spearhead the conduct of
environmental research and (b) the es-
tablishment of a three-man Council on
115
-------
Environmental Quality reporting di-
rectly to the President.30 A modified
version of the bill eventually cleared
the Senate in July of 1969.
Considerable credit should go to
Michigan Congressman John Dingell
for passage of the House version of
Jackson's bill. According to John Stein-
hart, Dingell—Chairman of the House
Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wild-
life Conservation—introduced the bill
"as an amendment to the 1946 Fish
and Wildlife Act."3I Steinhart viewed
this as a ploy to get the bill assigned
to Dingell's subcommittee for hearings
over the opposition of Representative
Wayne Aspinall. In the House version
of the bill, the proposed Council on
Environmental Quality would have con-
sisted of five members in contrast to the
three recommended in Jackson's Senate
version. When this landmark piece of
environmental legislation cleared the
House of Representatives in September
1969, the number of proposed Council
members again stood at three.
Spring 1969
Introduction. In the Spring of 1969,
President Nixon brought the weight of
the Executive Branch to bear on en-
vironmental affairs. While Jackson's bill
was languishing in the Senate, Mr.
Nixon issued Executive Order 11472
in May establishing an Environmental
Quality Council (which should not be
confused with the Council on Environ-
mental Quality recommended in the
Jackson bill). A month earlier the Presi-
dent's Advisory Council on Executive
Organization had been appointed under
the leadership of Roy L. Ash, then
President of Litton Industries, Inc. The
Council's proposal to establish a De-
partment of Natural Resources is of
prime interest, but a full discussion of
its implications will be reserved for a
later section since the Council's findings
were not presented to the President
until May 1970.
Executive Order 11472. With this
action President Nixon launched an En-
vironmental Quality Council and the
Citizen's Advisory Committee on En-
vironmental Quality, the former includ-
ing the President as Chairman and the
President's Science Adviser as the Ex-
ecutive Secretary. The Council was de-
signed to advise and assist the Chief
Executive on matters related to en-
vironmental quality. Specifically, it was
to (a) review Federal plans and pro-
grams and recommend measures to in-
sure that environmental effects were
properly treated; (b) conduct studies
and advise the President on policy mat-
ters related to recreation and beautifi-
cation outdoors; (c) encourage mutual
cooperation among Federal, State, and
local organizations and strengthen pub-
lic and private participation in environ-
mental programs. The fifteen-member
Citizen's Advisory Committee shared
many of the same duties, including
offering assistance and evaluating the
extent to which progress was being
made in the achievement of the Coun-
cil's goals.3" The Environmental Quality
Council met for the first time in June
1969, with top priority assigned to such
problems as air pollution, solid waste
disposal methods, and the long range
effects of DDT.
Steinhart has argued that the Envi-
ronmental Quality Council was Mr.
Nixon's initial attempt to establish
"primacy" in the field of environmental
affairs.33 In Steinhart's opinion, how-
ever, the Council could never be an
effective coordinating group because of
its special relationship to the President
and his belief that the Chief Executive
should take action to solve problems,
not merely "comment" on them.
~ Muskie Bill. As chairman of the Pub-
lic Works Subcommittee on Air and
Water Pollution, Senator Muskie is re-
garded by many as the leading environ-
mental crusader in Congress. During
the 60's he was responsible for some of
the most important pollution control
legislation of that era—notably, the
Water Quality Act of 1965, the 1966
Clean Water Restoration Act, and the
Air Quality Act of 1967. Muskie intro-
duced the Environmental Quality Im-
provement Act in June of 1969 which
called for:
116
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• The development of criteria and
standards to assure the protection
and enhancement of environmen-
tal quality in all Federal and fed-
erally assisted public works proj-
ects and programs;
• the coordination of all Federal
research programs to increase
knowledge of the interrelationship
between man and his environ-
ment;
• the creation of an Office of En-
vironmental Quality and appropri-
ate staff in the Executive Office of
the President.34
The Senate was now confronted with
competing bills (Jackson's and Mus-
kie's) and the prospect of a protracted
floor fight. Muskie, it seemed, was very
concerned about the effect of NEPA
on existing environmental programs.
Fortunately, negotiations between Mus-
kie and Jackson led to a compromise—
provisions for the Council on Environ-
mental Quality and the Office of En-
vironmental Quality both survived, and
a lengthy struggle over committee juris-
diction was avoided. Ultimately, Jack-
son's bill got through first, and Muskie's
proposal was incorporated in proposed
water pollution legislation.35
Summer 1969
Introduction. During the summer of
1969, Senator Jackson's bill passed both
Houses of Congress and was sent to
the President for signature. Also of sig-
nificance to ecology-minded Congress-
men was the creation of the Environ-
mental Policy Division in the Con-
gressional Research Service.
Environmental Policy Division.
"Congressional concern for the quality
and productivity of the physical envi-
ronment" was the driving force behind
the establishment of the Environmental
Policy Division in September 1969.x
Comprised of experts from the Natural
Resources Division and other sections
of the Legislative Reference Service,
the Division was responsible for pro-
viding non-partisan information, advice,
and assistance on legislative proposals.
By creating the Environmental Policy
Division, Congress could obtain "au-
thoritative and objective policy analy-
sis" in specific areas such as beuatifica-
tion, land-use planning, natural resource
management, air and water pollution,
and protection of shorelines and estu-
aries.37
Fall 1969
Introduction. Secretary of the In-
terior Hickel had captured some of the
headlines in late August by coming out
with tough off-shore drilling regulations
opposed by the oil industry. By fall,
the public's attitude toward Hickel be-
gan to change, and, before long, he
developed into a folk hero to many
conservationists.
SCOPE. In December, Secretary
Hickel and his assistants came up with
a new concept known as SCOPE (Stu-
dent Council on Pollution and the En-
vironment). SCOPE was envisaged as a
means of involving students in the fight
against pollution; however, given the
mood on many campuses, it was not an
easy product to sell. Initially hostile
and apprehensive about being "used"
by the Government, many student lead-
ers gradually became intrigued by the
concept of an early warning system for
pollution problems. Hickel told visiting
students that "SCOPE will be a vehicle
to open up a channel from the youth
who care about the environment to
those agencies in government who can
do something about it on a national
scale." "
Winter 1969-1970
Introduction. In many ways 1970
might be regarded as the year when
government action on behalf of the en-
vironment finally began to overtake
public demand to do something mean-
ingful. The Jackson bill, better known
as the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, was signed into law as
PL 91-190 on January 1st. President
Nixon issued Executive Order 11507,
which dealt with pollution caused by
Federal facilities; it was formally an-
117
-------
nounced on the 4th of February and
six days later was followed by Mr.
Nixon's message on the environment.
In the latter, the President outlined a
comprehensive 37-point program on en-
vironmental quality, including 23 major
legislative proposals and an additional
14 measures for Executive action. (Feb-
ruary was also noteworthy for the
Chevron oil spill mentioned earlier.)
President Nixon continued to press
for environmental reform with two im-
portant actions in March: Executive
Order 11514, on the protection and
enhancement of environmental quality,
and Reorganization Plan No. 2, which
established the Office of Management
and Budget and a White House Domes-
tic Council.39
The National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). On signing the National
Environmental Policy Act into law
President Nixon stated that "the 1970's
absolutely must be the years when
America pays its debt to the past by
reclaiming the purity of its air, its
waters and our living environment. It
is literally now or never." ™
By definition, NEPA is a declaration
of national policy to foster productive
and enjoyable harmony between man
and the environment. Title I of the Act
instructs all agencies of the Federal
Government to:
• employ an interdisciplinary ap-
proach in planning and decision
making related to the environ-
ment;
• identify and develop methods for
insuring the inclusion of environ-
mental values in the decision mak-
ing process;
• include in all reports and recom-
mendations which might "signifi-
cantly affect" environmental qual-
ity a "detailed statement" on
• environmental impact of the
proposed action
• unavoidable adverse environ-
mental effects
• alternatives to the proposed
action
• the relationship between local
short-term use of the environ-
ment and the maintenance of
long-term productivity
• irreversible commitment of re-
sources if the project were to
be implemented;
• study, develop, and describe action
alternatives;
• recognize the international and
long-range implications of envi-
ronmental quality;
• develop and use ecological infor-
mation in planning and develop-
ment of resource-oriented proj-
ects;
• provide assistance to the Council
on Environmental Quality."
1 Title II of NEPA established the
Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ). Composed of three members
appointed by the President (with the
advice and consent of the Senate), CEQ
formulates and recommends national
environmental policies and promotes
the overall improvement of environ-
mental quality. Specifically, the Council
is to
• assist and advise the President in
the preparation of an annual En-
vironmental Quality Report;
• gather information on environ-
mental quality and determine if
conditions coincide with NEPA
policy;
• review federal programs and ac-
tivities;
• develop policy recommendations;
• conduct investigations related to
environmental quality;
• document and define changes in
the natural environment;
• report to the President on the
state of the environment;
• comply with Presidential requests
for policy studies and recommen-
dations.42
President Nixon selected Russell
Train, then Undersecretary of the In-
terior as Chairman of CEQ. Gordon
J. F. MacDonald and Robert Cahn ini-
tially were appointed to serve as the
other members of the Council. Since
its inception, CEQ has been the sub-
ject of controversy—indeed, as has the
National Environmental Policy Act.
118
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Some of the criticism leveled against
NEPA and the Council on Environ-
mental Quality will be discussed in a
later section.
Executive Order 11507. Shortly after
NEPA became law, EO 11507 was
issued, calling for a three-year program
demonstrating Federal leadership in a
nation-wide effort to combat pollution.
To accomplish this goal, Federal agen-
cies were specifically charged with the
responsibility for insuring that govern-
ment facilities could meet air and water
quality standards. In a message to Con-
gress, Mr. Nixon stated that:
For years, many Federal facilities
have themselves been among the
worst polluters. The Executive
Order . . . not only accepts re-
sponsibility for putting a swift end
to Federal pollution, but puts
teeth into the commitment . . ."
Executive Order 11514. Early in
March President Nixon issued EO
11514 which continued the theme of
Federal leadership on matters related
to environmental quality. From the
standpoint of environmental policy, the
executive order did not appear to differ
substantively from NEPA except for
broadening the directions given to most
Federal agencies. Its primary function
seemed to be one of clarifying the role
of the newly created Council of Envi-
ronmental Quality. CEQ "was provided
a mandate for reform in the environ-
mental decisions of Federal agencies—
from the start of planning to the initia-
tion of ... projects and programs.""
Specifically, the Council was given au-
thority to:
• recommend priorities for environ-
mental programs;
• determine the need for new poli-
cies;
• conduct public hearings;
• promote the use of monitoring
systems;
• assist in the achievement of inter-
national cooperation;
• issue guidelines and instructions
to Federal agencies;
• initiate investigations relating to
environmental quality.
It should be noted that EO 11514
also changed the name of the Environ-
mental Quality Council (which had
been created by the President in May
1969) to the Cabinet Committee on the
Environment, presumably to avoid any
confusion with CEQ. The Cabinet
Committee was quickly absorbed into
the newly established Domestic Coun-
cil, a White House coordinating group
created along with the Office of Man-
agement and Budget as part of Reor-
ganization Plan No. 2. Of additional
interest here is the fact that the House
Committee on Government Operations
initially rejected the President's Plan;
however, a vote of the full House de-
feated a resolution to veto the plan and
it became effective on July 1, 1970.
Spring 1970
Introduction. Spring, appropriately
enough, was an active period in the
quest for environmental improvement,
both within Government and among
the public at large. Senator Muskie's
Environmental Quality Improvement
Act was finally signed into law as Title
II of the Water Quality Improvement
Act of 1970. "Earth Day" was observed
on April 22nd, and much of its success
can be attributed to the efforts of Sena-
tor Gaylord Nelson. Science called the
environmental teach-in on Earth Day
"a fresh way of perceiving the environ-
ment" but questioned how long the en-
thusiasm would last.*5 Former Secretary
of the Interior Hickel recounts a strong
difference of opinion within the Ad-
ministration over participation in Earth
Day. Secretaries Hickel and Volpe,
both active in SCOPE, were the main
proponents, whereas others had ex-
pressed misgivings about "anyone get-
ting involved." "
President Nixon's next action in the
environmental field was EO 11523,
which established the National Indus-
trial Pollution Control Council. The
Ash Committee also submitted its rec-
ommendation for the creation of a De-
partment of Natural Resources.
The Environmental Quality Improve-
ment Act. Public Law 91-224 was the
119
-------
product of a compromise worked out
by the Muskie and Jackson staffs. The
Act does two things: (1) it requires
Federal agencies "conducting or sup-
porting public works activities which
affect the environment" to implement
policies created under current laws; and
(2) authorizes an Office of Environmen-
tal Quality to be established in the Ex-
ecutive Office.47 The Office of Environ-
mental Quality was supposed to provide
the administrative and professional staff
for the Council on Environmental Qual-
ity (the Chairman of CEQ was also des-
ignated as Director of the Office). In
reality, however, the Office of Environ-
mental Quality ". . . has never been
formally established as an organiza-
tional entity." 48
Earlier, when NEPA and the Envi-
ronmental Quality Improvement Act
were still in the conceptual stage, the
stance taken by Senator Jackson and
Congressman Daddario was described
as "in part, a power play directed
against HEW and Muskie in favor of
the Interior Department and a new
alignment of congressional committee
jurisdictions."" In Steinhart's opinion,
the requirement in P.L. 91-224 that
annual Environmental Quality Reports
"be transmitted to each standing com-
mittee of the Congress having jurisdic-
tion over any part of the subject mat-
ter . . ." was Muskie's way of main-
taining his jurisdictional prerogatives.60
Ash Council Report. On the 12th of
May, the President's Advisory Council
on Executive Organization submitted a
formal memorandum calling for a con-
solidated Department of Natural Re-
sources (DNR). In so doing the Coun-
cil cited the need for a coordinated
natural resource policy which, thereto-
fore, had been "virtually impossible to
achieve." °l The memorandum went on
to say that, by creating a clearly defined
center of responsibility, the Federal
Government's relationships with state
and local government and private in-
dustry would be simplified consider-
ably. In essence, the proposed Depart-
ment of Natural Resources was to have
consisted of the following areas: land
and recreation, water resources, energy
and mineral resources, marine resources
and technology, and geophysical science
services.
The Ash Council recommendations
concerning a DNR have not been im-
plemented for a variety of reasons, in-
cluding lack of Congressional action
on reorganization. (It should be noted,
however, that the DNR proposal was
reintroduced by the White House in
June 1973.) Perhaps of greater signifi-
cance to the present discussion is the
position taken by the Council with re-
spect to key elements of the President's
Reorganization Plans 3 and 4 which
quickly followed.
Summer 1970
Introduction. In July 1970 President
Nixon announced Reorganization Plans
No. 3 and 4. The former established
the Environmental Protection Agency;
the latter created the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. Al-
though both Plans were eventually ap-
proved by Congress, each was opposed
by a coalition of concerned lawmakers,
Administration officials, and conserva-
tion groups—but for altogether differ-
ent reasons.
Reorganization Plan No. 3. With
the backing of the Ash Council, Presi-
dent Nixon submitted a plan to Con-
gress creating an independent Environ-
mental Protection Agency (EPA). The
Chief Executive indicated that the Fed-
eral Government must regard the en-
vironment "as a single, interrelated sys-
tem" and, consistent with that percep-
tion, there is a need to reorganize
pollution control programs under one
umbrella.52 Mr. Nixon cited previous
failures to coordinate agency efforts,
partly because the traditional way of
viewing pollution had been "along
media lines" (e.g., water, air, etc.)
rather than acknowledging that pollu-
tion frequently cuts across all media.
EPA's method of attacking pollution
problems would involve:
• identifying pollutants;
• tracing their path through the en-
vironmental chain while observing
120
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and recording any changes in
form;
• assessing the effects on human
health and welfare of exposure
to pollutants;
• keeping a watchful eye for syner-
gistic effects among pollutants;
• locating an optimum point in the
ecological chain for "interdic-
tion." M
The programs transferred from other
agencies to form EPA were the Fed-
eral Water Quality Administration, the
National Air Pollution Control Admin-
istration, the Bureau of Water Hygiene,
the Bureau of Solid Waste Manage-
ment, the Bureau of Radiological
Health, Pesticides Standards and Re-
search, Pesticides Registration, Federal
Radiation Council, and Studies of Eco-
logical Systems. With respect to the
roles of the Council on Environmental
Quality and the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, Mr. Nixon stated that
... the Council focuses on what
our broad policies in the environ-
mental field should be; the EPA
would focus on setting and en-
forcing pollution control stand-
ards. The two are not competing,
but complementary. . . ."
In November, William Ruckelshaus was
appointed Administrator of EPA which
became operational the following
month.
EPA advocates and opponents
In the opening remarks to this sub-
section it was noted that Roy Ash was
a staunch advocate of an Environmen-
tal Protection Agency. The President's
Advisory Council on Executive Organi-
zation went on record in memoranda
dated April 29 and May 12 supporting
the idea "that key antipollution pro-
grams be merged in a new and inde-
pendent Environmental Protection Ad-
ministration to give priority to the task
of cleaning up our environment."55
Senator Muskie also seemed com-
mitted—at least in principle—to an
"EPA" concept. In the Introduction to
Davies' book, Senator Muskie argued
that:
One of our most urgent needs is
the creation of an independent
watchdog agency, uninvolved with
the operating programs of the gov-
ernment and dedicated solely to
the protection and enhancement
of environmental quality. We can-
not afford to vest the duty to en-
force environmental standards in
the very agencies involved in the
development of those resources for
public use.56
Within the Nixon Administration,
one of the most vocal opponents of
EPA was Secretary Hickel:
... I strongly urged, and repeat-
edly fought for the transforming
of Interior into a Department of
Natural Resources and the Envi-
ronment. I reasoned that it was
self-defeating to separate resource
development from environmental
protection. . . . The President
chose another course. . . . This
decision . . . (to create EPA) re-
moved from the Interior the Fed-
eral Water Qualit s dministration
as well as several c ;r offices deal-
ing with pollution control. I still
believe that the environment suf-
fers when the policing function is
isolated, . . .B7
Congressional opposition to EPA, while
generally muted, was based on two
points: (1) appropriate Congressional
committees had not been consulted
about the contents of Reorganization
Plan 3, and (2) a small, but critical
group of environmental programs (e.g.,
HUD's water and sewer grant program,
DOT's noise pollution program, etc.)
were omitted. Despite the criticism the
Plan became effective in October.68
Reorganization Plan No. 4. The plan
to create a National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration (NOAA) can
be traced directly to the Commission
on Marine Science, Engineering and
Resources—sometimes referred to as
the Stratton Commission—although its
roots go back much farther than that.
Edward Wenk provides a fascinating
account of early interest in a "super-
agency" for the marine sciences in his
121
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Politics of the Ocean.™ It is apparent
from Wenk's book that there were
strong odds against such an agency be-
ing established, particularly given a
downward spiral of interest coupled
with powerful opposition at the highest
levels of government.
In a prepared statement accompany-
ing Reorganization Plan 4, Mr. Nixon
said that, by bringing together a select
group of departments then scattered
throughout the Federal Government, a
unified, coordinated program could be
initiated which would effectively cope
with "the compelling need for protec-
tion from natural hazards and the need
to develop marine resources.""° As
spelled out in the Plan, NOAA would
consist of the following programs:
• Environmental Science Services
Administration;
• selected activities of the Bureau
of Commercial Fisheries;
• marine sport fish program of the
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and
Wildlife;
• Office of the Sea Grant Programs;
• elements of the United States Lake
Survey;
• National Oceanographic Data
Center;
• National Oceanographic Instru-
mentation Center;
• National Data Buoy project.
As Science points out, other than Ed-
ward Wenk (who, in 1970, was the
executive director of a White House
advisory council on marine affairs), one
of the few influential proponents of
NOAA was then Attorney General
John Mitchell.91 Wenk credits Mitchell
with overcoming considerable opposi-
tion from key Presidential advisors,
among them Roy Ash. The President's
Advisory Council on Executive Reor-
ganization had strongly recommended
against NOAA as early as January. In
the Council's May memorandum, Ash
stated that:
We wish to reaffirm our recom-
mendation that an independent
NOAA should not be established.
To create such a separate agency
would be inconsistent with the
basic objective or our proposal for
a new Department of Natural Re-
sources. It would separate closely
related natural resource functions
at the very time when it is urgent
to bring them together . . ."2
Ash had suggested an alternative plan,
supported by Secretary Hickel, which
would have involved consolidating a
number of marine-related programs un-
der the aegis of the Interior Depart-
ment.'3 Eventually, NOAA was estab-
lished within the Department of Com-
merce despite opposition from many
conservation groups. Their argument
was "that traditionally the Department
of Commerce had represented the in-
dustrial and economic viewpoint, rather
than the public use and enjoyment of
a natural resource." °" Congress never-
theless approved the plan, and NOAA
became a reality with Dr. Robert
White at the helm.
Epilogue: the struggle continues
V The decision to restrict this discus-
sion of environmental policy-making to
a two-year period was, of course, arbi-
trary. Obviously, the struggle for lead-
ership in environmental affairs con-
tinued. For example, one of the last
and most important products of the
91st Congress was the Clean Air
Amendments of 1970, which strength-
ened controls over automobile emis-
sions and hazardous substances emitted
from new and existing sources. These
Amendments embody Congressional
recommendations as well as those con-
tained in the President's 1970 Message
on the Environment. According to the
National Journal, ". . . it appeared that
the President had effectively challenged
Muskie's pre-eminence in environmen-
tal matters, . . .""'"'
Two years later, as the present paper
is being written, little has changed. The
92nd Congress overrode the President's
veto on the Federal Water Pollution
Control Amendments—the most expen-
sive environmental bill in history. The
bill's price tag is $24.7 billion, to be
spent over a three-year period at a time
when inflation and deficit spending are
122
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key political issues. Dedicated environ-
mentalists were not alarmed by the
cost, but were concerned that "the
measure is an authorization, not an ap-
propriations bill, and there is a feeling
that considerably less money will actu-
ally be expended than is called for in
the legislation.""" In late November
1972 President Nixon impounded more
than half the funds which Congress had
set aside for new water treatment
plants, although this action has been
submitted for judicial review.
Three significant features of the
Water Pollution Control Act especially
deserve attention: (1) effluent limita-
tions, not water quality standards, are
now the enforcement mechanism of the
water pollution control programs; (2)
private citizens have the right to go
to court on environmental issues, even
to sue violators of the new law—how-
ever, plaintiffs must demonstrate that
the violation has adversely affected
their interests; and (3) the water dis-
charge permit program has been tight-
ened, giving EPA regulatory powers
over pollutant discharge into coastal
and inland waters.
Just before adjournment the 92nd
Congress enacted some additional meas-
ures worth noting.07 Foremost among
these is the Environmental Pesticide
Control Act, which makes EPA the
chief regulatory agency in the pesticide
field and also simplifies the procedure
for removing dangerous products from
the market. Federal authority had pre-
viously been based on the Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947
which contained little, if any, regula-
tory power. The 92nd Congress was
also responsible for such important en-
vironmental measures as the coastal
zone management bill, a law to control
dumping in oceans and coastal waters,
and a noise control act.
NEPA: pro and con
At this point it seems appropriate to
take a closer look at the National En-
vironmental Policy Act, this time from
the vantage point of recent history.
Three years have elapsed now since
NEPA was signed into law, a sufficient
period to evaluate its accomplishments
and failures.
In a recent presentation before the
Interprofessional Council on Environ-
mental Design, Fred Anderson, Execu-
tive Director of the Environmental Law
Institute, suggested five areas where
NEPA has been successful:
• The National Environmental Pol-
icy Act has induced the Federal
Government to give greater atten-
tion to public concern about
"quality of life";
• the NEPA requirement of en-
vironmental impact statements
("102 process") has provided a
systematic way of cutting across
Government lines, necessitating
the creation of intergovernmental
coordinating groups and task
forces;
• the 102 process has engendered
active public participation in pol-
icy making and, in general, has
increased the level of public
awareness with ->ect to govern-
ment programs v,,jch might affect
the environment;
• Federal agencies have had to sup-
plement their staffs with better
in-house talent—interdisciplinari-
ans with a fresh point of view;
• the language of NEPA has been
vigorously enforced by the courts
(NEPA is no "paper tiger").68
Ironically, Section 102(2)(C), which
spells out the requirement for environ-
mental impact statements, has probably
evoked more controversy than any
other aspect of NEPA, yet it appears
to have been an afterthought. The legis- v
lators who drafted NEPA contemplated
two- or three-page impact statements,
not verbose documents, but the latter
have frequently been produced.™ Pro-
fessor Harold P. Green, Director of
George Washington University's Law,
Science and Technology Program, told
members of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science that
"It is difficult to believe NEPA isn't
going to get its teeth pulled." He went
on to say that if the legal implications
123
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of the Act had been anticipated, it
never would have been enacted.™ Even
NEPA's chief advocate in the House of
Representatives, Congressman Dingell,
recently remarked: "I have some doubts
that NEPA would pass in its present
form today. I very much doubt if the
Section 102 provision . . . would be
in . . ."7I The pessimism of both men
stems from the fact that successive
court rulings have greatly expanded
the concept of "environmental conse-
quences:" almost any federal govern-
ment activity might conceivably require
impact statements. As Green points out,
agencies have been inundated with "im-
mense amounts of paperwork." ™
Attacks from both sides
NEPA has been attacked both for
"not doing enough" and for "going too
far." The position of those in the first
camp has been stated as follows:
. . . While federal courts have
ruled in almost 200 cases that the
government has failed to comply
with NEPA or other environmen-
tal protection laws, the courts have
not stopped a single project on sub-
stantive grounds. The merit or lack
of merit of a project has not been
the basis of any environmental
court decision. Some environmen-
tal lawyers believe a court may one
day rule on the substance of a
proposed project, that a court may
find, for instance, that a project
is too environmentally destructive
or is not the best alternative. So
far, however, the courts have
avoided the substance of these
conflicts.73
In essence, the courts have focused
on procedural requirements, leaving
open the possibility of having a beauti-
fully written set of impact statements
for a pointless or potentially destruc-
tive project. Some additional problems
include (1) the fact that environmental-
ists have no recourse except going to
court, (2) the absence of any require-
ment for comments on final impact
statements—only on draft statements,
(3) the absence of any mechanism for
assessing the validity of impact state-
ments (i.e., to determine how the in-
formation was obtained), and (4) the
exclusion of the private sector from
the impact statement process.
Similar comments were attributed to
two departing presidential advisors,
Robert Cahn and Gordon MacDonald
who. with Russell Train, comprised
the original Council on Environmental
Quality. Cahn thought that the courts
had done an excellent job of "getting
environmental concerns built into de-
cision making"; however, he felt there
was still considerable room for im-
provement on the part of some federal
agencies:
We're getting much better compli-
ance with the letter of the law but
I'm not satisfied with compliance
with the spirit of the law.
That is, I'm not satisfied that the
agencies in all cases have really
considered the environmental im-
pact, instead of making their de-
cision first and then writing an
environmental impact statement to
justify it. This is still done too
much.71
MacDonald stated that one of CEQ's
shortcomings might have been the in-
ability to devote sufficient staff time for
thorough review of environmental im-
pact statements. Nevertheless, he and
Cahn both thought that the Council
had accomplished a great deal in the
review process and had developed im-
portant roles in the drafting of legisla-
tion, providing advice to the President,
and coordinating the activities of other
Federal agencies.
It is probably correct to say that
there are just as many critics who
would like to see NEPA rescinded (or,
at the very least, weakened) as there
are individuals advocating tougher en-
vironmental measures. Marvin Zeldin,
a frequent contributor to Audubon, is
particularly apprehensive about future
legislation designed to bypass NEPA
or to abolish citizen lawsuits. Accord-
ing to Zeldin, the National Environ-
mental Policy Act has been referred to
as a "trumpet call to retreat into the
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past," and its adherents have been ac-
cused of "blocking progress" and "pro-
moting mischief."75 Even many mod-
erates, who quickly agree that NEPA
has had a positive effect on the nation's
ability to maintain and improve the
environment, argue that some change
in NEPA is inevitable. In their opinion,
continued costly delays and the denial
of services to people may well swing
the pendulum away from environmen-
tal concerns.
A recent EPA publication provides
several examples of projects which
were modified or canceled as a direct
result of NEPA.
• In March, 1972, the Army Corps
of Engineers prepared draft im-
pact statements covering proposed
construction of a 1760-foot pier
extending from Assateague Island
into the Atlantic. The project was
terminated when negative com-
ments underscored the likelihood
that natural barriers along the
eastern coastline would be harmed.
• A dredging operation designed to
"improve safety for barge cross-
ings" in Florida's Gulf Intra-
coastal Waterway was halted be-
cause of harm to the "natural
habitat" of aquatic life in the
area.
• In a landmark decision, Calvert
Cliffs Coordinating Committee v.
AEC, the Court instructed the
Atomic Energy Commission to
(a) devote greater attention to the
environment in its internal review
process, (b) consider halting nu-
clear generating plant construc-
tion until environmental factors
are carefully weighed, and (c)
make its own assessment of water
quality rather than rely on Fed-
eral or State certification.76
Whither the environmental cause?
But what of the environmental move-
ment itself? Is it likely to continue and,
if it does, what direction will it take?
At the close of 1972, environmental-
ism seemed to be making progress on
some fronts while losing ground on
others. On the plus side one can cite
the following:
1. Court victories resulting from
citizen lawsuits continue to be a source
of optimism. In addition to those cases
previously described, environmentalists
have achieved court victories primarily
because judges were willing to set
bonds at reasonable levels; otherwise,
the expense would have precluded
groups such as the Sierra Club and
Friends of the Earth from obtaining
judicial review. Indications are that fu-
ture court decisions may be based on
factors previously ignored in NEPA,
for example, clear evidence that alter-
natives to the proposed action and so-
cial impact have been considered.
2. There are signs that the environ-
ment is becoming a political issue at
the grass-roots level. Scammon and
Wallenberg predicled in April 1971
lhal ecology would be important in
local elections; the 1972 elections ap-
pear lo support their forecasts.77 For
example, the League of Conservation
Voters was heavily involved in a num-
ber of congressional and gubernational
races, backing candidates with contri-
butions as well as endorsements.
Spokesmen for the League attributed
the primary defeat of Representative
Aspinall, and the unseating of Senator
Gordon Allott to Colorado environ-
mentalists.78 Colorado voters also ve-
toed Denver as a site for the 1976 Win-
ter Olympics, partly due to the threat
of environmental degradation. How-
ever, perhaps the biggest victory was
scored in California, where, in the face
of bitter opposition from petroleum
and other industrial interests, voters
approved a proposition calling for strict
coastal zoning and careful regulation
of future coastal development.
3. Despite enormous difficulties, the
1972 United Nations Conference on
the Human Environment appeared to
open the door to international coopera-
tion on environmental problems. Agree-
ment was reached on 109 separate rec-
ommendations, incorporated in a dec-
laration on the environment, a global
125
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action plan, and the machinery to carry
it out."
On the debit side of the ledger, the
staggering cost of cleaning up the en-
vironment will undoubtedly become a
highly polarized issue. The Council on
Environmental Quality estimates that
approximately $287 billion will have to
be spent during the current decade in
order to do the job properly.80 Thus
far, solid data are lacking on public
willingness to underwrite environmen-
tal programs. Presumably, many people
overlook the fact that someone has to
pay for a cleaner environment—name-
ly, the taxpayer.
And now, the energy crisis . ..
Another area of concern to environ-
mentalists is the energy crisis. Whether
or not a "crisis" exists, and who should
be held responsible, remains the sub-
ject of heated debate. Part of the prob-
lem rests with the move to low sulfur
coal and oil which has taken a substan-
tial fraction of fossil fuel out of the
pool. Furthermore, it has been sug-
gested that the environmental move-
ment is to blame for delaying nuclear
power plants and for "hindering the
construction of new petroleum refin-
eries." n During the first few weeks of
1973, when schools and businesses
were forced to shut down because of
fuel shortages, the petroleum industry
launched a vigorous advertising cam-
paign calling for increased incentives
for oil exploration, fewer restrictions
on offshore drilling, and postponement
of deadlines for achieving air and water
quality standards. Secretary of Agricul-
ture Butz, upon assuming his new role
as the President's natural resource
counselor, said that:
We should have been thinking
about the energy shortage when
construction of the Alaskan pipe-
line was blocked 5 years ago. . . .
When we run short of power, the
first people to have their power
shut off should be those who
blocked the Alaskan pipeline.82
At the same time, the oil industry
has received criticism from CEQ Chair-
man Russell Train who points out that
the recent "spate of advertising" blam-
ing environmentalists for gasoline
shortages neglects to mention the ex-
tent to which oil companies miscalcu-
lated fuel oil and gasoline needs.83 The
Federal Government has also been
criticized for not lifting quotas on for-
eign oil imports and for failing to de-
velop "a coordinated, coherent national
energy policy geared to the public in-
terest." M Secretary of Commerce Peter-
son, commenting on the energy-ecology
debate, has argued that both sides are
going to have to accept trade-offs:
If we can forge a national commit-
ment and if, on that foundation,
we can construct national environ-
mental policies, national energy
policies, and national economic
growth policies that are coherent
and reconciled, one with the
other, we may well be able to
solve our energy problem. With
such a commitment, we may well
be able to clean up our environ-
ment without slowing economic
growth.83
Decline of the eco-fad?
Is environmentalism an "elitist fad"
as some critics have charged? Has the
American public's concern about en-
vironmental quality diminished, or was
it, in fact, exaggerated from the be-
ginning? The answer in both cases is
a qualified "No", based on the results
of recent attitude and opinion surveys:
1. Cantril and Roll found that, in
contrast to the results of previous na-
tional surveys conducted in 1959 and
1964, pollution "emerged distinctly" as
a new national concern in 1971.86 Nev-
ertheless, fear about pollution still
ranked well below apprehension about
war, national disunity, economic insta-
bility, communism, and lack of law and
order.
2. Watts and Free updated the Can-
tril and Roll study in 1972 with a na-
tional probability sample of 1806 re-
spondents.87 Their findings indicated
that the environment was unquestion-
ably a major concern of the American
126
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public; however, they also found evi-
dence that a vigorous environmental
"backlash" had developed within gov-
ernment, industry, and the scientific
community. Support for environmental
reform appeared uniform across all
population strata, with greatest concern
expressed by the young, the well-edu-
cated, suburbanites, professional and
business groups, Westerners, Catholics,
political independents, and liberals; less
concern was noted among those with
little education, little income, and those
who reside in rural areas:
Looking ... at the entire range of
environmental issues, it would ap-
pear that the public . . . would not
only condone, but indeed welcome,
a considerable new investment in
solving the problems of air and
water pollution and solid waste dis-
posal. The people remain leery,
however, about more sweeping and
revolutionary attacks on environ-
mental problems, if these ap-
proaches assume overtones of gov-
ernmental control through such
devices as officially limiting eco-
nomic or technical growth or in-
hibiting an increase in popula-
tion.88
3. Tognacci and his associates inter-
viewed 141 randomly selected subjects
in Boulder, Colorado. Their results were
similar to those reported by Watts and
Free (persons expressing the most con-
cern about environmental quality were
generally younger, better educated,
more liberal, and higher in socioeco-
nomic status), they arrived at a con-
siderably more pessimistic conclusion:
Taken together, our findings sug-
gest that the ability of the ecology
movement for unifying a diverse
constituency has perhaps been ov-
errated. At least at this point in
time, those persons most con-
concerned about environmental is-
sues appear to reflect the same
configuration of social and psy-
chological attributes which have
traditionally characterized individ-
uals active in civic, service, and
political organizations . . . Recent
increments in public concern about
ecology may merely reflect a more
intense commitment by this rela-
tively select group of people rather
than broad increases in sensitivity
to environmental problems among
the general citizenry.90
Tognacci's findings underscore one
additional problem which is both na-
tional and international in character:
the age-old battle between "haves" and
"have nots." The U.N. Conference on
the Human Environment indicated all
too clearly that the developing nations
perceive environmental concern as the
"rich man's dilemma." Worse, some
countries consider it an "imperialist
plot" to prevent poorer countries from
reaching full potential. In sum, unless
environmental issues can be shown to
apply to a broad spectrum of the Amer-
ican public, and to transcend national
boundaries, the future of environmen-
talism may be in jeopardy.
Notes for
Paper 1
'Lloyd Free and Hadley Contrill, The
Political Beliefs of Americans (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1968), pp. 94-112.
2 James Ridgeway, The Politics of Ecolo-
gy (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.,
1971) pp. 118-119.
3 The Committee of Scientists, "The
Torrey Canyon—Report of the Committee
of Sceintists on the Scientific and Techno-
logical Aspects of the Torrey Canyon
Disaster," available from Her Majesty's
Stationery Office, (1967), 48 pp.
4 Julian McCaull, "The Black Tide," Our
World in Peril: An Environmental Review.
Sheldon Novick and Dorothy Cottrell, eds.
(Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications,
Inc., 1971), p. 87.
5 Walter J. Hickel, Who Owns America?
(New York: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1971),
p. 87.
'Ibid, p. 91.
7 Ibid, p. 105.
8Cecile Trop and Leslie Roos, "Public
Opinion and the Environment," The Poli-
tics of Ecosuicide. Leslie Roos, ed. (New
York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, Inc.,
1971), p. 54.
' Free and Cantril, The Political Beliefs
of Americans, p. 105.
127
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10Trop and Roos, "Public Opinion and
the Environment," pp. 55-56.
11J. Clarence Davies, The Politics of
Pollution (New York: Pegasus, 1970), pp.
78-82.
I2Trop and Roos, "Public Opinion and
the Environment," p. 60.
"Ibid, p. 62.
"Frank Egler, "Pesticides—in Our Eco-
system," The Subversive Science. Paul
Shepard and Daniel McKinley, eds. (Bos-
ton: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1969), p. 251.
l°lbid, p.250-251.
"Philip Converse, Aage Clausen, and
Warren Miller, "Electoral Myth and Real-
ity: the 1964 Election," American Political
Science Review, 49, (1965), pp. 321-336.
"John Maloney and Lynn Slovonsky,
"The Pollution Issue: A Survey of Edi-
torial Judgments," The Politics of Eco-
suicide. Leslie Roos, ed. (New York: Holt,
Rinehart, & Winston, Inc., 1971), pp. 64-
78.
18 Max Gunther, "Where Does Television
Stand on Ecology," TV Guide, August 4,
1972, p. 7.
19 Joseph Klapper, "The Social Effects
of Mass Communication," The Science of
Human Communication. Wilbur Schramm,
ed. (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1963)
pp. 65-76.
20 "Issue of the Year: The Environ-
ment," Time, January 4, 1971.
21 Trop and Roos, "Public Opinion and
the Environment," p. 57.
22 Richard Scammon and Ben Watten-
berg, The Real Majority (New York:
Berkeley Publishing Corporation, 1970),
p. 299.
23 Davies, The Politics of Pollution, p.
17.
24 John Steinhart, "The Making of Envi-
ronmental Policy: The First Two Years,"
Environmental Impact Analysis: Philoso-
phy and Methods. Robert Ditton and
Thomas Goodale, eds. (Madison, Wiscon-
sin: University of Wisconsin Sea Grant
Program, 1972), pp. 5-21.
25 Michael Barone, Grant Ujifusa, and
Douglas Matthews, The Almanac of
American Politics (Boston: Gambit, Inc.,
1972), p. viii.
28 Davies, The Politics of Pollution, p.
70.
27 Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews, The
Almanac of American Politics, p. 895.
28 Davies, The Politics of Pollution, pp.
70-71.
"Ibid, p. 71.
30 Ibid, p. 71.
31 Steinhart, "The Making of Environ-
mental Policy: The First Two Years,"
p. 7.
32 Elizabeth Boswell, Federal Programs
Related to Environment, (Washington,
D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970), p. 7-8.
33 Steinhart, "The Making of Environ-
mental Policy: The First Two Years," p.
13.
"Davies, The Politics of Pollution, pp.
71-72.
35 Ibid, p. 72.
36 Boswell, Federal Programs Related to
Environment, p. 1.
""Ibid, pp. 1-2.
""Hickel, Who Owns America?, p. 213.
^ Susan Abbasi, Federal Environmental
Activities, (Washington, D.C.: Library of
Congress, 1972), p. 5.
40 Carolyn Harris, In Productive Har-
mony (Washington, D.C.: Environmental
Protection Agency, 1972), p. 1.
41 Council on Environmental Quality,
Environmental Quality: The First Annual
Report of the Council on Environmental
Quality, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1970), pp. 243-246.
42 Ibid, pp. 243-249.
43 Elizabeth Boswell, Executive Reorga-
nization for Environmental Affairs (Wash-
ington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1971,
p. 5.
" Ibid, p. 7.
"Science, May 1, 1970, p. 558.
"Hickel, Who Owns America?, p. 220.
" Boswell, Executive Reorganization for
Environmental Affairs, p. 8.
48 Abbasi, Federal Environmental Ac-
tivities, p. 2.
49 Davies, The Politics of Pollution, p.
72.
50 Steinhart, "The Making of Environ-
mental Policy: The First Two Years," p.
16-17.
51 The President's Advisory Council on
Executive Organization, Memorandum for
the President: The Establishment of a
Department of Natural Resources (Wash-
ington, D.C.: Executive Office of the Presi-
dent, May 12, 1970), p. 5.
!J Boswell, Executive Reorganization for
Environmental Affairs, p. 13.
'-s Ibid.
Mlbid, p. 15.
55 The President's Advisory Council on
Executive Organization, Memorandum for
the President: The Establishment of a De-
partment of Natural Resources, p. 3.
M Edmund S. Muskie, "Introduction" to
128
-------
J. Clarence Davies, The Politics of Pollu-
tion, p. x.
67Hickel, Who Owns America?, p. 243.
68 Boswell, Executive Reorganization for
Environmental Affairs, p. 16.
"Edward Wenk, The Politics of the
Ocean, (Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 1972).
60 Boswell, Executive Reorganization for
Environmental Affairs, pp. 16-17.
"Robert Gillette, "Politics of the
Ocean: View from the Inside," Science,
November 17, 1972, pp. 729-730.
62 The President's Advisory Council on
Executive Organization, Memorandum for
the President: The Establishment of a
Department of Natural Resources, p. 12.
03 Steinhart, 'The Making of Environ-
mental Policy: The First Two Years,"
p. 16.
61 Boswell, Executive Reorganization for
Environmental Affairs, pp. 20-21.
66 James Rahtlesberger, Nixon and the
Environment (New York: Taurus Com-
munications, Inc., 1972), p. 11.
"John Walsh, "Environmental Legisla-
tion: Last Word From Congress," Science,
November 10, 1972, pp. 593-594.
67 Ibid, p. 594.
68 Fred Anderson, Address to the Inter-
professional Council on Environmental
Design, Airlie, Va., November 28, 1972.
™ Lester Edelman, Panel Discussion pre-
sented to the Interprofessional Council on
Environmental Design, Airlie, Va. Novem-
ber 28, 1972.
70 Harold Green, Panel discussion pre-
sented at the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, Washington,
D.C., December, 1972.
71 Marvin Zeldin, "Will Success Spoil
NEPA?", Audubon, July 1972, p. 108.
72 Grene, op cit.
73 Zeldin, "Will Success Spoil NEPA?",
p. 107.
71 "Environmental Law Ignored, Depart-
ing Nixon Aides Say," Washington Star,
September 17, 1972.
''Zeldin, "Will Success Spoil NEPA?",
p. 106-107.
'"Harris, In Production Harmony, pp.
10-12.
77 Scammon and Wallenberg, The Real
Majority, pp. 333-334.
78 League of Conservation Voters, Elec-
tion Report, (Washington, D.C., 1972),
pp. 1-16.
79 Marvin Zeldin, "The World Sets Out
to Rescue Its Earth," Audubon, September
1972, pp. 116-122.
80 Council on Environmental Quality,
Environmental Quality: The Third Annual
Report of the Council on Environmental
Quality, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1972), p. 278.
81 Russell E. Train, Speech presented to
the Washington Rotary Club, June 13,
1973.
82 Luther Carter, "Earl L. Butz, Coun-
selor for Natural Resources: President's
Choice a Surprise for Environmentalists,"
Science, January 26, 1973, p. 359.
83 Russell E. Train, Op Cit.
"The Conservation Foundation,
"Wanted: A Coordinated, Coherent Na-
tional Energy Policy Geared to the Public
Interest," CF Letter, June 1972, pp. 1-12.
85 Peter G. Peterson, "The Environment
and the Economy: Joinl Progress or Pa-
rochial Negativism," Address presented at
the National Environmental Information
Symposium of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, September,
1972.
"Albert Cantril and Charles Roll,
Hopes and Fears of The American People
(New York: Universe Books 1971).
87 William Watts and Lloyd Free, State
of the Nation (New York: Universe
Books, 1973).
88 Ibid, p. 154.
89 Louis Tognacci, Russell Weigel, Mar-
vin Wideen, and David Vernon, "Environ-
mental Quality: How Universal is Public
Concern?", Environment and Behavior, 4.
1, (March 1972), pp. 73-86.
00 Ibid, p. 85.
129
-------
.2 The posi-
tive role of
environmental
management
Lynton K. Caldwell *
The year 1970 marked the beginning
of environmental management as a dis-
tinct and identified function of govern-
ment in the United States. On January
1, 1970, President Nixon signed into
law the National Environmental Policy
Act; and, on July 9, sent to Congress
Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970
creating the Environmental Protection
Agency. The National Environmental
Policy Act made explicit the responsi-
bility of the Federal government for
the quality of the national environ-
ment. It did this in language, and with
institutional arrangements and proce-
dures, that made its declaration of
policy operational. The Environmental
Protection Agency consolidated ten
Federal pollution control programs into
a single organization based upon the
perception of the environment "as a
single interrelated system".
In defining the roles and relationships
of these two innovations in environmen-
tal management, the President declared
that the Council on Environmental
Quality, created by NEPA, ". , . focuses
on what our broad policies in the en-
vironmental field should be; the EPA
would focus on setting and enforcing
pollution control standards." Both mea-
sures, the NEPA and the EPA, were
outcomes of a public awareness and
concern for the state of the human en-
* Presented by Lynton K. Caldwell, Ar-
thur F. Bentley Professor of Political Sci-
ence and Professor of Public and Environ-
mental Affairs, Indiana University, at the
National Conference on Managing the
Environment.
vironment that, during the 1960's, grew
with a speed and scope utterly unex-
pected by most of the nation's leader-
ship in public, economic, and academic
affairs. It should not be surprising,
therefore, that some measure of un-
certainty and confusion has character-
ized the practical application of en-
vironmental policy and law.
This confusion over the nature of the
environmental management task may
be traced, in part, to the persistence of
traditional ways of thinking about the
functions of government and about
man's relationship to his surroundings.
To a large number of Americans and
their public representatives, environ-
mental policy meant pollution control.
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, published
in 1962, may be described as the Uncle
Tom's Cabin of the environmental pro-
tection movement. It was an attack
upon pollution through pesticides, and
it reinforced efforts of longer standing
to obtain effective action to cleanse the
nation's air and water.
Pollution control is nothing new
The remedies for pollution largely
fell within the traditional scope of
American government. They were the
conventional processes of regulation
and prohibition, with historical roots in
the public health movement. Although
anti-pollution legislation affected eco-
nomic practices and assumptions, it was
generally consistent with traditional re-
lationships between government and the
enterprise economy. This interpreta-
tion of environmental policy implied an
essentially policing role for public offi-
cials—it was the negative role of en-
vironmental management. Its intended
outcomes were foreseen as "positive",
in the sense that an improved quality
of the environment was the anticipated
result.
From the viewpoint of the so-called
polluter (public or private), the effect
of environmental protection legislation
was largely of an economic burden.
In some cases, changes in technology
and production methods were required
to satisfy new standards of environ-
130
-------
mental amenity. But only in relatively
few instances did environmental policy
appear to require a radical change in
the relationship between the public and
private sectors of American society or
among the several levels of govern-
ment. Nevertheless some observers,
chiefly unfriendly, of the environmental
quality movement saw it as inherently
threatening to the enterprise economy
and to customary personal freedoms.
Characteristically, these critics were
from the far "right" of the political
spectrum. The curious coincidence of
the celebration of Earth Day in 1970
with the centenary of the birth of Lenin
convinced the suspicious that "envi-
ronmentalism" was indeed a cover for
creeping Marxism. But conversely, the
extreme left saw environmental quality
as a diversionist burgeois tactic to dis-
tract public attention from more urgent
issues of war, racism, poverty, and
injustice.
The environmental movement was
thus variously interpreted by its friends
and its opponents, and most interpre-
tations were oversimplifications of the
actual state of affairs: Nevertheless, the
environmental issue had been clearly
and dramatically stated for the Amer-
ican people. But, as so often happens in
public affairs, the symbolism of political
rhetoric was accepted as a substitute for
action. In addressing the Congress on
February 8, 1965, President Lyndon B.
Johnson spoke with force and elo-
quence of the threats to the quality of
life posed by the darker side of modern
technology, by uncontrolled waste, by
urban sprawl and blight, and by the
misuse of the nation's natural assets.
He then spoke of the "new conserva-
tion" in language that defines both the
negative and positive roles of environ-
mental management.
He said that:
To deal with these new problems
will require a new conservation.
We must not only protect the coun-
tryside and save it from destruc-
tion, we must restore what has
been destroyed and salvage the
beauty and charm ot our cities.
Our conservation must be not just
the classic conservation of protec-
tion and development, but a crea-
tive conservation of restoration
and innovation. Its concern is not
with nature alone, but with the
total relation between man and
the world around him. Its object
is not just man's welfare, but the
dignity of man's spirit.
Words without action
But neither President Johnson nor
the Congress was prepared to act upon
this noble statement. To have acted
would have required a commitment of
money and manpower that the nation
was not prepared to make. More im-
portantly, it would have required a
readiness to consider fundamental
changes in laws and attitudes toward
the ownership and use of property, to-
ward economic development, and to-
ward the functions and jurisdictional
relationships of governmental agencies.
President Johnson's Address ran well
ahead of his own intentions. And it is
still ahead of ours—if the present pol-
icies and programs of the Federal gov-
ernment represent the true readiness of
the American people to turn seriously
to the positive task of shaping their en-
vironmental future.
This reluctance of the Americans and
their public representatives to effective-
ly confront the environmental issue
does not imply a disregard of significant
accomplishments at all levels of gov-
ernment. But most of this has been
negative accomplishment in the sense
that measures have been taken to re-
tard environmental deterioration—to
keep conditions from becoming worse.
We have saved some wilderness from
the chain saw, some scenic rivers from
dams and draglines. We have a few
positive victories, such as the restora-
tion of Lake Washington and the re-
newal of all too small fractions of some
of our cities. Yet these are radly more
than tokens, even though they may be
significant and valuable tokens, of the
true dimensions of the positive role of
environmental management.
131
-------
The states generally have been slow
to accept responsibility for environ-
mental quality beyond the mandates of
Federal law. Yet some of them have
gone far beyond Federal action in in-
novative legislation and administration.
States as different as California, Ha-
waii, and Vermont have addressed cer-
tain of their particular environmental
problems with a boldness lacking in
most States.
The cities have been severely con-
strained in coping with their major en-
vironmental problems. Their present
circumstances, with few exceptions, are
profoundly discouraging. To ". . . re-
store what has been destroyed and sal-
vage the beauty and charm of our
cities . . ." will require solutions to
social and political problems that we
have not yet realistically faced, and
will require the marshalling of money
and talent on a scale only obtainable
heretofore under the duress of war.
Ultimately, we will make the necessary
effort, not because we want to, but
because we must. How soon we will
confront necessity cannot be foreseen.
We will not do so until the bankruptcy
of our present approaches toward cop-
ing with our socioecological problems
becomes unmistakably evident.
The ultimate limits
Historically, public realization that
its institutions and leadership have failed
to meet the challenge of its problems
has often led to disastrous consequen-
ces. Unfortunately, the tempo and com-
plexity of modern society could result
in sudden and drastic events that could
lead to a collapse of public confidence
and result in ad hoc and expedient
panaceas. Bad conditions could be made
worse. Recognition of this danger has
stimulated a variety of efforts and pro-
posals to anticipate future consequences
of present trends. The growth of "fu-
turology", the call for a national Coun-
cil of Urgent Studies, and the Club of
Rome's inquiry into the predicament
of mankind are evidence of this ap-
prehension. In all of these conjectural
approaches to the future, the relation-
ship between man and his environ-
ment—natural and artificial—is a ma-
jor factor. The full scope of what John
Platt describes as a coming crisis of
crises extends beyond the limits of our
immediate concern. But we may con-
sider one positive step that could be
taken now to prepare us to act pur-
posefully and constructively when we
face the opportunity and necessity for
taking in hand the shaping of our en-
vironmental future.
The action that I propose is the logi-
cal and necessary step to implement
Lyndon Johnson's ". . . creative con-
servation of restoration and innova-
tion," and to realize the objectives set
forth in the National Environmental
Policy Act and endorsed in principle by
President Nixon and the Council on
Environmental Quality and by promi-
nent members of both major parties in
the Congress. As one step toward more
firmly grasping control over the con-
ditions of our national existence, I
propose establishment by the Congress
of the Environmental Reconstruction
Agency.
Environmental reconstruction
Consideration of the functions and
structure of this agency should begin
now, even though in advance of a wil-
lingness of the Congress and the Presi-
dent to establish it by law. The organ-
ization of the Agency should be thought
through, and its tasks and costs ana-
lyzed while there is time for rational
consideration of options and alterna-
tives. Our traditional American way is
to meet foreseeable, but unforeseen,
emergencies with improvised responses,
with "crash" programs, and frequent
miscarriage of hopes and opportunities.
There are risks in the planning that this
proposal implies, but are these risks
greater than those of ad hoc responses
by an unprepared government and peo-
ple under stress?
The E.R.A. would neither supersede
nor resemble the EPA. Its most effec-
tive form of organization would be one
of the problems to be worked out. But
it seems very unlikely that it would be
132
-------
a consolidated bureaucratic structure.
More likely it would be a coherent sys-
tem or network for marshalling and
deploying resources of knowledge, man-
power, and money and, most impor-
tantly, for assisting people throughout
the country to identify and analyze
their environmental options within the
full range of human values. It would
provide a capability for focusing na-
tional attention on large and critical
environmental problem areas that have
thus far remained beyond the reach
of our public institutions. Among the
more apparent of these areas are the
Southern Appalachians, the Great
Lakes, impoverished areas of the arid
Southwest and, above all, the tragic
wasteland areas of urban America.
Among the specific tasks toward
which the machinery of the E.R.A.
would be directed would be the restora-
tion of derelict land and degraded
landscapes, the renewal and rebuilding
of deteriorated urban and suburban
areas, the removal of misplaced and
decayed structures across the country-
side, and the selective and democrat-
ically-controlled regrouping of smaller
settlements to form communities of
political, economic, and cultural viabil-
ity.
The means of action might include a
revival of the former Civilian Conser-
vation Corps' idea as an Environmental
Conservation Corps, but open to both
sexes and to part-time as well as full-
time service. The conventional instru-
ments of loans, contracts, grants, tech-
nical services, and pilot projects would
almost certainly be utilized.
A major resource would be the Corps
of Engineers. The tasks of environ-
mental reconstruction offer the kind
of challenge for which the capabilities
of the Corps are especially "well-adapt-
ed. The Corps of Engineers is much too
valuable a national asset to waste on
the kind of economically specious and
environmentally damaging public works
that the Congress has too often thrust
upon it. There is no obvious answer to
how the Corps might most effectively
be related to the E.R.A. It would not
necessarily have to become an integral
part of it to perform its technical and
managerial functions in accordance with
a comprehensive plan coordinated
through the E.R.A.
Similarly the Bureau of Reclamation,
now overdue for liquidation, might pro-
vide valuable scientific and technical
resources for the new agency.
A new 'Manhattan project'
In 1968, at a Symposium on Human
Ecology sponsored by the Public Health
Service I stated that: "Although Ameri-
cans may not be prepared to make the
effort, a 'Manhattan Project' for human
ecology is as greatly needed now as
any military preparation ever was."
I believe today that the magnitude and
the importance of the task of en-
vironmental reconstruction is of the
same order of priority as national se-
curity and is, in a very real sense, a
function of national security. The
"Manhattan Project" suggests the mag-
nitude and focus of the reconstruction
effort, but not its structure nor its
method of operation.
What order of funding would an
Environmental Reconstruction Agency
require to implement the positive role
of environmental management? During
its initial operative stage, but beyond
its formative period an annual budget
of $10 billion might be sufficient, pro-
vided that it was administered in such
a way as to generate an additional $10
to $15 billion from state, local, and
nongovernmental sources. Not all
E.R.A. funds would necessarily need to
come from new Federal revenues.
Transfers from existing programs of
diminishing priority could account for
a significant portion of the total.
Here then is a positive approach to
the role of environmental management.
To make the effort effective, a national
land-use planning act would be an
essential concomitant. Land-use plan-
ning legislation is now before the Con-
gress, and enactment of an adequate
bill could be a significant step toward
giving the American people a means
essential to the shaping of their future
133
-------
environments. How will our future be errors inherent in rational planning and
shaped? By accident, inadvertence, uni- foresight and make the hard choices of
dimensional policies, and ad hoc ex- responsible stewardship for our future?
pediency; or will we risk the human These are the polarities of our choices.
134
-------
,3 State
governments
tackle
pollution
Elizabeth H. Haskell *
The explosion of interest in the en-
vironment which began in the late Six-
ties is bringing wide-ranging reform to
the environmental institutions of state
government. A number of states have
taken initiatives and are beginning to
carve out a new strategic place for
themselves in environmental protection.
States are closer to many pollution and
natural resource problems than is the
federal government and so are able to
structure their attack in a more tailor-
made fashion. With this more detailed
perspective, states are moving to take
over some actual planning, construc-
tion, and management tasks. In the
process of assuming more control over
land use and treatment of wastes, some
traditionally local environmental func-
tions are now shifting in part to the
states.
While the federal government is
moving toward national pollution con-
trol standards, the new consolidated
state environmental agencies, with their
increased emphasis on pollution regu-
lation, may have a stronger role in the
daily implementation of standards,
through permit processes, surveillance,
and enforcement actions. This subtle
shift of roles among federal, state, and
local governments may be molding a
new partnership for public action to
"Elizabeth H. Haskell is a fellow of the
Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars. Re-
printed from Environmental Science and
Technology, Volume 5, November 1971,
pages 1092-1097, Copyright 1971 by the
American Chemical Society. Reprinted by
permission of the copyright owner.
protect the environment.
As states have sought to assume new
environmental responsibilities, they
have often sought to make their govern-
mental organizations match problems
and ensure that each has adequate legal
authority. To do so, some states have
created new government agencies to ad-
minister new state programs. Others
have reorganized existing executive
agencies or assigned a new role to the
judicial institutions of government.
Consolidated departments
Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Wis-
consin, and New York provide varia-
tions on the theme of state program
reorganization, designed to achieve a
comprehensive approach to environ-
mental problems. Other states, such as
Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Penn-
sylvania, Arkansas, Oregon, Massachu-
setts, and California also have set up
such new environmental departments,
and still others are considering such
action.
Pollution control is the main focus
of the new environmental agencies—
all except Wisconsin where traditional
conservation programs predominate—
with a functional emphasis on regula-
tory work. It was hoped that pulling
together common responsibilities for
standards-setting, permits, monitoring,
and enforcement in one agency would
reinforce control strategies and make
them stronger and more systematic,
avoiding conflicting requirements for
industries, municipalities, and other
polluters.
Illinois' reorganization is unique. The
Illinois Environmental Protection Act
of 1970 created three new environ-
mental agencies in 1970. Each is con-
cerned with air, water, land, and noise
pollution and public water supplies,
but each organization has a different
functional focus. The five-member Illi-
nois Pollution Control Board replaces
the two former boards for air and
water pollution, but unlike the previous
boards, it works full time and has
staff, funds, and the major policy pow-
ers of the state. The Illinois board, one
of the most powerful in the country,
135
-------
FIGURE 1. — State environmental agencies
Washington
Wisconsin
New York
Vermont
Institution
examined
Board
Environmental Pro-
tection Agency ....
ronmental Quality
Total
Agency
Department of
Ecology
Department of Nat-
ural Resources ....
Environmental
Conservation .. .
Environmental
Board
(In Agency of
Environmental
Conservation)
Estimated
budget
FY 1971*
$ 40 000
6,500,000
2,000,000
$ 8 540 000
$ 1,185000
$ 6,281,774
$43,134,000
$40,000,000
$ 100 000
Staff
size
18
366
9
393
75
254
1,886
2,748
2
Principal
official
_ . , _
William Blaser,
director
Schneiderman
I h R A 1' h
John A. Biggs
director
Lester Voigt,
secretary
commissioner
Benjamin
Partridge
chairman
c c J S3
Policy ,-l | * || |
forma- «= .ti= = %•% %
tionby ^ <&• « ZfS o.
Board • • •
Director • • •
Board • • • •
Board
c i
1 ?! si
3 rt P t-. £ 3s*n»5
S Offl Pg ,2 u ^ |J g1 3-
§ * "IS sl g - 3 S JS -g'g -og
•3 a aa aa 3 •§ •- fe S S«S§
% 5 Z* £% z £ * S, £ 2z 3S
• • •
• •
• • • • • • •
• •
-------
Maine
Maryland
Environmental
Improvement
Commission
Environmental
Service
(In Department
of Natural
Resources)
$ 85,000
(for land
use)
of
$ 1,000,000
(total)
$ 413 000
J. Donaldson Board • • •
Koons,
2 chairman
Director • •
27 Thomas D
McKewen,
director
* Includes federal program grants, and state general revenues, but does not include federal funds for municipal waste treatment plants,
nor state grants for the same purpose.
-------
sets standards, hears appeals from
agency decisions, and adjudicates en-
forcement proceedings. The Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency was
created by shifting the antipollution
officials out of the health department
and into a new, separate agency. It
identifies and prosecutes polluters, is-
sues permits, and extends technical and
financial aid. A third, completely new
organization, the Institute for Environ-
mental Quality, conducts long-range
pollution control and land-use planning
and research for all agencies of the
state.
Full-time departments
By contrast, in Minnesota, Washing-
ton, Wisconsin, and New York, envi-
ronmental programs were consolidated
into one new full-time department
which performs all daily program func-
tions. Minnesota's Pollution Control
Agency was created in 1967 by shifting
the water pollution control program out
of the health department and adding
newly enacted air pollution and solid
waste responsibilities. In 1970, Wash-
ington created the new Department of
Ecology, which combined the same
three forms of pollution control, but
went one step further and consolidated
the program to regulate the withdrawal
and use of water. Both Wisconsin in
1967 and New York in 1970 created en-
vironmental "super-departments," com-
bining in one new department all
pollution controls from the health
departments, with their former Conser-
vation Department's resource manage-
ment activities for fish, wildlife, water,
forests, and recreation (Figure 1).
In these last four states, the environ-
mental department is overseen or di-
rected by an interagency or citizen
board, which serves part-time in con-
trast to Illinois' "professionalized," full-
time board. In Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin, the boards perform in the same
traditional manner, meeting part-time
and setting all policy, while in Wash-
ington and New York, these part-time
bodies are largely advisory (Figure 2).
A first step agreed on in each state
was to shift pollution control respon-
sibilities out of the health department
to broaden antipollution concerns be-
yond health and to increase the state's
emphasis on legal regulation. It was
reasoned that a new administrative
agency would be more likely to be con-
cerned with fish and wildlife, recrea-
tion, aesthetics, and social and econom-
ic interests in pollution control without
competition from unrelated health is-
sues.
Benefits of consolidation
In all five states, linking like pro-
grams in a new environmental agency
was expected to have many benefits.
At a minimum, each state combined its
air, water, and solid waste pollution
programs to avoid state policies that
would merely trade one form of pollu-
tion for another. The physical phe-
nomenon, that solid, liquid, and gaseous
wastes interchange forms during treat-
ment and disposal into the environ-
ment, became an unquestioned orga-
nizational precept, compelling major
anti-pollution programs to be housed
under one administrative roof. Plan-
ning, management, and control sys-
tems, then, could be expected to more
closely parallel the integrative network
of nature. New York and Wisconsin
officials saw further strong program
linkages between pollution programs
and resource management activities
since both affected air, water, land, and
living resources.
A mix of other benefits was seen by
reorganization supporters. In Minne-
sota, Washington, and New York, it
was further hoped that linking various
programs under one director or board
would create an agency "advocate" for
the environment—someone who could
speak out to the public and the legisla-
ture in favor of environmental pro-
tection issues. A director of an en-
vironmental department, where his
work was not encumbered by com-
peting program missions, would be free
to act as the state's spokesman for
the environment. In this way, state is-
sues were expected to be better articu-
lated, and the public could participate
more fully in state decision making.
138
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FIGURE 2.— Environmental boards after reorganization
State*
ILLINOIS
Pollution Control Board
MINNESOTA
Pollution Control Board
WASHINGTON
Ecological Commission
WISCONSIN
Natural Resources Board
NEW YORK
Environmental Board
VERMONT
Environmental Board
MAINE
Environmental
Improvement
Board
s i i i , § I
! 1 1 ! 1 |I B
•5 M 3 «S ra ? 5 u
2 a. ft p. on CM H
em-
ploys
staff
also
9 • • • 4
9 • • • 4
7 • • 6
15 • • • 6
9 4
10 • • • 3
a 8
>i d> O '£ -rj
° *-i 73 ;3 a)
03 . oa "3 |° 3 ~> I
aS"3MaS'« ¥2 5 Nature of previous
fi
-------
By contrast, the Wisconsin consolida-
tion of pollution control and conserva-
tion programs was intended to eliminate
that state's advocacy system in which
resource issues had been publicly de-
bated. This process was thought to con-
fuse and "politicize" environmental is-
sues. A super-department might be able
to settle many resource and antipollu-
tion conflicts internally in a more effi-
cient way.
Nearly all states expected that link-
ing several programs would build a
stronger political base for environ-
mental efforts. A new agency would
be more visible to the public and be
established with executive and legis-
lative endorsements, which would
strengthen the agency's power. New
York and Wisconsin officials hoped that
super-departments would provide a
united focus that could encourage var-
ious environmental and conservation
interest groups to unite their efforts.
Finally, all program consolidations
were thought to increase administra-
tive efficiency, cutting down on over-
laps and duplications to save public
funds. Wisconsin's and Washington's
environmental reorganizations were de-
signed to reduce the proliferation of
all state agencies and to strengthen the
role of the governor in the operation
of all state programs. Unlike Wiscon-
sin, Washington did not give active
consideration to including conservation
programs in the transfer. These are
administered in several politically pow-
erful departments. However, Washing-
ton's history of interest in consolidating
water quality and water quantity pro-
grams, plus the need for new leader-
ship in the Department of Water Re-
sources, led to the water-use regulatory
activity being combined with pollution
control in the new Department of
Ecology.
Board and Commission roles
In addition to reducing the influence
of the health department and consoli-
dating similar environmental programs
in a new agency, a third type of change
is common to each state's reorganiza-
tion process—in the composition and/
or role of part-time policy boards.
Air pollution and water pollution
control boards were consolidated to
broaden their environmental perspec-
tive, to match that of the newly created
department which they supervised. Fur-
thermore, by reducing the proliferation
of part-time boards and commissions, it
was hoped to make state governments
more manageable and more responsive
to the governor. All five states were
laced with pollution control boards
made up of state officials and/or priv-
ate citizens—the traditional mechan-
ism by which state governments make
pollution control and natural resources
policy. The typical role for these old
boards was to set all policy, leaving its
day-to-day administration to the regu-
lar state agency. In the environmental
field, an air pollution board or water
quality commission had power to set
standards, approve the pollution control
agency's budget and legislative requests,
refer enforcement actions to the At-
torney General, and, in some instances,
appoint the director of the administer-
ing state agency.
These groups came under attack as
being inexpert on complicated pollution
matters, at best, and, at worst, soft on
polluters they were supposed to regu-
late. Industry, agriculture, and local
government board members could, and
often did, veto any aggressive state
action.
Faced with these flaws, the five
states adopted varying solutions. In
Minnesota and Wisconsin, the inter-
agency composition was changed to a
private citizen one. Washington and,
to a lesser extent, New York reduced
their boards' policy role to mostly ad-
visory. Illinois professionalized its new
board, making membership a full-time
job for three years and increasing its
capabilities and powers.
Wisconsin and Minnesota continue
to operate with old-style boards—that
is, part-time, policy-making groups
which govern most significant affairs
of the agency (including in Wisconsin
the appointment of the Secretary of the
140
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Department of Natural Resources).
Proponents of the policy boards see
them as incorporating many views into
decision making for environmental re-
sources and checking any arbitrary ac-
tion of a department director and the
governor.
The single director option
The alternative—a strong single di-
rector for an agency appointed by, and
serving at the pleasure of, a governor—
is viewed in other states as a way of
increasing capabilities of state offi-
cials and programs, speeding agency
response time on crises, and making
state officials responsive to the state's
chief executive, who, in turn, can be
held accountable to the voters.
In Washington, the Ecological Com-
mission can, in theory, veto depart-
mental action, but in reality will prob-
ably be mostly advisory. In this state,
changing the boards' policy role was a
primary reorganization objective of the
Republican governor, who initiated the
move. However, legislative compro-
mise produced an Ecological Commis-
sion with some veto powers and a Pol-
lution Control Hearings Board which
reviews departmental actions in a quasi-
judicial manner.
During the New York reorganization,
which was planned and executed out of
the governor's office, a new interagency
and private citizen State Environmental
Board was created with statutory au-
thority to approve all pollution control
standards. However, the extent of this
authority is not yet clear, and the
Board may very well prove to be
mostly advisory. While New York and
Washington now have strong director
systems, their advisory boards are con-
sidered useful as a forum for diverse
segments of society to articulate their
views and for the state to solicit the
cooperation of private citizens and
other state agencies on new policies.
Appointments to these bodies are also a
way for governors to reward political
favorites.
Land-use control
The Vermont and Maine land-use
control systems are examples of many
states' increasing interest in land-use
planning and controls to prevent en-
vironmental damage. In 1970, both
Vermont and Maine established state
permit systems to control large com-
mercial, industrial, and housing devel-
opments. In Vermont, anyone, includ-
ing a state agency, planning a de-
velopment over one acre or a sub-
division of more than ten units must
first have a permit from the state. If
there is a permanent local zoning, the
state's permit is required for develop-
ments over ten acres, giving the local-
ities an incentive to adopt local con-
trols. In Maine, the state controls all
developments over twenty acres or
60,000 square feet of industrial floor
space.
The Vermont statute specifically re-
quires the state to draft land-use plans,
based on economic, social, and, par-
ticularly, environmental values. The
permits will implement these planned
objectives.
The Maine law has no such specific
requirement for land-use planning.
Permits for land development in Maine
must consider four statutory criteria:
financial capacity of the developer, traf-
fic movement, effect on the natural
environment, and soil conditions.
Vermont created a statewide Envi-
ronmental Board that sets policy, is
responsible for the land-use plans, and
has a quasi-judicial review role over
permits, and employs nine district com-
missions to administer the permit sys-
tem on a daily basis. The Vermont
Board is exclusively a land-use agency,
and is located in Vermont's super-de-
partment, the Agency of Environmental
Conservation.
Maine's institutional structure is not
regionalized in this way. Its Environ-
mental Improvement Commission for-
mulates all policy, carries out the op-
erational jobs of reviewing and issuing
permits, and also administers air and
water pollution control laws. Both the
Vermont and Maine systems are de-
signed to control and mold the physical
growth of the state.
141
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Waste management agency
The Maryland Environmental Serv-
ice (MES) was created in 1970. It gave
the state a new function which had
been left exclusively to local govern-
ment—the actual construction and op-
eration of solid and liquid waste treat-
ment and disposal facilities. Like land-
use control in Vermont and Maine,
another type of local function is shift-
ing, in part, to the state level in
Maryland.
MES is a public corporation, housed
within the Department of Natural Re-
sources, which acts like a statewide
sanitary district, to institute a manage-
ment rather than a regulatory approach
to environmental quality. While the
New York Environmental Facilities
Corporation and the Ohio Water De-
velopment Authority have similar
powers to construct and operate waste
treatment and disposal facilities, only
Maryland has specific authority and
funds to draft and implement solid and
liquid waste facilities plans, in order
to institute regional approaches to waste
management. •
MES can assume its waste control
function in several ways:
• Through implementation of the
five-year regional plans for solid
and liquid wastes,
• Providing the desired facilities
or services when a local govern-
ment or industry requests aid,
and
• If an industry or municipality
violates a compliance order to
conform to water quality stand-
ards or regulations governing
solid waste disposal, MES can
take over the violator's waste
treatment and disposal facilities
until compliance is achieved,
sending the local community the
bill.
In these ways, the Service becomes
both a regional service institution and
a weapon in the state's arsenal to gain
compliance with water quality goals
and solid waste disposal regulations.
As with Vermont and Maine's en-
trance into the land-use control field,
Maryland's initiation of waste treatment
and disposal work does not take all
such responsibilities away from local
government. In fact, in all three of
these situations, the state seeks a part-
nership arrangement with local govern-
ment.
Courts and the citizen suit
Michigan is trying a fourth type of
institutional approach—-assigning a new
role to the state courts in environmental
protection.
The Michigan Environmental Pro-
tection Act gives every public or private
entity the right to sue any other public
or private entity in state courts to
protect the environment and the "pub-
lic trust" therein. This mechanism of
class action lawsuits by private citizens
to forestall environmental damage is
receiving consideration in many other
states as well as at the federal level.
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III.4 Environ-
mental
planning &
management
project
Dick Battle *
Prior to the establishment of Metro-
politan Government in 1963, Davidson
County, Tennessee, included a multi-
plicity of municipal units including a
major city government, several smaller
"satellite" cities, a county government,
sixteen civil districts and eighty-seven
administrative boards and agencies.
The advent of Metropolitan Govern-
ment, April 1, 1963 with Mayor Briley
elected mayor of the new governmental
structure, produced a centralized local
government with seventeen major ad-
ministrative boards, a legislature of
forty-one council members and service
delivery systems and facilities designed
around two service districts:
1. The Urban Service District con-
fined to the area of relatively
high population density and
bounded by the former limits
of the City of Nashville as ex-
tended by the annexations of
1961-62.
2. The General Services District
which is county-wide and in-
cludes the total 533 square
miles of the county area.
The functions which control envi-
ronmental quality include: transporta-
*Dick Battle is Historian, Environmen-
tal Planning and Management Project,
Metropolitan Government of Nashville
and Davidson County, Tennessee. This
article was adapted from a paper prepared
for publication in the Vanderbilt Alumnus
Magazine.
tion and land-use planning, sewage and
surface water drainage, solid waste col-
lection and disposal, health and code
enforcement, zoning, water supply, and
law. Since all of these functions are
administered under Metropolitan Gov-
ernment on a county-wide basis, an
opportunity is afforded for the coordi-
nation of appropriate department heads
into a management team capable of
participative planning and the imple-
mentation of joint problem solving.
The waste overload problem
Like many of our nation's urban
areas, Metropolitan Nashville is faced
with many environmental problems.
These include the problems of 1,200
daily tons of solid waste and the ab-
sence of adequate sanitary landfills for
its disposal, untreated industrial wastes
overloading sewage treatment facilities
and wet-weather overflows from the
"combined" sewers of the central city,
and air pollution.
Motor vehicle emissions have re-
placed coal smoke as the top-ranking
air pollutant, but the need for a mod-
ern, enforceable—and enforced—air
resources management program re-
mains a high priority for the city and
its environs.
On July 13, 1972 Metropolitan Nash-
ville received a private grant to develop
a more efficient structure for manage-
ment of the environment within the
Metropolitan Government. Specifically,
the Environment Planning and Man-
agement Project (EPMP) was in-
tended to develop a comprehensive re-
gional waste management system in-
cluding the related problems of air and
water pollution, transportation and
land-use planning; and to establish an
environmental management team in lo-
cal government.
The main objectives of the project
are the following: (1) to define, analyze
and describe the problems which pre-
clude efficient environmental manage-
ment; (2) to determine priorities for the
consideration of environmental prob-
lems, to establish both short-range and
long-range objectives, and to initiate
143
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training for environmental management
"teams," and (3) to utilize the "teams"
for the development of skills and man-
agement techniques within the existing
local governmental structure for con-
tinuous achievement after the project
is terminated.
The project is organized around a
three-member core group representing
Metropolitan Government, the Vander-
bilt Graduate School of Management,
and the Chamber of Commerce. The
three-member top management team
for the project are representative of
the "partnership" arrangement which
is one of the strengths of the program:
Horton, a representative of the local
government and the mayor; Chairman
of the Nashville Area Chamber of
Commerce Environmental Committee,
representing the business, professional
and industrial community; and a pro-
fessor from the University represent-
ing the academic community.
The management team includes as
permanent members five individuals in
high-level positions in the major envi-
ronmental agencies of the Metropolitan
Government: The Metropolitan Plan-
ning Commission (two representatives),
Department of Health, Department of
Public Works, and Department of Law.
As it is designed and implemented,
the EPMP coordinates the concern,
the ideas and the capabilities of local
government, business, industry, finance,
and concerned citizens, the university
and academic community and agencies
of both state and federal government
plus the regional planning capabilities
of the Mid-Cumberland Council of
Governments. An additional interface
group is the Urban Observatory of
Metropolitan Nashville-University Cen-
ters.
Analysis of an issue: meat packing
The project began with a meeting of
the "Business Task Force Environmen-
tal Ad Hoc Committee" of the Nash-
ville Area Chamber of Commerce. The
session ended with unanimous approval
that the "packing house industry prob-
lem be recommended as the first proj-
ect for joint action." The EPMP as-
signed a task force to "study the waste-
water problems of the meat packing
industry in Nashville." The team be-
gan its work in late July and it has
continued with substantial success
through this year.
The basis of this problem turned on
the fact that meat packing plants in
Nashville have, in the past years, uti-
lized from one-half to three-fourths of
the population equivalent of the capa-
city of the North Nashville sewage
treatment plant. The wastewater sew-
ered from the plants contained sus-
pended solids, grease and other com-
ponents in excess of limits specified
in the amended Metropolitan Waste-
water Ordinance. Complicating the
problem, the companies in the "meat
products' category in Nashville and
Davidson County have a total direct
employment of more than 1,500 with
an annual payroll in excess of $14
million.
The project has led to implementa-
tion by the industry of short-run pro-
posals which have substantially reduced
the immediate problem. A continuing
and essential EPMP effort includes the
drafting of an effective regulatory
wastewater ordinance which the indus-
try can "live" with.
The importance to the Metropoli-
tan Community of this relatively un-
publicized and low-visibility project
cannot be overemphasized. Metro's
Central Wastewater Treatment Plant,
already overloaded and threatened by
both state and federal regulatory con-
straints, cannot continue to receive the
untreated solid waste from the meat
packing plants. The packing plants
themselves, even though working co-
operatively with the environmental
project, have economic limitations and
might be forced either to reduce opera-
tions or relocate and rebuild at great
expense—and at some economic loss to
the Nashville community.
Another accomplishment of the proj-
ect was the completion of a hydro-
geology and water quality analysis of
the North Landfill of Metropolitan
144
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Government. This landfill, Metro's larg-
est and one of the four that will be
phased out almost immediately, is on a
diked flood plain of the Cumberland
River. The study was important, not
so much as it pertained to the North
Landfill (because of its imminent phase
out) but because data pertaining to this
flood plain would also be applicable to
other flood plains of the Cumberland
River.
Landfill without water pollution
The results showed that the North
Landfill was not polluting the river,
and that it is possible to fill in such a
way as not to pollute the underground
water table. The situation in regard to
the hydraulic gradient at the North
Landfill was not necessarily true in re-
gard to all landfills, but this knowledge
is helpful in locating other fills. Land-
fills with this same type of geology
would probably have the same condi-
tions.
However, the water table study has
been more successful than the search
for a solution to the solid waste crisis.
Metro's immediate need is "at least"
100 acres for new landfills to dispose
of the 1,200 daily tons of refuse col-
lected in Nashville-Davidson County
by public and private haulers. At this
time the solid waste problem takes top
priority with both EPMP and Metro-
politan Government. There are no easy
answers to this problem.
An immediate problem involves or-
ganization of an interim collection and
disposal system before the Nashville
Thermal Transfer Plant begins initial
operation about twelve months from
now.
The thermal transfer plant may be—
eventually-—the major answer to Met-
ropolitan Nashville's solid waste dis-
posal problem, but that solution is two
or three years away. That program
plans to use solid waste as a base fuel
for conversion to the energy which
will provide public and private down-
town buildings with heating and cool-
ing at a cost less than required to pro-
vide individual systems separately in
each building. When the thermal plant
begins operation, it will use only about
720 tons of solid waste per day for
fuel. That is about half the total ton-
nage collected throughout the commu-
nity. Between now and the plant's com-
pletion Metro must have more land-
fille; there will always be some need
for this disposal method.
The EPMP is now engaged in the
serious business of underwriting a full-
time, continuing, one-man research
project which will produce a workable,
practical collection-disposal system for
solid waste. It must fit both the interim,
short-run demands of the current crisis
and the lesser needs for the first-run
(720 tons per day incineration) of the
thermal plant.
The project held its first of a pro-
posed series of eight "environmental
workshops" on December 5-6, 1972.
Over fifty leaders from the public, pri-
vate and university communities at-
tended. The purpose was "to integrate
concurrent programmatic efforts to
educate and to invite feedback," and
"to plan policy alternatives." An over-
view and delineation of the "packing
house problem" was a major part of
the first half-day of the workshop, with
"solid waste management in Metro and
other interrelated problems of environ-
mental management" completing the
afternoon agenda. On the second day,
solid waste management and the im-
pact of the Environmental Protection
Agency constraints on the local scene
were discussed, leaving the last half-day
for a work planning session with task
force members, project staff and key
consultants.
Managing the environment
Lynton Keith Caldwell stated re-
cently in "Environment—A Challenge
to Modern Society," that "Environmen-
tal administration can be given either
of two interpretations . . . [The] first
and more apparent meaning is the
PURPOSIVE SHAPING OF THE
HUMAN ENVIRONMENT BY MAN
HIMSELF." This is the interpretation
of what man does to his environment
145
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in the pursuit of his several and diverse
activities. These actions include "his
urbanizing, building, land-clearing,
mining, industrializing—and his at-
tempts to dispose of whatever he wants
to get rid of." Practically everything
man does has some impact on his en-
vironment. Many of man's actions have
a degrading effect on his surroundings,
and there is a desperate and critical
need to correct the damage before it
is too late to cope with the problem.
Caldwell suggests that the second, and
today the most important, meaning of
the term "environmental administra-
tion," must be "the control of human
action in relation to the environment.
Here the direct concern is not with the
physical nature in the conventional
sense, but with people."
Essentially this must be the impact
of the program to achieve significant
improvement in management of the en-
vironment. The important achievement
is the resulting benefits to the people
of this community—for the improve-
ment of the quality of life in this Met-
ropolitan community.
The unique "team effort" partner-
ship proposes to utilize all of the com-
munity resources and will not over-
look the most substantial resource of
them all—the concern of the people.
"The environment is not administered,"
writes Caldwell, "it is the actions of
people as they impinge upon the envi-
ronment that becomes the direct focus
of attention."
It must be well understood that the
public has "a right to know" and this
right (with the responsibilities knowl-
edge implies) has a direct bearing on
the project. A vehicle within the gov-
ernment to present the problems of the
environment and the alternative solu-
tions can provide motivation for the
people to demand public action. Metro-
politan Nashville can be whatever it
wants to be. The urban community, the
urban environment, will be what the
people determine it shall be.
We must learn to manage growth,
change and the environment—while we
are growing—and decide what goals
growth should achieve.
Few cities have been able to absorb
rapid growth and change and maintain
an improving quality of life. It is our
belief that this innovative program will
enhance the chances for this accom-
plishment and that we will be able to
look back from the broader perspective
of 1980 and say: "We have become
what we set out to be"—and we hope
that other leaders will look ahead and
set higher goals for the year 2000.
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111.5 Regional
environmental
management
and the deci-
sion-making
process
L. Edwin Coate *
The concept of "Environmental
Management" has evolved over the past
decade. As the concept evolved, there
have been corresponding alterations in
the organizations and institutions con-
cerned with these fields. In the early
1970's, in response to a widespread and
well articulated public concern, many
governmental agencies reorganized to
improve their environmental quality de-
livery capabilities. The Federal gov-
ernment created the Environmental
Protection Agency, CEQ, and NOAA.
Several states consolidated previously
separate environmental functions into
new Departments of Environmental
Protection.
Local regional efforts lag
Of all the governmental levels, how-
ever, I believe that the local/regional
official has done the least to reorganize
and to develop new methods and tech-
niques to manage the environment.
This has been due primarily to lack of
funds, lack of time, and confusion as
to what needs to be done.
Yet it is the local government official
who feels the greatest pressure to clean
* Presented by L. Edwin Coate, Direc-
tor, Integrated Regional Environmental
Management (IREM) Project County of
San Diego, at the National Conference on
Managing the Environment.
up the environment. Of the various
bureaucrats, he is closest to the prob-
lems themselves: the polluted streams,
the open dumps, the contaminated air.
He is also in the direct line of fire of
a public demanding action. Unlike fed-
eral and state officials, his responsibility
is localized. He cannot evade it by mov-
ing about the country or about the
state. Whatever tools that currently
exist for dealing with the major envi-
ronmental problems, such as capital
budgets, health regulation agencies,
and planning resources, are in his con-
trol. These tools have proven inade-
quate on many occasions.
The primary problems facing the
local official today and what, in my
opinion, the entire issue boils down to
is: Who carries out the decision-making
process at the regional level, and what
information does he need to make the
appropriate decision? In matters of the
environment, decision making must
take place at the regional level. Pollu-
tion does not conform to political
boundaries. Water pollution needs to
be dealt with in terms of river basins;
air pollution follows geographical con-
figurations. Problems such as air and
noise pollution and solid waste man-
agement are beyond the capacity of
most local governments to solve with-
out the cooperation of other jurisdic-
tions.
Regional management defined
What exactly do we mean by "re-
gional environmental management"? In
the past, we thought it consisted only
of pollution regulation. Recently, how-
ever, as cost-effective short-term solu-
tions are being exhausted, we see that
regional environmental management
must be expanded to include the relat-
ing of pollution abatement strategies
regularly and consistently to the re-
gional land use and transportation plan-
ning process. Decision makers are the
fundamental users of the environmen-
tal management process, and the heart
of the local government decision-mak-
ing process is land use. The heart of
the regional governmental decision-
147
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making process has evolved to be the
transportation-planning process.
In the past, prior to the evolution of
the contemporary concept of regional
environmental management, just about
the only means by which local govern-
ment managed land-use problems was
the planning process. Councils of Gov-
ernments had the A-95 review process
and a comprehensive planning man-
date, but no implementation policy.
Land-use decisions were still made at
the local level and pollution problems
were, as a rule, managed by the Health
Department. Such functional fragmen-
tation prevented a comprehensive at-
tack on environmental problems.
I believe that the new "art of re-
gional environmental management" has
emerged because this process has
failed. It has failed primarily because
it is based on a fragmented planning
approach which does not meet the
needs of today's decision makers. As
you are well aware, the traditional
planning approach involved the setting
of goals and objectives, the drawing of
comprehensive maps, and the adoption
of general plans, with subsequent re-
zonings to. conform to the plans adopt-
ed. This is time-consuming, but still
relatively neat and uncomplicated. The
problem is that in the day-to-day world
of local land-use planning and pollu-
tion regulation decision making, the
general plan is almost always obsolete
before adopted, and every case pre-
sented is an exception. An example is
the "little old lady" who needs a re-
zone to obtain some value from the
property she has held all of her life, or,
the essentially insignificant change that
might be requested of a local politician
by a major campaign contributor. In
reality, then, I would propose that the
decision-making process is incremental
and situational, while the local planning
process is neither.
Several recent events have reinforced
these conclusions. The federal govern-
ment passed NEPA, the National En-
vironmental Policy Act of 1969, which
required the preparation of Environ-
mental Impact Reports for all federal
actions and projects that have a sig-
nificant effect on the environment. In
California, the California Environmen-
tal Quality Act (CEQA) was passed.
This act, patterned after NEPA, re-
quires EIR's on both public and private
projects to be carried out or permitted
by all local governmental agencies in
the state.
Also in California, Proposition 20,
a statewide citizens' initiative, was
passed, becoming the California Coastal
Zone Conservation Act. This Act pro-
vided for the establishment of a series
of regional commissions responsible for
administering a permit system for all
major actions affecting the coastal area
in each region.
The EIR process and the regional
coastal permit system established by
Proposition 20 are clearly a result of
the recognition that existing land use
and health regulatory institutions have
not been able to deal effectively with
critical regional environmental prob-
lems. They represent attempts to make
up for the deficiencies of traditional
planning and environmental control
strategies by substituting finite, single-
purpose systems which are capable of
actually implementing a policy. The
land-use planning process in particular
has simply not been able to provide
decision makers with timely, accurate,
comprehensive information on which
they can base their day-to-day incre-
mental decisions.
It is my feeling that new structures
similar to the regional environmental
management model shown here (see
Figure one) will be developed, using
the EIR process, specialized permit sys-
tems, and other new regional environ-
mental management tools.
What other kinds of information are
necessary inputs into the environmen-
tal decision making process? I would
propose that an environmental decision-
making model might include: cost/
revenue information, environmental
impact information, environmental in-
dices trend information, and carrying
capacity information, as well as tradi-
tional land-use planning inputs (a model
148
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FIGURE 1.—APPLICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
MODEL TO THE SAN DIEGO REGION
State Environmental Management Board
Integrated Regional Environmental Management Board
Department of
Air Quality
Noise and
Radiation
Regulation
Department of
Water Quality
and Supply
Department of
Resource Re-
covery and
Solid Waste
Management
—
—
\
Air Pollution
Control District
County
Health
Regional Water
Quality Board
County
Water Authority
County
Public Works
City
Public Works
Solid Waste
Planning
Comprehensive
Planning
Organization
County Planning
Department
City Planning
Department
Universities
—
Departn
Land Us
Transpo
Plannin
lent of
eand
rtation
g
Department of
Environmental
Impact Analysis
Departr
Researc
Analysi
nent of
hand
incorporating these inputs is depicted
in Figure two).
Cost revenue inputs
Land-use decision-making bodies in
a region now usually consider two prin-
cipal factors in arriving at approval or
disapproval actions: the environmental
impact and the economic impact of the
project. Unless there is reliable eco-
nomic impact information available,
the environmental impact cannot prop-
erly be treated except in those situa-
tions in which there is the most severe
type of environmental insult. The pub-
lic costs and revenues associated with
a project are felt to be the minimum
economic information required.
The San Diego joint city/county
economic analysis project has resulted
in a computer model now being tested
on four major local developments. To
date, the cost and revenue calculations
have been directed toward those juris-
dictions (cities, county, special districts,
etc.) which are directly affected by the
proposed development, that is, those
jurisdictions in which the development
is "physically" located. In the future,
it is clear that consideration must be
given to jurisdictions which are indi-
rectly but substantively affected be-
cause of employment, transportation,
recreational facilities, etc.; thus a sub-
stantial amount of additional research
will be required on this matter.
We anticipate that within one year,
a cost/revenue analysis procedure with
acceptable accuracy can be developed
to the point where it may be applied
routinely to the land-use decision-
making process in San Diego county.
Environmental impact reports
The second major factor in land-use
decision-making is the determination of
149
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FIGURE 2.—ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND THE
DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Cost/Revenue
Analysis
"Decision"
Zone Variance
Tentative Map,
etc.
General Plan
Regional
Comprehensive
Plan
Regional Goals
and Objectives
the environmental impact of a project.
San Diego County has had a policy
and procedure for EIR's since April,
1972. Since the Friends of Mammoth
decision, EIR's are required on both
public and private developments. The
development of the EIR process by the
IREM project has been an arduous and
complicated task. We believe, though,
that we now have a completely opera-
tional system which can provide timely,
accurate information to our decision
makers on the potential environmental
effects of any proposed project. The
most innovative components of the
San Diego County EIR process in-
clude an early warning system and an
environmental review board.
Early Warning System: The IREM
project staff has developed a computer-
ized early warning system for predict-
ing environmental impacts. For any
given geographical site in the region,
information concerning natural re-
sources and conditions on and near that
site can be immediately retrieved and
printed out by a computer.
An Environmental Review Board:
The Environmental Review Board over-
sees the preparation of environmental
impact reports and coordinates the pub-
lic review process. The environmental
review board consists of the IREM
project director, the County Planning
Director, the County Engineer and the
Director of the Public Health Depart-
150
-------
ment. This Board formally coordinates
the input from those agencies that deal
substantively with these projects. A
staff of sixteen supports the Environ-
mental Review Board.
Environmental quality indices
Prediction and feedback are essen-
tial to any decision-making model con-
structed. In San Diego County, the
IREM project has recently developed
environmental quality indices for air
and water quality, noise, energy pro-
duction and use, solid waste generation
and land-use shift.
For the decision makers, these in-
dices will provide important trend in-
formation for both pollutants and land
use. They will also serve as a feedback
showing changes in trends which result
from various land-use decisions.
As rational environmental managers,
we are concerned with the limitation
of our "resources." We must be able
to predict the "carrying capacity" of
the air, water, land and energy re-
sources of our region to know how
much growth, and how much pollu-
tion, our region can hold.
Data now exists in San Diego to pre-
dict the growth limits of the physical
restraints already listed above. What is
lacking is merely the assimilation and
analysis of this data and its transforma-
tion into forms usable by decision
makers. This is now under way in San
Diego.
Through the traditional planning
process, information on regional goals
and objectives can be transmitted to
decision makers. Regional goals and
objectives are transmuted into a re-
gional plan, the implementation of
which is carried out through the zon-
ing process.
New techniques communication
Once the inputs described have been
developed to a point where they can
regularly support the decision-making
process as depicted in the model, the
final question is: What is the most ef-
fective technique for communicating
the information to the decision makers?
The technique chosen should be able to
show information in a clearly com-
parative form. The ideal index diagram
shown in Figure 3 is a proposed format
FIGURE 3.—THE IDEAL INDEX DIAGRAM
POLLUTANT
OR
RESOURCE
(short-range)
Health
Standard
Carrying Capacity
D.
c.x
B. $
A. $
(long-range)/
D. nominal case
/
C. CPO plan
B. CPO plan
A. CPO plan
•65
'70
'75 '80
TIME
| goal
I (non degradation
• gen. plan, etc.)
I ~~ T ~ ~ I
'85
'90
'95
151
-------
for regional environmental manage-
ment inputs to both short- and long-
range decisions. It is anticipated that
for each major decision, a series of
these diagrams depicting relevant in-
formation in the categories previously
described, would be presented to deci-
sion makers. These diagrams can depict
the proposed action in context with
existing trends, its relationship to pre-
scribed environmental standards, the
extent of divergence from community
or regional plans, and its feasibility,
given the carrying capacity of the re-
gion. Further work is currently being
conducted in San Diego on the devel-
opment of this information display
technique.
Future needs
There is one additional input which
must ultimately be included in the
model. This is the quantification and
presentation of social impact informa-
tion. Eventually, this requirement may
be met by the inclusion of social im-
pact data in Environmental Impact
Reports or by separate "Social Impact
Reports" similar to EIR's. Perhaps the
optimal situation in the future would
be an overall requirement that each
major land-use decision be accom-
panied by the Quality-of-Life Impact
Report. The Quality-of-Life Report
would include current, comparative in-
formation of environmental, economic
and social impacts related to specific
aspects of the planning process.
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IV: Citizen Participation in
Environmental Management
CIT4ZEN PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
"A major reason for citizen participation having successfully
resisted generalization is the absence of a sizable enough body of
empirical evidence from which to draw meaningful inference and
conclusion. The evidence we do have is contradictory, inconclusive,
particularistic, and overly qualified by the dictates of time,
place, and circumstance." *
There is a growing awareness of the importance of citizen participation
in the decision-making process. Traditionally, many government officials
have not often sought the opinions of citizens about environmental concerns
for a number of reasons: time constraints, the presumed lack of knowledge
and/or interest on the part of the public, the technical nature of the
problem, lack of a suitable mechanism for obtaining outside opinions, or
simply oversight. However, times have changed and citizens are now
demanding a greater and more consistent role in environmental decision
making. Some of the reasons for this include the following: the effects of
pollution are being seen and felt by the public; helping to "save the
environment" has been popularized; the press and educational institutions
are creating a better-informed public; and finally, environmental deterioration
has reached such proportions that major changes in life style may be
required in some areas. For these reasons, it is no longer possible for a
small number of public officials, no matter how competent, to unilaterally
create and enforce environmental programs.
Recent legislative requirements, e.g., the 1972 amendments to the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act, reflect the practical necessity of seeking
citizen input. In addition, citizens are demonstrating their eagerness
to contribute to a better environment by personal volunteer efforts. These
efforts are usually conducted by groups formed specifically for environmental
purposes, such as the Isaak Walton League; groups which have environ-
mental interests as well as other concerns, such as the League of Women
Voters; and individuals practicing conservation in their personal lives.
The emergence of recycling centers is an example of a citizen-conceived
movement, often arising without official sanction. While the viability of
recycling as a solid waste management strategy under the existent market
system is debatable, it is a demonstration of the popular sentiment for
conservation of resources.
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LEVELS OF CITIZEN CONTROL OVER DECISIONS
Citizen participation can take many forms; there is no simple formula for
achieving it. Local conditions must always be taken into account in
establishing, administering, and evaluating citizen participation. The
meaningfulness of citizen participation can be described in terms of the
following ladder ranging from high involvement to nonparticipation.
TABLE 1.—Levels of citizen involvement2
Citizen Control
is Delegated Power
•§" Partnership
*•; Placation
d
.
Consultation
Informing
Therapy
.2 Manipulation
This "Ladder" as presented by Sherry R. Arnstein in the Journal of the
American Institute of Planners, is referred to in a lecture on techniques for
involving the citizen in the urban transportation planning process by
Daniel S. Cohen, U.S. Department of Transportation:
The lowest two levels—manipulation and therapy—describe levels
of "nonparticipation." The objective of this type of participation is
not to enable people to be actually involved in planning or conducting
programs, but to enable powerholders to "educate" or "cure" the
participants.
The levels of informing, consultation, and placation are higher levels
of participation. In these cases, citizens' views are heard but there is
no assurance they will be heeded.
Further up the scale are levels of citizen power with increasing
degrees of decision-making power. The partnership level allows citizens
to negotiate and engage in trade-offs with traditional powerholders.
This level of citizen participation is characterized by two-way
communication between the planning staff and the citizens.
At the topmost level are delegated power and citizen control. In these
cases, the citizens have the majority of the decision-making seats or
the full managerial power.
A question which can be asked from this discussion of levels of
citizen participation is, which level(s) is appropriate for the urban
transportation planning process? As was mentioned previously, the
approach to public involvement will vary between communities,
and it is the responsibility of the decision makers in each community
or region to decide the appropriate level.2
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CITIZENS AND THEIR GOVERNMENT
The "partnership" relationship between the government and citizens
deserves description because of the potential benefit for both partners. Public
administrators who treat citizens as partners in striving for their common
goals of environmental quality are not only aware of independent citizen
groups and activities, but take positive action to work together and facilitate
154
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their programs. Returning to the example of recycling, public administrators
would aid the viability of the recycling effort by using their position to
press for changes in the economic and political barriers to recycling, such
as prejudicial freight rates and depletion allowances. For example, a
National League of Cities task force composed of mayors and city
administrators recently made recommendations to enhance recycling resource
recovery programs by the adjustment of federal policies that negatively
impact resource recovery. If, on the other hand, the reclamation process
itself is inherently too costly for recycling to work, citizens should be
informed and redirected to more fruitful endeavors. The public official in a
partnership role with citizens would not merely fulfill the legal and
practical requirements in dealing with the public; he would also play an
active role in the provision of environmental education and in utilizing
public volunteer efforts where appropriate.
In Scottsdale, Arizona, an experimental program which utilizes citizens
as a "resource" was undertaken in response to a citizen's recycling proposal
for the city. To test the program proposed by the citizen in which home-
owners were required to separate their own garbage, an experimntal area of
several square blocks was designated. Newspapers, glass, and other garbage
were collected separately, the newspapers and glass then taken to recycling
centers. These homeowners were the participants in an experiment on one
aspect of the feasibility of recycling as a long-range strategy. Regardless
of the outcome in the particular case of recycling, the willingness of the local
government to share the decision-making process and to treat citizens as
partners is important for establishing a productive and harmonious
relationship between citizens and government.
The mechanisms and strategies for obtaining citizen participation which
are described in this chapter should be considered a starting place in the
development of meaningful interaction between government administrators
and citizens. The most important ingredient in a successful citizen
participation program is still the responsiveness and interest of the govern-
ment official; without that interest, even the most sophisticated citizen
participation mechanisms are doomed to failure.
VOTING
Voting is the most fundamental form of citizen participation. However,
in addition to the right of citizens to select their representatives, citizens also
have the power to approve or disapprove bond programs and to vote on
specific community issues raised in referenda.
The ballot box can be used as a positive strategy by citizens for effecting
environmental goals. For example, the proposed 1976 Colorado Olympics
were blocked by citizen action. Several citizens in the Denver area became
suspicious that the projected cost figures for the Olympics were quite low
compared to the actual cost of the Sapporo Olympics. Citizens in Evergreen
community were also aroused because they had not been consulted in the
planning stages, and they objected to the construction of parking lots and
other detractions to their peaceful location. A citizens' group was formed
in early 1972 called the Citizens for Colorado's Future (CCF). The group
was funded by contributions. In order to get the referendum put on the state
155
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ballot, a petition with 51,000 signatures was needed (the number was based
on a percentage of the number of votes cast in the previous election). The
CCF actually obtained 76,000 signatures. In addition, the referendum was
also placed on the City of Denver's ballot to assure that the City would
not proceed independently of the State. CCF campaigned for the referendum
through the media and handouts. On November 7, 1972 (Election Day) the
referendum won on both ballots, with 180,000 plurality in the statewide vote.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Public hearings are the most frequently used method for obtaining citizen
participation due to the frequent legal requirement for public hearings;
however, their usefulness is severely limited unless combined with other
participation strategies.
Gerald Springer, Vice Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, discussed three basic
weaknesses of the traditional methods of citizen participation at the
Conference, particularly the public hearing: (1) The emphasis is on
procedures rather than on responsiveness; they are performed as prescribed
but the information received is not necessarily incorporated in any systematic
way to the planning pocesses. (2) Often vital information is not given to
the citizenry; then their suggestions are discounted due to their "lack of
expertise." (3) Citizen input is defensive in nature because it is often
solicited after-the-fact, rather than in the earlier planning stages when
change is still feasible. Furthermore, the public has no way of knowing
whether the opinions expressed at the hearing have actually had any effect
on the outcome. It is a one-way communication channel because of the
typical structure of the meeting: The first half resembles a "staff briefing"
with the lengthly explanations of the proposed plans; during the second
half, the citizens virtually talk to each other, with little or no feedback from
the staff. If the opinions voiced by the citizens do not appear to have
affected the final outcome, even if there was good reason for not adopting
their suggestions, citizens can become frustrated and angry.
CITIZEN ADVISORY BOARDS
A popular mechanism for obtaining citizens' viewpoints is via appointed
citizen advisory boards. Typically there are two rationales used in selecting
the board members. One is to select a cross section of the population to
create a microcosm of the community. This type of board is particularly
useful for soliciting their opinions on proposals before public release,
assuming that the board's reactions would be a fair sample of the community
reaction. The other rationale is to select members on the basis of their
expertise in specified fields. This interdisciplinary group is most useful for
performing studies and making recommendations to the city administration.
Rather than emphasizing "the citizen viewpoint" per se, this type of board
utilizes resources available within the population.
In Cincinnati, the Citizens' Environmental Task Force has completed a
detailed year-long study of Cincinnati's environmental problems. The Task
Force is composed of about 30 private citizens who have expertise in
specific environmental areas and serve without compensation. The major
areas which they investigated were air, water, noise, land use, solid waste, and
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energy conservation. Their report to the City Council was submitted in
June, 1973, in a 250-page document to be publicly released.
The Cincinnati Citizens' Task Force consists of a Chairman, appointed
by the mayor and approved by the City Council; an administrative
assistant and secretary, hired by the Task Force Chairman; a Vice-Chairman,
appointed by the Chairman; and six subcommittees. Each subcommittee
selected its own chairman. Each subcommittee was charged with writing the
final report and recommendations in its area. They held at least one public
hearing, submitted status reports at the Task Force meetings, and distributed
the minutes of their meeting to all the committee members.
The Dallas, Texas Citizens' Environmental Quality Committee was
established in July, 1971. It was "charged with the development of a city-wide
environmental policy encompassing the activities of both government and
private entities. The primary goal was to identify citizen perceptions and
ambitions and not to design the strategy or the machinery for the achievement
of goals," according to George Schrader, City Manager of Dallas. The
committee was multidisciplinary in composition and received staff support
from employees who worked full-time with the committee in defining and
researching problem areas. Mr. Schrader described the activities the
committee has been performing: "The initial fact-finding phase consisted
of the acquisition of personal testimony from city program administrators,
regional urban affairs officials, and state and federal agency officials.
Written statements were also solicited from a select group of local scientists,
educators, conservationists and community leaders. More recently, the
committee held public hearings to obtain further knowledge of the citizens'
perceptions of the problem. Based on this varied input, the committee
began composing policy recommendations last March and will present their
findings to the City Council in late June, 1973. This effort will certainly
significantly influence future city activity."
An advantage of citizen advisory boards is the provision of two-way
communication at regular meetings, with continuity of interaction. Staff
support from the city administration strengthens the board's effectiveness and
credibility. The disadvantage of these boards, however, is the tendency to
rely upon the citizens' board to the exclusion of the remainder of the
population, on the assumption that the board represents the citizenry as
a whole.3
CONSERVATION COMMISSIONS
A special type of citizen board is the conservation or environmental
commission which is an official agency of local government consisting of
citizens who are appointed to serve without compensation for a fixed term.
These commissions derive their legitimacy from state enabling legislation
and municipal ordinance, having accessibility to state and federal funds, and
permitting intra- and inter-municipal action. The first such commission
was created in Massachusetts in 1957, and others have subsequently been
adopted in other New England and northeastern states.
The activities of these Commissions include acquisition, coordination, and
planning for the protection of the environment. The coordinating role
enables commissions to work with local environmental groups. In Hanover,
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Massachusetts, the Conservation Commission became the coordinating
body in a group effort to protect and preserve the North and South rivers.
Commissions can become a focal point for the organization of environmental
projects, and can provide the impetus for natural resources planning. In
addition, commissions may, subject to approval of the governing body,
acquire property in the name of the municipality by gift, purchase, grant,
bequest, devise or lease, and are empowered to administer the use of that
land. Besides these special powers, commissions are also empowered to
conduct studies and make recommendations in the same manner as other
citizen boards.
The most important difference between advisory boards and conservation
commissions is state sponsorship, eligibility for state funding, and the
ability of the commissions to acquire and control land. The need for
comprehensive planning before selecting the sites for acquisition tends to
put the emphasis on conservation and open space rather than on pollution
abatement.
Whether the commission approach will prove to be applicable to large
cities, varying so greatly from the typical New England town where these
commissions developed, is a question which remains to be answered; as
one meaningful approach to the involvement of outsiders in the governing
body, the conservation commission has many advantages.
LEGAL ACTION
Individual citizens and citizens' groups have the legal right to help decide
the future of the environment. John Goodman of Technical Assistance
Research Programs cites the legal requirements for public participation
which government administrators cannot afford to ignore. Section 101 (e) of
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act stipulates that public participation
shall be "provided for, encouraged and assisted by the [EPA] Administrator
and States" in the "development, revision ... of any . . . plan or
program established by the [EPA] Administrator or State." The proposed
regulations to implement section 101 (e) emphasize the need for public
participation in the early stages of decision making.
". . . active public involvement in and scrutiny of the intergovernmental
decision making process is essential . . . Conferring with the public
after an agency decision has been made will not meet the requirements
of this part." (40 CFR 105.2)
The guidelines also require that before any agency action is taken on a
plan or program, such as approving a construction grant application, a
"summary of public participation" must be submitted.
A citizen has the right to take court action against any violator of his
rights. Under the Refuse Act of 1899, individual citizens can report the
illegal discharge of effluent into navigable waters; if the report leads to
a conviction, the citizen is awarded one-half of the amount of the fine.
The establishment of a local board of appeals is a formal mechanism for
receiving citizen appeals. Gerald Springer describes the Cincinnati board
of appeals established under their air pollution control ordinance. Individual
citizens or groups can appeal decisions made by the administration, and
the board has authority to override the earlier decision. Norman Redlich,
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Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, describes the creation of the
City's Environmental Control Board, an administrative tribunal for
enforcement of the provisions of the City's codes and ordinances. It hears
citizen complaints and has the option to decide whether or not to prosecute
on the basis of a complaint. If the Board declines to prosecute, the citizen
may proceed at his own expense. If a conviction is obtained, the citizen
receives a bounty, based on a sliding bounty system whereby the percentage
of the fine the citizen receives is greater if the city was wrong and failed
to prosecute.
Suits brought by environmental groups and individuals play an important
role in checking the actions of government officials at all levels. Often
citizens have been successful: in enforcing stronger provisions than the
government would have done, e.g., the Greater-Washington Alliance to Stop
Pollution, Inc. (GASP) proceedings against the Washington Metropolitan
Area Transit Commission (WMATC); and in the discovery of new enforce-
ment mechanism, as when Congressman Henry Reuss in 1971 brought suit
against 270 companies in his home state of Wisconsin in order to establish
the power of the 1899 Refuse Act.
EDUCATION
The importance of a well-informed citizenry is an essential prerequisite
to achieving meaningful citizen participation. Citizens often require a
basic education on the issues, in addition to the latest developments. This is
particularly true in the field of the environment because it is a relatively
new concern and because of the recency of much of the information.
In Dallas, an environmental public information program is one attempt
to meet the educational needs of the public. George Schrader, City Manager
of Dallas, describes an exhibit which presented various environmental
options for a future Dallas which was co-sponsored by the Dallas Museum
of Fine Arts and the City:
". . . The show went beyond the traditional approach of presenting
facts and figures in a passive format. The exhibit involved direct
spectator participation by requiring the viewer to make decisions on
specific housing, transportation, recreation and urban design alternatives.
The display consisted of a labyrinth of tunnels, each passageway
representing a specific option. Before being exposed to the various
externalities associated with each option, the participant was asked to
choose and record all decisions on a questionnaire. The exhibit then
culminated in a six-screen audio-visual display which explored the
future implications of each decision. In this manner, the public was
informed not only about the current tradition of our local environment
but also about the trade-offs involved in decision making relative
to guiding the future of Dallas. This information emphasized to the
citizens the existence of environmental options and choices which
will in the future be made by omission or commission."
Mr. Schrader also mentions another educational program in the City of
Dallas public school system:
". . . The City of Dallas, the American Institute of Architects, and
the American Society of Landscape Architects have recently joined
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a privately sponsored Community Design Center in developing a pilot
project within the local public school system. Aimed at grades five
through seven, the project will consist of a careful environmental study
by the students of the neighborhood surrounding the school;
communication of the results of the study to peers and adults through
written descriptions, drawings, photographs, films, tape recordings,
oral reports, models, etc.; and efforts at the implementation of the
reported suggestions made by the participating children.
The role of the City will be to provide assistance for teachers in the
initial planning phases as well as in the implementation phase.
Ultimately, the aim is to develop a packaged program as a result of
the pilot experiences."
An effective method for citizen education which Mr. Goodman and his
colleagues describe is to hold special workshops for citizens. By scheduling
workshops on a particular topic early enough in the planning stage of a
project, a group of interested and informed citizens will be able to provide
valuable reactions to preliminary plans. Workshops should be small enough
to encourage discussion and communication in addition to teaching. Ideally,
local planners and administrators with expertise in the subject matter
should be present at each workshop meeting. Workshops should not be held
only at the inception of a project but should be offered routinely to create
an ongoing citizen/local official communication and educational mechanism.
In this regard, Mrs. Ruth Clusen, Vice-President of the National League
of Women Voters, stresses the need for citizens and groups to know the
steps of the governmental processes including what individuals to contact on
various matters. The workshop should be the initial contact between
citizens and the governing body, designed to encourage future interaction
as well as to inform the citizen on the particular topic.
An important incentive to the pursuit of active citizen involvement
through workshops is the provision in federal construction and planning
grant regulations that workshops are an allowable expense; seventy-five
percent of the cost of a workshop connected with a specific project can be
financed through a federal grant.
GENERAL ADVICE FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Mrs. Ruth Clusen, drawing upon her experience as the Vice-President of
the League of Women Voters, offers advice to government administrators
on dealing with the public. The first suggestion is not to patronize or
talk down to a citizen; it is preferable to assume that the citizen knows more
than he actually does than to treat him as what Mr. Springer humorously
described as the "proverbial dumb layman." Second, involve people from the
beginning, rather than inviting them in to rubber stamp a "fait accompli."
All of the speakers emphasized this obvious but often ignored necessity.
Third, be frank and honest to citizens and do not hesitate to describe the
trade-offs involved. Offer technical assistance including scientific, technical
and professional advice; citizens usually lack the resources to acquire the
needed information. Workshops and educational programs were discussed by
Messrs. Goodman and Schrader as methods to meet this need. Fourth, do
not expect support on every subject. Fifth, spell out the processes and
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complexities of government, including referral to individuals within the
system who can offer further assistance. Do not consider citizen participation
an adversary procedure; it can and should be a productive interchange.
Finally, receptiveness to the ideas and opinions of citizens is essential.
Notes for
Chapter IV
1Hans B. C. Spiegel (ed.), Citizen Participation in Urban Development (NTL Institute
for Applied Behavioral Science, 1968) Vol. 1, pp. 3-4.
2 Sherry R. Arnstein, "The Ladder of Citizen Participation," Journal of the American
Institute of Planners, July 1969, as referred to in:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Lecture 5 by
Daniel S. Cohen: "Goals, Objectives, and Evaluation Criteria."
3 Alternates to the structures and uses of citizen advisory boards are discussed by
Michael P. Ryan in "The Role of Citizen Advisory Boards in Administration of Natural
Resources," Oregon Law Review, Vol. 50, 1971 (p. 153).
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IV.l Public
participation
in EPA's
water-pollu-
tion control
activities
The following guidelines indicate the
depth of commitment within the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency to the
goal of public participation. Specifically
addressed to activities in the water pol-
lution control arena, the first part of
these guidelines is written by Acting
EPA Administrator John Quarles and
presents an analysis of the public re-
sponse to the first publication of the
proposed guidelines. The second part
xets forth the procedural methods to be
used in encouraging and adjusting to
popular participation. Both sections
have been edited of some tangential
paragraphs. The full text appears in
the Federal Register, Volume 38, No.
163, pp. 22756-22758,—R. Laska, ed.
EPA and public participation
On February 23, 1973, the Admin-
istrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency proposed regulations speci-
fying minimum guidelines for public
participation in certain processes under
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act, as amended. Section 101(e) of the
Act requires the Administrator, in co-
operation with the States, to develop
and publish such regulations, and to
provide for, encourage, and assist pub-
lic participation in the development,
revision, and enforcement of any regu-
lation, standard effluent limitation, plan
or program established by the Admin-
istrator or by any State under the Act.
The regulations are a general state-
ment of policy, setting forth objectives
in public participation. They describe
the provisions required in a minmum
public participation program at State
and Federal levels of governmental ac-
tivity for water pollution control, call
for a summary report on public partici-
pation efforts in relation to certain ac-
tions, and give minimum procedural
guidelines for public hearings. Other
regulations in Chapter 40 provide more
explicit requirements for public hear-
ings and other procedures related to
particular programs under the Act.
The regulations are based on the evi-
dent intent of Congress that public par-
ticipation under the 1972 Act is to be
accorded new significance, and that
special attention and resources, will be
required. Emphasis for public involve-
ment is placed at three levels: First, in
development of statewide programs, in-
cluding priority lists for allocation of
resources; second, in preparation of
basin and areawide plans involving se-
lection among alternative systems and
projects; and third, in the case-by-case
consideration of local projects and per-
mit applications.
Public responses
The proposed regulations published
had been developed with informal par-
ticipation of and suggestions from nu-
merous persons, including representa-
tives of several citizen and conservation
groups, trade organizations, govern-
ments, and other interests. The States
had an opportunity to comment on the
proposed regulations in draft form.
Further public and government com-
ment was sought upon publication of
the proposed rules. More than fifty sets
of written comments, as well as a num-
ber of verbal comments, were received
and reviewed. The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency has carefully considered
all submitted comments. All written
comments are on file with the Agency.
Many suggestions have been adopted
or substantially satisfied by editorial
changes in, deletion from, or addition
to, the guidelines. These and other prin-
cipal comments are discussed below.
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1. Several commenters expressed
concern that the guidelines did not
provide sufficient opportunity for pub-
lic participation in establishment of the
state program for public participation.
The language of § 105.3, "Required
Program and Reports," has been modi-
fied to clarify the concept that this is
an integral part of the overall state
program for water pollution control,
subject to continuing public scrutiny
and consideration, as well as to annual
review and approval by the Regional
Administrator.
2. In § 105.4, "Guidelines for Agen-
cy Programs," each of the § § 105.4(a)
through 105.4(c) has been edited in
response to comment by citizens and
conservation groups to describe more
precisely the elements that should make
up an agency public participation pro-
gram. . .
4. In § 105.4(e), "Access to Informa-
tion," the listing of specific material to
be made available for public reference
has been deleted. Specifying material
increases the possibility that other rele-
vant material might be overlooked or
omitted. Certain information, such as
grant applications, is more useful in
final submission form than as working
materials. . .
6. Numerous commenters questioned
the negative language originally pro-
posed in § 105.4(f), "Enforcement."
This has been changed to read: "Pub-
lic efforts in reporting violations shall
be encouraged . . ." Additional pro-
vision has been made to ensure follow-
up to such reporting.
7. Conservation and citizen groups
argued for stronger provision for prior
public notice on out-of-court settle-
ments under § 105.4(g), "Legal Pro-
ceedings." This provision has been
modified to reflect the July 17, 1973,
Statement of Policy by the Depart-
ment of Justice providing for public
comments on consent decrees involving
discharge of pollutants in the environ-
ment. . .
States note extra burden
9. Numerous comments, notably
from State governments, called atten-
tion to the burden placed on their re-
sources in efforts to meet the public
participation requirements. These regu-
lations have been prepared with full
consideration for section 101(f) of the
Act which focuses on the need for
minimization of paperwork and the
best use of available manpower and
funds. The simple device of a public
statement or "Summary of Public Par-
ticipation" as called for in § 105.5,
"Guidelines for Reporting," was strong-
ly endorsed by many citizen groups as
a means of encouraging agency efforts
to improve public participation with-
out generation of execessive paperwork.
10. Almost all citizen groups re-
sponding to publication of the proposed
regulations called for stronger provi-
sion in § 105.6, "Guidelines for Evalu-
ation," for action on the Summary of
Public Participation. The opening para-
graph has been revised to indicate clear-
ly that a Regional Administrator may
reject a plan or grant application if he
finds inadequate public participation.
Although many commenters wanted a
separately published evaluation of the
Summary of Public Participation, this
was felt to be contrary to the objective
of section 101 (f) of the Act. The find-
ings on public participation, however,
are to be incorporated into the action
documents on a plan, grant application,
or other matter.
11. Paragraphs (a) through (g) of the
Evaluation section, § 105.6 have been
omitted. To include these in the regu-
lations would invite excessive legal
interpretation, resulting in voluminous
paperwork and records. These para-
graphs proposed in the published guide-
lines as suggested measures of evalua-
tion, will be incorporated into material
for regional office guidance. The sup-
plementary material, of less rigid for-
mat than regulations, will include addi-
tional points suggested in comments
received. . .
13. In commenting on § 105.7(d),
"Hearing Notices," numerous groups
representing both industry and conser-
vation interests stressed a need for
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more adequate time to prepare organi-
zational response to proposed agency
actions. Their comments recommended
notice of 45 to 60 days in advance of
hearings. The stated 30-day advance
notice, however, is consistent with es-
tablished practice. . .
16. Several commenters raised ques-
tions on the right of appeal when citi-
zen views had been ignored or not
adequately provided for. This right is
not separable from other aspects of the
water pollution control programs in
which normal channels of communica-
tion to adminstrators are open and pro-
visions for citizen suit are available.
17. A few commenters representing
varied interests requested specifically
naming industrial groups or representa-
tives of the urban poor and minorities
in relation to certain provisions for ac-
cess or participation. It was felt that
naming such interests would imply ex-
clusion of other interests and it would
be unwise to attempt to narrow the
definition of "public" in any way.
Public participation
in water pollution control
This part sets forth minimum guide-
lines for public participation in the
processes of development, revision and
enforcement of any regulation, stand-
ard, effluent limitation, plan or pro-
gram under the Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Act, as amended, in ac-
cordance with section 101(e) of the
Act. This part is applicable to all En-
vironmental Protection Agency (EPA)
components concerned with the Fed-
eral Water Pollution Control Act, in-
cluding EPA Headquarters program
offices and divisions, and EPA Region-
al Offices, and to States and interstate
agencies. These guidelines contain gen-
eral requirements applicable to regula-
tions, standards, effluent limitations,
plans and programs. More specific re-
quirements applicable in specific areas
are contained in existing regulations on
Public Information (Part 2 of this chap-
ter) and in other regulations that have
been or will be issued pertaining to
various specific programs under the
Act, as well as State and local laws
pertinent to the subject.
Policy and objectives
Participation of the public is to be
provided for, encouraged, and assisted
to the fullest extent practicable con-
sistent with other requirements of the
Act in Federal and State government
water pollution control activities. The
major objectives of such participation
include greater responsiveness of gov-
ernmental actions to public concerns
and priorities, and improved popular
understanding of official programs and
actions. Although the primary responsi-
bility for water quality decision-making
is vested by law in public agencies at
the various levels of government, active
public involvement in and scrutiny of
the intergovernmental decision-making
process is desirable to accomplish these
objectives. Conferring with the public
after a final agency decision has been
made will not meet the requirements
of this part. The intent of these regu-
lations is to foster a spirit of openness
and a sense of mutual trust between
the public and the State and Federal
agencies in efforts to restore and main-
tain the integrity of the Nation's waters.
Required program and reports
Each agency cited in § 105.1 carry-
ing out activities under the Act shall
provide for and conduct a continuing
program for public participation com-
prising substantially the elements listed
in § 105.4. Staff responsibility and
budgetary provisions shall be identified
for such program in the administration
element of the annual State program
submission under Part 35 Subpart B
of this chapter. Public participation
activities shall be reported on annually
and in relation to certain documents
and actions as called for in § 105.5.
Guidelines for agency programs
The continuing agency program for
public participation shall contain mech-
anisms or activity for each of the ele-
ments listed in this section. The exact
mechanism and extent of activity may
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vary in relation to resources available,
public response, and the nature of
issues involved.
(a) Informational Materials.—Each
agency shall provide continuing policy,
program, and technical information at
the earliest practicable times and at
places easily accessible to interested or
affected persons and organizations so
that they can make informed and con-
structive contributions to governmental
decision-making. News releases, news-
letters and other publications may be
used for this purpose. Special efforts
shall be made to summarize complex
technical materials for public and media
use.
(b) Assistance to Public.—Each
agency shall have an arrangement for
providing technical and informational
assistance to public groups for citi-
zen education, community workshops,
training, and dissemination of informa-
tion to communities. Requests for in-
formation shall be promptly handled.
(c) Consultation.—Each agency shall
have standing arrangements for early
consultation and exchange of views
with interested or affected persons and
organizations on development or revi-
sion of plans, programs, or other sig-
nificant actions prior to decision-mak-
ing. Advisory groups, ad hoc commit-
tees, or workshop meetings may serve
this purpose.
(d) Notification.—Each agency, for
its appropriate geographic area, shall
maintain a current list of interested
persons and organizations, including
any who ask to be on such list, for the
periodic distribution of materials in
paragraph (a) of this section. Each
agency shall additionally comply, in
connection with any public hearing or
other proposed action, with any format
or specific requirements for public no-
tice called for in the Act or in other
regulations, to be supplemented wher-
ever possible with informal notice to
all interested persons or organizations
having requested in advance such no-
tice.
Information access
(e) Access to Information.—Each
agency shall provide, either directly or
through others, in an appropriate loca-
tion or locations, one or more central
public collections or depositories of
water quality reports and data pertinent
to the geographic area concerned. Ex-
amples of the materials available for
public reference could include grant
and permit applications, permits, efflu-
ent discharge information, compliance
schedule reports, and materials speci-
fied in section 308(b) of the Act. Copy-
ing facilities at reasonable cost shall be
available.
(f) Enforcement. — Each agency
shall develop internal procedures for
receiving and ensuring proper consid-
eration of information and evidence
submitted by citizens. Public effort in re"
porting violations of water pollution
control laws shall be encouraged, and
the procedures for such reporting shall
be set forth by the agency. Alleged
violations shall be promptly investigated
by the agency.
(g) Legal Proceedings.—Each agen-
cy shall provide full and open informa-
tion on legal proceedings under the Act,
to the extent not inconsistent with court
requirements, and where such disclo-
sure would not prejudice the conduct
of the litigation. Actions of the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency shall sup-
port and be consistent with the State-
ment of Policy issued by the Depart-
ment of Justice with regard to affording
opportunities for public comment be-
fore the Department of Justice con-
sents to a proposed judgment in an ac-
tion to enjoin dischargers of pollutants
into the environment. (See Title 28,
Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter
1, § 50.7.)
(h) Rule Making.—In addition to
providing an opportunity for public
hearings on proposed regulations, where
appropriate or required under applica-
ble statutes or regulations, agencies
shall invite, receive, and consider com-
ments in writing from any interested
or affected persons and organizations.
All such comments shall be part of the
public record, and a single copy of each
comment shall be routinely available
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for public inspection. Notices of pro-
posed rule making, as well as final rules
and regulations, shall be distributed to
interested or affected persons as quick-
ly as possible after publication. Each
notice of proposed rule making shall
include information as to the avail-
ability of the full texts of proposed
rules and regulations (where these are
not set forth in the notice itself) and
as to the designated places where copy-
ing facilities shall be available at rea-
sonable cost to the public.
(i) Other Measures.—The listing of
specific measures in this section shall
not preclude additional techniques for
obtaining, encouraging, or assisting
public participation.
Guidelines for reporting
The annual report of each EPA unit
or office, and the annual State program
submission under Section 106 of the
Act as required under Part 35 of this
Chapter, shall include a description of
public participation provisions and ac-
tivities. In addition, and in order that
the public and reviewing or approving
officials may be fully aware of the
actual extent of public input and in-
volvement, a Summary of Public Par-
ticipation related to particular actions
or documents shall be publicly pre-
sented as follows:
(a) In the case of regulations and
standards required to be published by
the Administrator in the FEDERAL
REGISTER or required to be published
by a State agency in an official form,
the Summary of Public Participation
shall be published as part of the intro-
ductory material.
(b) In the case of Statewide or area-
wide plans or portions thereof (includ-
ing the continuing planning process
under section 303(e) of the Act and
plans developed under such process),
or comparable matters required to be
approved by the Administrator, the
Summary of Public Participation shall
be submitted as a part of the plan or
of the public transmittal document.
(c) In the case of applications for
grants for construction projects other
than those under section 206 of the
Act, or for planning or annual program
grants, the Summary of Public Partici-
pation shall be a part of the application.
(d) Each Summary of Public Partici-
pation shall describe the measures taken
by the agency to provide for, encour-
age, and assist public participation in
relation to the matter; the public re-
sponse to such measures; and the dis-
position of significant points raised.
Guidelines for evaluation
The Administrator, Regional Admin-
istrator, or other approving official shall
review and evaluate each Summary of
Public Participation in relation to the
matter submitted. He may call for addi-
tional information, or for the records
of meetings or hearings. If he finds
that there has been inadequate oppor-
tunity for public participation on the
matter, he may disapprove or suspend
action; or alternatively take measures,
or require the sponsoring agency to
take measures, to obtain additional pub-
lic participation, prior to final action.
Such final action shall include a state-
ment of findings in regard of public
participation.
Guidelines for public hearings
Any public hearing, whether manda-
tory or discretionary, to be held under
the Act shall be in conformity with this
section. If conflict exists between the
minimum guidelines of this section and
requirements of State or Federal law
or other regulations pertaining to a
particular hearing, the more stringent
requirements shall be observed.
(a) Purpose.—Generally, a public
hearing gives persons and organizations
a formal opportunity to be heard on a
matter prior to decision-making. Al-
though public hearing testimony may
focus on the prospective action to be
taken in the form of a tentative plan
or decision, the final actions shall bene-
fit from and reflect consideration of
the public hearing content.
(b) Public Meetings.—Agencies are
encouraged to hold public meetings or
workshops, jointly where feasible, on
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significant matters or proposed actions.
Such meetings shall not supplant public
hearings when such are required, and
shall be informational in nature with
opportunity for public response.
(c) Opportunity for Hearings.—
Where the opportunity for public hear-
ing is called for in the Act, and in
other appropriate instances, a public
hearing shall be held if the hearing
official finds significant public interest
(including the filing of requests or peti-
tions for such hearing) or pertinent in-
formation to be gained. Instances of
doubt should be resolved in favor of
holding the hearing, or if necessary,
of providing alternative opportunity for
public participation.
(d) Hearing Notices.—In addition to
any other formal legal requirements, a
notice of each hearing or public meet-
ing shall be well publicized and be
mailed to interested or affected persons
and organizations as soon as the hear-
ing or meeting is scheduled by the
agency and in the case of a hearing,
at least thirty calendar days before the
hearing is to take place. If it should
be necessary to allow less than thirty
days' notice prior to a hearing, the
hearing notice shall state the reasons
for such shorter time period.
(e) Location and Time.—In deter-
mining the locations and times for
hearings, consideration shall be given
to easing travel hardship and to facili-
tating attendance and testimony by a
cross-section of interested or affected
persons and organizations. Accessibility
of hearing sites by public transportation
shall be considered.
ments, and data to be discussed at the
(f) Documents.—Reports, docu-
public hearing shall be available to the
public for a reasonable time prior to
the hearing. For complex matters, a
Fact Sheet outlining major issues, ten-
tative staff determinations if appropri-
ate, bibliography, and procedures for
obtaining further information, for re-
questing a public hearing, and for other
appropriate actions shall be prepared
and its availability made known in the
notice called for in paragraph (d) of
this section.
(g) Agenda.—The elements of the
public hearing, proposed time schedule,
and any constraints on statements shall
be specified in the notice of the hearing.
(h) Scheduling.—Witnesses at pub-
lic hearings shall be scheduled in ad-
vance when necessary to ensure maxi-
mum participation and allotment of
adequate time for testimony, provided
that such scheduling is not used as a
bar to unscheduled testimony. Blocks
of time shall be considered for major
categories of witnesses. Evening and
weekend schedules shall be considered.
(i) Statements.—Public hearing pro-
cedures shall not inhibit free expres-
sion of views by requirements of more
than one legible copy of any statement
submitted, or for qualification of wit-
nesses beyond that needed for identifi-
cation.
(j) Records.—A record of public
hearing proceedings shall be made
promptly available to the public at cost.
Coordination and non-duplication
In accordance with the policy of sec-
tion 101 (f) of the Federal Water Pol-
lution Control Act, public participation
activities and materials required under
the Act or these regulations may be
combined with closely related programs
or activities of the agencies concerned,
wherever such combination will en-
hance the economy, the effectiveness,
or the timeliness of the effort, enhance
the clarity of the issue, and not be detri-
mental to participation by the widest
possible public. Hearings and meetings
may be held jointly by more than one
agency on the same matter under the
Act, where such procedure does not
conflict with other provisions. Inter-
state agencies particularly are encour-
aged to develop combined proceedings
on behalf of the States concerned.
Applicability
The provisions of this part shall ap-
ply only to actions taken after the
effective date of this part.
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IV.2 Imple-
mentation of
citizen
participation
John Goodman, Joseph
Falkson, Barbara Mertens
Lindsay Happel *
Citizen participation in environmen-
tal management has been viewed as a
good idea by both municipal officials
and planners. But, even though it is
recognized that it would improve plan-
ners' responsiveness to community
needs, participation has not always been
encouraged or implemented for fear
that it would create political conflict
and delay projects. However, today's
citizens are more articulate, more
aware of their rights, and more sensitive
to environmental issues. While most
municipal projects could be built with
no citizen involvement, the risk of ex-
pensive, time-consuming delays and
court suits is increasing dramatically.
Due to changes in citizen's attitudes
and new federal regulations, implemen-
tation of citizen involvement is no
longer simply a luxury or a "good thing
to do." It is a necessity.
This paper will briefly outline sample
requirements for participation, discuss
the most prevalent mechanisms (e.g.,
public hearings, citizen advisory boards,
and workshops) used to fulfill these re-
quirements, and then will point out
pitfalls to avoid in implementing these
mechanisms.
*Presented by John Goodman, Tech-
nical Assistance Research Programs
(TARP), at the National Conference on
Managing the Environment.
Requirements for citizen
involvement: legal
The following discussion of the legal
requirements for participation in Water
Quality Management is included to
serve as an example of the requirements
being attached to federal environmental
funds.
Section 101(e) of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act Amendments of
1972 broadly stipulates that public par-
ticipation shall be "provided for, en-
couraged and assisted by the EPA Ad-
ministrator and States" in the "develop-
ment, revision ... of any . . . plan or
program established by the EPA Ad-
ministrator or State."
The proposed regulations to imple-
ment Section 101(e) very strongly em-
phasize the need for public participa-
tion early in the stages of policy formu-
lation. They specifically state that:
Conferring with the public after
an agency decision has been made
will not meet the requirements of
this part. 40 CFR 105.2
This regulation states that substantive
participation, not after-the-fact review,
is required in the development of a plan
or a federally funded municipal proj-
ect. The guidelines also require that
before any agency action is taken on
a plan or program, such as approving
a construction grant application, a
"summary of public participation" must
be submitted. Such a requirement, if
strongly enforced, will insure that states
include participation in all activities
covered by the Act. The development
of state strategies and waste treatment
priority lists require public hearings to
give the public a chance to comment on
the priorities presented in the plans.
The amendments also state that a citi-
zen has standing to take court action
against the Federal Government or any
other authority in violation of the man-
datory requirements of the Act. New
York and several other states author-
ize environmental advisory boards at
the municipal level. The very existence
of these boards requires the municipal
official to consider their input.
"(e) Public participation in the de-
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velopment, revision, and enforcement of
any regulation, standard, effluent limi-
tation, plan, or program established by
the Administrator or any State under
this Act shall be provided for, encour-
aged, and assisted by the Administrator
and the States. The Administrator, in
cooperation with the States, shall de-
velop and publish regulations specifying
minimum guidelines for public partici-
pation in such processes."
"Each summary of pubic partici-
pation shall describe the measures taken
by the agency to provide for, encour-
age, and assist public participation in
relation to the matter; the public re-
sponse to such measures; and the dis-
position of points raised." 40 CFR
105.15(d)
The 1972 Amendments also require
a public hearing prior to the establish-
ment of any effluent limitation standard.
The Governor of a state or the State
Water Pollution Control Agency must
also from time to time hold public hear-
ings for the purpose of reviewing appli-
cable water quality standards (Section
307 of Federal Water Pollution Control
Act Amendment). The new regulations
implementing Section 303 of the
Amendments stipulate that public par-
ticipation "with adequate opportunity
for public hearing upon proper show-
ing" will be required for the proposed
planning process. The regulations also
state that:
. . . plans will be officially adopted,
after appropriate public hearings,
as the official water quality man-
agement plans of the state and
that the plan may be revised,
after public hearings, as appropri-
ate. 40 CFR 130.32
Practical requirements
There is a growing tendency for citi-
zens to sue or to complain to the fund-
ing federal agency when they feel there
is bad faith on the part of a city official.
If citizens are dissatisfied with the way
the environment is being managed, and
they have no way to make substantive
input to the process, they have only to
find an infraction of the regulations to
delay projects, and do great damage to
the municipal budget. Federal grant
regulations are complex, and it is diffi-
cult for an official to be in compliance
with all regulations.
Citizen participation mechanisms
Any effective participation mecha-
nism must allow for two elements: ed-
ucation of the citizens and the response
of the planners and officials to the
citizens. In order to insure intelligent,
objective participation by the public,
the public must understand the nature
of the problem, all the possible solu-
tions, and the costs of these solutions.
The municipal official, on the other
hand, must respond to the input of the
citizens, and insure that their input
will have an impact.
Three public participation mecha-
nisms which can include these elements
will be discussed here: public hearings,
advisory boards, and workshops.
Public hearings, though most preva-
lent, are not necessarily the best means
for participation. There is one major
problem with hearings: the inability of
citizens to be sure that they have had
an impact on the planning process.
Hearings allow little opportunity for
constructive feedback from the hearing
officer on whether the public's views
have influenced him or not. If the pub-
lic feels that they have had no im-
pact through the hearing process, frus-
tration builds. Such frustration may
lead to civil suits, court injunctions,
and delays in project implementation.
Citizen advisory boards are more ac-
ceptable because they allow two-way
communication. The boards provide the
municipal officials with a channel for
dissemination of information to the
community and also provide the public
with the opportunity to convey its val-
ues and viewpoints to the planner.
Boards are also useful in helping a
municipal official anticipate public re-
actions.
Problems may arise, however, which
can hinder the effectiveness of the
boards. The board members may be
unsure as to their function and/or may
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be inadequately prepared to evaluate
technical information and offer sub-
stantive advice. City officials may find
it impractical to heed the board's ad-
vice.
Many of the problems encountered
with public hearings and advisory
boards can be avoided, or at least de-
creased, if the city official realizes early
the need for a mutually supportive, two-
way relationship with the public. The
third participation mechanism being
discussed here, workshops, provides
the framework for this two-way rela-
tionship, and should be utilized in con-
junction with public hearings and ad-
visory boards.
Workshops are excellent teaching
mechanisms which allow timely and
substantive input from citizens and
planners alike. They provide interested
citizens with the tools to make intelli-
gent decisions and they provide plan-
ners with data and alternatives.
Public workshops
The workshops should be oriented to
a particular project or issue. If the
workshops are being utilized to encour-
age general participation, or to initiate
a city-wide citizen advisory board, it is
still advisable to plan them around a
specific problem. This will provide all
participants with "something to get
their teeth into." It will also provide a
model for holding future workshops,
where solving a particular problem may
be an imperative.
An advisable strategy for the work-
shops is to hold separate sessions for
the citizens and city officials, in prep-
aration for the two groups actually
getting together.
For the citizens, the workshops
should include the following:
(1) The legal requirements for
participation. The implications of
the law should be delineated in
practical terms (e.g., what infor-
mation is required to be provided,
what participation mechanisms
may be set up, etc.).
(2) An examination of the process
of the workshop subject. This
should include the administrative
stages of the planning and imple-
mentation process, and a relatively
non-technical discussion of the
planning principles and technology
being applied.
(3) A discussion of the advantages
and disadvantages of different citi-
zen participation mechanisms. Ad-
visory boards, workshops, public
hearings, as well as lobbying, law-
suits, and the concept of citizen
advocates should be discussed.
Practical operational problems of
making input such as organizing
citizen leadership, obtaining tech-
nical consultants, and timing ac-
tions appropriately need to be ex-
plained.
(4) Utilization of case studies.
Case studies are recommended
here in order to give citizens ex-
perience in evaluating alternatives
and making group decisions. The
case studies should concern dif-
ferent citizen actions, as well as
different planning decisions related
to the workshop subject.
Much of the information provided
for the citizens should be provided for
the planners and city officials, although
from a different perspective. For in-
stance, the practical delineation of the
legal requirements for participation
would include when and how the public
should be notified of projects, what in-
formation should be provided, etc.
The planners should also be given:
(1) Advice as to methods of im-
plementing participation. This
would not only include mecha-
nisms that may be utilized, but
practical means of implementing
them (e.g., who should be repre-
sented on a board, how these peo-
ple should be selected, what role
the board has, etc.).
(2) Effective means of notification
of citizens. Early and wide-spread
notification of the public of all
plans and meetings is essential to
the prevention of project delay.
More publicity is needed than just
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an item in the notices section of
the newspaper.
(3) Utilization of case studies.
Case studies for the planners
should concentrate on successful
and unsuccessful means of imple-
menting participation. Planners
should be shown what has hap-
pened in the past, and be given the
tools to deal with similar problems
that they may face.
Once the citizens and planners of of-
ficials have been given all the infor-
mation they will need to work effec-
tively with each other in the municipal
environmental process, they should be
brought together in order to formulate
plans for on-going cooperation. Role
playing might be utilized here, and the
dynamics of group process illustrated
through problem-solving exercises.
One fact which is not widely known
is that the cost of workshops, like pub-
lic hearings, is an allowable expense
under federal construction and plan-
ning grant regulations. This means that
seventy-five percent of the cost of a
workshop connected with a specific
project will be paid for by the Federal
Government.
Points to remember
Whichever mechanism, or combina-
tion of mechanisms, you choose, there
are several points that should be kept
in mind. First, the citizen participation
mechanism must not be merely a public
relations effort. Citizens are now so-
phisticated enough to see through a
sham. Experience has shown that if
citizens do not feel that the established
mechanism is serving a functional pur-
pose, they will not hesitate to establish
their own mechanism, whether it be
picketing, organizing a separate citizen's
group for lobby purposes, or going to
court.
Citizens and municipal officials must
have a clear understanding of their
individual role in the mechanism. Con-
flicting expectations by the citizens and
the planners can render the mecha-
nism ineffective. For example, if the
role of a board is simply defined as
"to make input," citizens often assume
they are to make policy. The planner,
on the other hand, may assume that
they are only to give advice. When this
situation occurs, bad faith is charged
and conflict develops. A recent sample
of this occurred at the Columbia Point
Health Center, in Boston. The Center
Director felt that his advisory board
had no decision-making authority.
When he chose to ignore their input,
the board and the citizens represented
by the board became extremely frus-
trated. In this case, actual violence
broke out.1
Finally, it must be remembered that
timing is important in the implementa-
tion of citizen participation. The board
must be consulted, the public hearing
held, or the workshop must be run prior
to the decisions being made. Timing
makes the difference between active
participation and after-the-fact review.
Effective participation, if properly
implemented early in the planning proc-
ess, will help reduce conflict and in-
crease the longterm efficiency of your
municipal process.
Notes for
Paper 2
1 See "Seige at Columbia Point," Time
Magazine, October 30, 1972.
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V: Strategies for Managing
the Environment
In the past, when a government official was asked what his agency was
doing to improve the quality of the environment, his response was nebulous
at best. A federal or state official might have discussed his ineffective
environmental quality standards, or pointed out that environmental problems
were the responsibility of local governments. A local official might have
pointed to collection and disposal methods of solid waste or to a sewage
treatment plant.
If an environmental crisis, such as the severe pollution of a nearby
stream, were to occur, governments had very few means of solving that
immediate problem. Their alternative responses included: ignoring the
problem and hoping that it would improve itself; if the source of the pollutant
could be identified, talking to the polluters in the hope that they would
improve the situation; if a nuisance did exist, threatening or initiating a
legal action, and applying political pressure or economic sanction on the
major polluter.
The ineffectiveness of the traditional approaches toward environmental
management is realized when one looks at the multitude of environmental
problems today. During the past few years, all levels of government have
begun both to develop and test new strategies for environmental management
and to modify the traditional strategies for today's problems.
Since the complexity of environmental management can be overwhelming,
even to a knowledgeable observer, a rather simple framework is presented
as an aid to understanding the involvement of government in environmental
management. For example, the issue of controlled or restricted'growth
could be viewed from many perspectives, as a policy statement outlining
some goals, a plan for action or an enforcing process. Although this
framework, as presented in Figure 1, has some obvious weaknesses, such
as drawing a sharp dichotomy between policy and action (ends and means),
it does clarify the relationship and develop a typology of various environ-
mental strategies. The framework identifies four basic categories of
strategies for managing the environment:
Policy Goals, which are general statements outlining the overall
improvement of environmental quality and the quality of life;
Strategic Objectives, which are specific poicy objectives such as
limitations or controls on growth, restoration of the damaged environ-
ment, controls on the discharge of pollutants and controls on the
use and misuse of natural resources;
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.FIGURE 1.—STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENT: A CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK (1)
POLICY GOAL
Improve Environmental Quality
POLICY
LEVEL
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
1. Limiting Growth
2. Restoring the Damaged Environment
3. Controlling Discharge of Pollutants
4. Controlling the Use of Natural
Resources
STRATEGIC ACTIONS
1. Comprehensive Planning
2. Environmental Quality Standards
3. Environmental Impact Statements
ACTION
LEVEL
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
1. Land Use Controls
2. Law Suits
3. Economic Incentives and Penalties
4. Monitoring Environmental Quality
5. Moritoria
Strategic Actions, which are broad actions such as comprehensive
planning, assessment of environmental impact, and adoption of
standards for environmental quality; and
Enforcement Actions, which are designed to compel compliance with
the strategic objectives and actions such as land-use controls, law
suits, economic incentives and penalties, moritoria, and monitoring
environmental quality.
Three related factors which affect the development of environmental
management strategies are: the current state of technical knowledge and
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research progress on 1he environment, the construction and modification of
equipment and facilities, and the organizational arrangements for
administering environmental management programs.
In using the framework, this paper focuses on new actions which are
being taken by governments to improve the quality of the physical and social
environment. The purposes here are: to provide a model for understanding
the interrelationships between the adoption and implementation of policy
and strategic environmental management actions taken by governmental
bodies; to analyze the various ideas evolving out of papers and panel
presentations at the National Conference for Managing the Environment;
to identify and analyze innovative actions taken by local government,
with the realization that many of these innovative actions, while appropriate
in one setting, may need to be adapted to the needs and constraints of each
new setting; and to analyze the modification of more traditional actions in
environmental management which are being adapted for use in different
problem areas.
NATURAL RESOURCES AS FINITE
In the past, the natural resources of the earth were viewed as being infinite.
Man could consume as much of the resources as he needed without
worrying about running out of resources. The inaccuracy of this assumption
in today's world is demonstrated by the depletion of energy sources in
the United States. Environmental managers have begun to view the earth
as a closed system with limited amounts of resources. The stability of the
ecosystem depends in large part upon its complexity. However, man has been
turning fields into buildings, thus reducing the complexity of the earth's
ecosystem and increasing the danger of a large-scale malfunction of the life
support system. One only needs to look around to identify various visible
breakdowns in the system.
MAN-NATURE SYMBIOSIS
Since his first days on earth, man has viewed nature as a hostile force
with which he must contend. In order to survive, he thought that he must
dominate it; have the right to control it to fulfill his needs for survival;
and if necessary, exploit it without regard to the consequences. The dis-
appearance of many wildlife species and the scars on the earth's surface left
from strip mining are monuments to this falsehood. Environmental managers
are realizing that man must learn to live as part of nature. Since man is
living in an age of science, he may have to abandon some traditional values
and some crude, destructive technologies which attempt to control nature.
He is learning to regard nature with more respect so that his way of life and
use of technology are more in harmony with nature.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR NATURE
Since the linkage of science and technology during the middle of the
nineteenth century, man has attempted to accumulate more and more
technology without questioning either the ultimate goal or uses of tech-
nology or the consequences of its use. Technological development has
become a goal rather than a means. Man cannot reject science and technology
to retreat to a more primitive state. It has become a vital part of our
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civiliation. Since it would be impossible at this point to give up our present
level of knowledge, the environmental managers must accept the con-
sequences of our past uses of technology and realize that continued use of
these old technologies may result in some form of eco-disaster.
Thus, new strategies for managing the environment are being developed,
based upon the new set of assumptions. For example, new air and water
environmental quality standards and enforcement processes are aimed at
maintaining, and hopefully restoring, some stability in the ecosystem. The
improved quality of polluting discharges has resulted in the revitali/ation
of lakes and rivers previously considered dead. In addition, the assessment of
environmental consequences of programs and projects is attempting to
improve the relationship between man and nature, to reduce the likelihood
of further elimination of some natural resources, and to limit technological
ravaging of nature. Environmental managers are becoming guardians
of the earth's resources.
ADOPTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY STATEMENT
One of the first steps taken by many local governments has been the
adoption of a policy statement concerning environmental quality and
outlining environmental management programs. Before we progress too far,
it may be appropriate to clarify what a policy statement contains. In "The
Study of Policy Content," Austin Ranney has identified five major
components of any policy statement, including: a particular object or set of
objects which are to be affected; a desired course of actions detailing a
sequence of desired behaviors; selected lines of actions which delineate one
course of action selected from many; a declaration of intent which is a
statement of what policy makers intend to do; how, and why; and
implementation of the intent. In the environmental policy area, like
other policy areas, the adopted statements have emphasized different
components. Some policy statements, in primarily addressing themselves to
identifying the set of objects and a declaration of intent, formulate a
general environmental goal. Yet, other policy statements, in detailing
different courses of action, stress the development of strategic objectives for
environmental management. It should be noted that there will be elements
of both general goals and strategic objectives in any policy statement
adopted by a governmental body.
GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS
In recent years, many governmental bodies have developed and adopted a
general environmental statement. Before going on, it is important to make
the distinction between official policies and operating policies. In many
cases, the official policies adopted by the legislative body may not be
reflected in the day-to-day administration of environmental programs.
The federal government was one of the first to act when the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed in 1969. The act outlines a
national policy which encourages productive and enjoyable harmony between
man and his environment, promotes efforts which will prevent or eliminate
damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and
welfare of man, and enriches the understanding of the ecological system
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and natural resources important to the nation. The intent of this general
policy statement was to declare that:
"It is continuing policy of the federal government, in cooperation with
state and local governments, to use all practical means and measures
including financial and technical assistance in a manner calculated to
foster and promote the general welfare, to create and maintain
conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive
harmony, and fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of
present and future generations of America."
NEPA also pointed out the areas of federal responsibility for environmental
management. The federal responsibilities include: (1) fulfillment of the
responsibilities of each generation as a trustee of the environment for
succeeding generations; (2) assuring that all Americans have safe, helpful,
productive, esthetic and culturally pleasing surroundings; (3) attainment
of the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without degradation,
risk to safety or health, or other undesirable and unintended consequences;
(4) preservation of important historical, cultural, and natural aspects of
our national heritage; (5) maintenance of an environment which supports
diversity and a variety of choice; (6) achievement of a balance between
population and resource use which permits high standards of living and a
wide sharing of life's amenities; and, (7) enhancement of the quality of
renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling
of depletable resources.
KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL 'RIGHTS'
One of the more controversial aspects of NEPA was a statement in
which each person was originally granted the right to a healthful environment.
After considering the objections, Congress modified the act to reflect that
each person should enjoy a healthful environment and has a responsibility
to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the environment.
However, at least seven states have guaranteed to their citizens the right to
clean air and water in the state constitution.
Thus, NEPA outlines a general policy which is to be used to guide
environmental programs and actions of the federal government. It should
be emphasized that many of the goals in NEPA are in disagreement with the
goals of other legislation. For example, the environmental concerns as
expressed in NEPA may be in conflict with some aspects of federal highway
programs. Only through the implementation of various actions for manag-
ing the environment will the conflicts be resolved and the operating
environmental policy be clarified.
At the local level many cities are adopting their own general environmental
policy statements in the form of a "mini-NEPA" ordinance, resolution on
the environment, or statement in the comprehensive plan. In a recent
survey conducted by ICMA, it was found that just under twenty percent of
the respondents had adopted some formal general environmental statement
on policy and goals while fifty-seven percent had not. The remaining
twenty-three percent are presently considering adoption of some form of
general environmental goals. Furthermore, of the cities with a population of
over 500,000, more than half have adopted environmental policies. It is
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not surprising that local governments followed the lead of the federal
government with most of the environmental policy statements being
adopted in 1971 and 1972.
A typical environmental policy at the local level is reflected in the statement
adopted in November 1972 by Westminster, California. The environmental
element of the comprehensive plan states that "the policy of the citizens
and the government of Westminster is to enhance and maintain property to
high esthetic standards, minimize adverse environmental impact of
urbanization and industrialization, and eliminate deteriorating environ-
mental situations or processes in order to achieve a community compatible
to wholesome psychological, physiological and sociological growth."
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
A second type of policy statement which can be adopted by governmental
agencies involves the adoption of a strategic objective for city operations.
Generally, four major types of strategic objectives are commonly being
adopted by local governments. They include the control and possible
limitation of growth within a community, the control of pollution discharges
into the natural environment, the prevention of further deterioration of
natural resources and environmental quality, and the restoration of
environmental quality in areas where pollution has taken its toll on the
ecosystem. Since it is impossible to analyze all four strategic objectives,
here the focus is on managing growth.
At a conference sponsored by the Rockefeler Brothers Fund on May 24,
a task force chaired by Laurence Rockefeller reported on land use and
urban growth. The group's policy statement calls for the abandonment
of the deeply ingrained idea that private ownership of land carries with
it the right to develop the land. After much study and analysis, they arrived
at three major conclusions. First, the task force identified a new mood
which is reflected in the public demand for no more "growth at any price."
At the local level, that attitude has manifested itself in the establishment
of a growth ceiling in Boca Raton, Florida, the land-use regulations along
the coastline in California, and the purchase of land for greenbelt development
in Boulder, Colorado. Second, the task force concluded that increases in
population and the accompanying demand for new homes and housing and
other forms of services will continue well into the twenty-first century.
Those pressures will be compounded by the continued rise in family income
and level and personal consumption. For many local governments who
are presently using the maximum natural resources (e.g., present municipal
use of available water), this means that some alternative strategy for
managing growth must be developed in order to avoid disasters. Finally,
the task force concluded that the success in reconciling political pressures
for growth and the demands for a better quality environment will depend
on guiding and restricting development without necessarily compensating
owners for restrictive use and possible decrease in market value. They called
for the development of new protective regulations regarding open space.
During the Conference's workshop on growth, Martin Johnson, Secretary
of the Agency of Environmental Conservation of the State of Vermont,
stated that growth must be limited for the good of everyone. However, before
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developing strategic objectives on growth limitation, the region's carrying
capacity should be determined. In his paper, "The Concept of Carrying
Capacity," found in the latter part of this chapter, A. Bruce Bishop,
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State
University, defines carrying capacity in terms of biological or physical
relationships between a given resource stock and its maximum sustained
yield. A determination is made as to the maximum number of individuals
of a species that can be supported by a given habitat under various conditions
of stress. A common question asked is: what is the capacity of the reservoir
and the river downstream to maintain natural water quality levels and
continue the support of existing ecosystems? This is particularly important
to local governments which are reaching the limits on their water supply.
Other questions include: what will be the impact of air quality conditions
with increased traffic and housing and commercial developments? What
animals and plants will be displaced by further development of open space?
The carrying capacity is a concept that has a rather long history in resource
management, particularly as it relates to the limiting of livestock according
to available food supply and water. In concluding, Mr. Bishop points out
that the similarities among natural ecological systems suggest the use of
a new broader method of describing resources of the human environment
for environmental management.
CREATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL DATA BASE
In conjunction with the research on the carrying capacity of a region, it
may be important to conduct an environmental resources inventory analysis.
Roger Hanson, Executive Director of The Rocky Mountain Center on the
Environment, suggests that environmental managers must have a valid
environmental data base as a starting point for the development for any
growth policy. This inventory would identify and locate of the major
elements of the ecosystem including climate, geology landforms, surface
water, botanical biomes, wildlife species and historical and cultural land-
marks and current land-use patterns. In the long run, this data could be used
as a basis for enforcement that is scientifically and legally defensible.
According to Martin Johnson, once the data is developed environmental
managers can proceed with a three-step plan. First, social goals need to
be developed and defined including the opportunity for health, happiness,
education, recreation, and diversity of experience. Second, in developing
a plan for achieving the goal, a comprehensive approach must be taken
considering the availability of resources in the region and the state of the
environment. This plan could be incorporated in the environmental section of
the comprehensive land use plan and should include settlement patterns,
transportation patterns networks,, economic base, energy requirements,
natural resources, recreation facilities, etc. Finally, enforcing or policing
powers must be developed to regulate the implementation of this strategic
objective.
In developing either a general environmental policy statement or strategic
objectives, environmental managers must keep in mind, or avoid displacing,
these goals through an overcommitment to specific environmental actions.
In other words, they must keep in mind the overall goals and objectives of
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the environmental policy when developing and implementing various
actions such as environmental impact statements, development of standards,
land-use controls, and legal actions. Besides this warning, there are two
potential problematic consequences which should be mentioned. First,
environmental decision-makers may believe strategic actions alone will be
sufficient and that no further action, strategy or enforcement is necessary.
In many ways, it is easier in the political arena to adopt a general policy
statement and strategic objective without developing the necessary enforcing
actions. A second problem relates to the adoption of various enforcing
actions without a policy framework which can serve to provide direction
and to integrate the various types of actions into a coherent plan for
managing the environment. With these environmental policies in mind,
we now can turn to specific actions that local governments can take to
manage the environment.
ACTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
After a policy statement is adopted, or in some cases before, there is a
need for developing specific actions which will promote the achievement of
these goals and objectives. First is the need for strategic actions which
involve the development of programs for improving environmental quality
without enforcing procedures. Examples of such actions are a cost-benefit
analysis of the environmental impact statements, the development of a
comprehensive land-use plan which outlines the direction for promoting
environmental quality, and the development of environmental quality
standards. To regulate and promote the strategic objectives and actions,
enforcing actions are required. They include such things as economic
incentives and penalties, legal action, land-use controls through zoning,
subdivisions and purchases of lands for greenbelts, monitoring, and other
related regulatory processes.
Comprehensive Planning—One of the more traditional strategic actions
is comprehensive land-use planning. This involves the development of an
environmental section in the land-use plan which outlines the land-use
patterns, human environmental perspective, inventory of the natural
resources within the community, and future planned development which
would minimize environmental damage.
Edward J. Kaiser and others point out that the redefinition and reorganiza-
tion of comprehensive planning to reflect environmental objectives is being
accomplished through two means. First, many local governments are
adding a new section to the total planning program, focusing on the environ-
ment and paralleling it to other sectors in economic development, social
policy and transportation. Los Angeles added a new segment to the general
plan with the purpose of (1) serving as a comprehensive guide for the
various governmental and public agencies to identify the interrelationships
between the various aspects or dimensions of environmental problems,
(2) providing a specific policy recommendation needed for the formulation
of standards and legislation relating to environmental quality, (3) presenting
guidelines for modifying city procedures in order to minimize negative
impact of city operation on the environment, and (4) a comprehensive data
source pertaining to environmental factors.
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Environmental Impact Statement—A second strategic action which govern-
ments can take is the development of a process for assessing the potential
impact of projects and programs. This assement process has taken a number
of forms from benefit-cost analyses of various alternatives according to
their potential environmental damage to impact assessment reports which
summarize economic, social and physical consequences of a particular
development.
IMPLEMENTING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PROCESSES
As a result of NEPA the federal government has assumed a leading role
in defining and developing environmental impact statement processes. In
the last few years, the process for developing and writing impact statements
has undergone several sets of guidelines; in fact, the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) is now in the process of finalizing a new
set of guidelines. Lyle Sumek summarizes some of the major problems in
implementing environmental impact statement processes: (1) implementation
has been inconsistent with lengthy statements on minor projects and no
statements on major programs; (2) the financial costs of conducting the
assessment have not been adequately covered; (3) authors of impact
statements lack technical expertise; (4) the lengthy period for preparing
and writing the statements has resulted in delays and the discouragement of
applicants; and (5) the procedure for meeting NEPA requirements has
taken precedent over the substantive content of impact statements.
In 1970, California passed an Environmental Quality Act which directs
all local governments to make environmental impact reports on any project
they intend to carry out and which may have significant environmental effect.
In clarifying some confusing points, the California Supreme Court ruled in
Friends of Mammoth v. Board of Supervisors of Mono County that impact
assessment reports were required for all public and private projects in
cases where local government could be denied approval. The immediate
decision of many local governments was to place moritoria on building
permits and rezoning.
One of the first cities to develop an impact statement process was
Inglewood, California. City Manager Douglas Ayres, in describing his city's
approach to environmental impact statements during the Conference
workshop on Comprehensive Planning, said:
"It seems to us that the analysis of an environmental impact from the
physical standpoint, such as that done by many jurisdictions, was
simply inadequate since our particular jurisdiction is in a metropolitan
* area of some ten million people and has only 93,000 population
right in the middle of it. Our control over air, water and solid waste
pollution was really pretty much geographically limited as to the way
we could control it. Subsequently we developed a review of those
subjects on which we could have an impact and called it Total
Impact Analysis."
The objectives of the analysis are to focus attention on existing environ-
mental problems and solutions, to integrate environmental concerns of
the community, to broaden the scope of environmental concerns, to improve
the public decision-making process as it affects the community and to
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involve community participants in contributing to environmental improve-
ment. In an attempt to assess both positive and negative effects of a
particular project, Inglewood developed the impact rating and quantification
sheet which lists environmental, social, economic variables which might be
affected. In each case, every variable is assigned two numbers: (1) one
value reflects the amount (severity) of the impact and (2) another reflects
the relative importance of this impact unit as compared to the others.
Professional judgment, questionnaires and some forms of group decision-
making are used to determine appropriate values. Then, these two quantities
are multiplied, resulting in impact unit totals for each variable. Next, a
dollar value is assigned to each impact unit and this is multiplied by the
previous figure to arrive at an estimate of the net social costs and benefits.
The comparison of costs and benefits would enable the decision maker
to judge the desirability of a project. Thus far, three environmental impact
studies have been completed: (1) a sewage site for a water treatment plant,
(2) the construction and operating of the plant, and (3) a study of an
alternative freeway route. Mr. Ayres admitted that the process was more a
way of demonstrating the coordination of effects and programs to various
departmental officials than a substantive assessment of environmental impact.
AN IMPACT STATEMENT ON COMPREHENSIVE PLANS?
During the same workshop, Robert Einsweiler, a planning consultant
formerly with the Metropolitan Council for Twin Cities, posed the question:
Why not an impact statement on comprehensive plans? He pointed out
that the project-oriented impact statement process is a weak one, hampered
by a log-jam of statements, posing delays near the action phase of a project,
focusing on a limited effect with limited consideration of secondary con-
sequences, not linked to planning and program budgeting, and containing
inadequate treatment or recognition of alternatives. While focusing on a
single project, impact statements may be asked to cover the full range of
issues surrounding a general policy. While not offering a solution,
Mr. Eisweiler pointed out some of the benefits that could arise from having
an impact statement on a comprehensive general plan. These benefits
include the following: (1) the elevation of the status of land-use planning
in public decision-making, (2) the introduction of greater environmental
sensitivity into planning agencies, (3) the elevation of some issues to city-
wide, regional, or state issues (i.e., the urban land use of prime agricultural
land in Minnesota), and (4) the familiarity of planners with the objectives
of impact assessment, since they are more acquainted with trade-off analysis
than are the functional agencies responsible for the program. In supple-
menting Mr. Einsweiler's list, one could add that a less biased assessment
would be performed by the planning agency, resulting in less program
justification and more appraisal of environmental consequences. Also, a
wider range of issues and alternatives may be generated by looking at
more policy issues and variables than the ones currently being assessed.
The impact statement on comprehensive plans is not without its faults since
it would lengthen the planning process.
If an impact statement is written on a comprehensive plan, there may be
no need to write impact statements on each individual project or program
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if it falls in line with the comprehensive plan. However, for projects
falling outside or modifying the comprehensive plan, then an impact
assessment could be made. This might result in less need for staff, less
need for funding for environmental impact statement writing and reviewing.
Ultimately, it might lead to a smoother process, one not plagued by delays.
Environmental Quality Standards—A final strategic action which can be
used by governments is the development of standards for the quality of
the environment. In addressing the issue of standards, an immediate question
becomes: who has the authority for developing the environmental standards?
During the workshop on "Standards of the Environment," Mr. William
Blaser, former director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
pointed out that the issue of environmental standards requires joint
responsibility, particularly between state and local governments, in order
to avoid the confusion and possible conflict due to many levels of govern-
ment being involved in the process. He suggested that one improvement could
be made in management systems by the adoption of an identical standard.
FIXED VERSUS VARIABLE QUALITY STANDARDS
In analyzing the issue of fixed versus variable environmental standards,
Robert Pikul of Mitre Corporation argued for variable environmental
standards. The major objections to variable standards are that they can
result in inequitable treatment of sources; for if your discharge into the
environment is being controlled more stringently than a neighbor's,
theoretically you will have a higher cost and must be hampered in the
marketplace. While this is a vital concern, Mr. Pikul pointed out that the
concept of equity ought to be brought into view (more broadly including
externalities)—cost of environmental damage. A second objection to
variable standards is the complexity in administrative costs. Although it
may be true that fixed standards are less costly to administer and enforce, it
should be pointed out that the benefits of a variable standards are greater.
Environmental managers would be able to adapt the standard for environ-
mental problems in a particular ecosystem. A third objection is the effect on
the national economy. Mr. Pikul pointed out that, if motor vehicle emissions
standards vary from state to state, this would require the manufacturer
to adopt a variety of control devices to meet the different standards. It
would also affect every citizen if he drove from one state to another.
In a proposal to achieve ambient standards for oxidants in southern
California, Mr. Pikul pointed out some immediate social and economic
impacts of variable environmental standards: (1) increased cost to auto-
mobile owners of two hundred to four hundred dollars in initial capital and
five to fifteen dollars annual maintenance, (2) increased reliance on car-
pooling and transit, (3) reduced mobility, (4) a potential cost of income due
to decreased mobility, (5) economic curtailment of automotive service and
supply facilities, (6) changes in property value, (7) reduced taxes, and
(8) potential development of effective rapid transit. The acceptance of
variable standards in different geographic locations may also allow people
to make a choice regarding where they want to live based upon the risk
they want to associate with deteriorating air quality. Mr. Pikul concluded
that more analysis is needed before any decision is made.
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In developing environmental quality standards, many factors have to be
considered: political, economic, and social. But once the standards are
developed, then enforcing techniques are needed to assure the compliance
with the environmental quality standards as outlined in various public
policies of a strategic objective, where a governmental body adopts a policy
concerning a specific objective. In developing these standards, Mr. Blaser
pointed out the great importance of "people standards." He suggested that
people standards are as important as scientifically developed standards
since environmental managers must not only look at the chemistry, but also at
the sociological and psychological dimensions of the environmental problem.
In interpreting the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Supreme Court ruled that
states must maintain air quality at least equal to present level, even if
deteriorated quality would still meet federal standards. In a deadlocked
four-to-four vote, the Court endorsed the decision by the Federal District
Court for the District of Columbia, which was based in part on a policy of
nondegradation of existing clean air and that Congress intended to maintain
or lower air pollution levels. The federal government had argued that such
strict controls would discourage economic expansion into areas of clean air
and possibly inhibit population expansion into previously unoccupied
lands. The immediate effect has been to prohibit EPA from approving any
state air quality plan that would allow air quality to deteriorate. Prior to the
decision, EPA had disapproved all pending state plans since none included
assurances that the present quality of the air would be maintained.
ENFORCEMENT ACTION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGERS
Once strategic actions are adopted, environmental managers need to have
processes and procedures for enforcing or directing compliance. For
example, it is not sufficient to develop and adopt environmental quality
standards without some means for making sure potential violations are
avoided. These enforcement actions can be in the form of direct regulations
in which a particular pattern of behavior deemed as being undesirable is
prohibited, with violators facing some direct sanction. Good examples of this
type of enforcing action would be criminal prosecution, monitoring, and
land-use regulation. Indirect enforcement actions include government
monitoring of the discharge of potential polluters, in the hope that
monitoring by itself will be sufficient to force compliance.
Land-Use Controls—One of the oldest enforcing actions is land-use
control. During his presentation, Roger Hanson, Executive Director of
the Rocky Mountain Center on the Environment, pointed to the ineffec-
tiveness of traditional land-use controls. He stated that irresponsibility
in land-use practices due to ineffective land-use controls is the basic
environmental problem facing the United States. To understand the
ineffectiveness of traditional land-use controls, environmental managers
need to have some appreciation of their historical development.
THE HISTORY OF LAND-USE CONTROLS
As early as 451 B.C., the Roman Codes stated whoever sets a hedge
around his land shall not exceed the boundaries; in the case of a
wall, he shall leave one foot, in the case of a house, two feet. During
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the thirteenth century in England the statute of Winchester commanded
land-owning lords to cut any tree or bush which came within two
hundred feet of a highway, so that evil doers could not lurk there. In the
United States during the nineteenth century, Massachusetts adopted
several land-use controls on types of buildings and on the industrial
siting.
In terms of traditional land-use controls, Mr. Hanson identifies three
major types of controls: private, legislative, and governmental agency.
Private controls involve the unrestricted transfer of a fee for a purpose,
conditional fees, trust agreements, easements for scenic and conservation
purposes, and restrictive covenants. Their use may be the only effective
control in many subdivisions and private developments. Mr. Hanson points
out that these controlling devices use little imagination and have
minimal flexibility.
The second type of traditional land-use control is legislative action,
which is generally based on police power regulations such as laws
concerning heath, welfare, and morals. The police powers in land regulation
are realized particularly in zoning, subdivision regulations, building codes,
plumbing codes, electrical codes, and other codes. He points out that they
have frequently failed because of: (1) an inherent apathy to the
dedication of land use without compensation, (2) the unfeasibility of
enforcement because of local politics, and (3) conflicts between developers'
plans and the comprehensive plan. Enabling legislation inhibits development
of new planning ideas. His final point is reinforced by the fact that
Colorado made planned-unit development illegal in thirty counties.
A final type of traditional land-use control is control by governmental
agencies. Since one-third of all land in the United States is federally
owned, various administrative agencies at the federal level find it very
easy to control the development and use of those lands. Government
ownership of streets, parks, forests, recreation areas and Indian Reserva-
tions allows for controlling their use and development. In addition, the
use of eminent domain (taking land for public purposes with compen-
sation), is usually used for highways, but rarely for parks, wildlife
refuges, and other environmental programs. Urban renewal applies only
to particularized local urban areas, generally those where a severe
blighted condition exists. The health boards or pollution control agencies
operate through the use of variants rather than strict compliance to any
strategic objective.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE RAMAPO APPROACH
Only recently, local governments have begun to develop new land-use
control mechanisms such as the requirement of large lots (forty acres)
and the establishment of growth-limitation permits. The legality of some
of these new controls is presently being tested in the courts. For
example, Ramapo, New York, amended its zoning ordinance to create
a new special permit labeled the Residential Development Use. Anyone
wanting to use the land for residential development needed a special
permit. It was granted only when standards were met for the new develop-
ment. The new ordinance was vigorously attacked by land owners who
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daimed a destructive value on the marketability of their property. In
addition, this new ordinance was a marked departure from the traditional
development of the city which thought that private investing comes first.
This case ended up in the New York Supreme Court where the
Ramapo ordinance was upheld. All judges agreed that they were in
opposition to using zoning ordinances for exclusionary purposes and that
there was a positive role for the state in land-use matters. However,
the majority opinion pointed out that there is an antiquated notion that
regulation of land-use development is uniquely a function of local
government. Ramapo, in acting on its own, developed reasonable procedures
for appeals and variances which would show developers how to plan for
phased growth. The court decision in effect told the state legislature
to provide new approaches to guiding land development and to become an
active participant in land-use controls.
In his presentation Mr. Hanson pointed out that states are beginning
to realize the importance of their role and to impose some forms of land-use
controls. He cited several examples: (1) Colorado and Oregon have
adopted stringent requirements for local subdivision regulations; (2)
states are acquiring authority over land use, such as Maryland's
control of the siting of industrial facilities and California's, Maine's,
and Delaware's controlling land use in the coastal zone; (3) the pre-emption
of local governments to act in coastlines has evolved in Georgia, Michi-
gan and Wisconsin; (4) Hawaii has adopted a two-tiered zone system;
zoning by state of all lands into urban, rural, agricultural and con-
servation categories with local zoning involving commercial and light industry
within gross state areas; (5) New York and New Mexico have tied capital
expenditures such as airports and water facilities to land-use planning;
(6) Vermont has adopted a system of regional bodies controlled by the
state with the responsibility of making major land-use decisions; and
(7) New Mexico and Vermont have established regional planning com-
missions and a state commission with veto power over land-use decisions.
Mr. Hanson concluded that it is clear that state governments are giving
up on the ability of local governments to make and enforce sound
land-use decisions.
At present, numerous new strategies for land-use control are emerging.
The foundation for these new mechanisms is the development of some
form of environmental inventory which identifies and analyzes critical
environmental factors. The resulting information will provide a
scientific and legally defensible data base for future land-use controls.
Mr. Hanson outlined a system of environmental resource inventory
analysis. The system identifies and analyzes major elements of the
ecosystem such as climate, geology, land form, surface, water, botanical
and zoological life, and historical, cultural and present land use.
This anaysis provides an in-depth systematic look at the current status
of the environment.
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO CONTROLLING LAND USES
Since it would be impossible to identify all major innovations in land-use
control, Mr. Hanson listed the following; the first innovation would be
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the development of state-wide zoning which classifies land into zones
on a state-wide basis. This provides a broad view of land use which takes
zoning out of the local political environment, where controls have been
fairly weak and ineffective. A second new action would be the development
of federal land-use commissions which would identify "federal land-
use decisions." They would provide grant-in-aid programs to improve
land-use planning and management at the state level, and be able to force
states to inventory land-use resources and develop a state-wide land-use
plan. The third innovation would be a program of public education
indicating land-use patterns as a major source of our environmental
problems. It would involve educating the public that land-use controls
are profitable and that greater stability, greater efficiency, and less
taxes would result. Another innovation would be class action suits
in which an individual would be permitted to go to court opposing govern-
mental and other decisions on land use in an attempt to show personal
injuries. A fifth action would involve the licensing of realtors and sub-
dividers, registration of subdivisions, and public disclosure state-
ments which would require that a subdivjder consider a broad view of the
impact of his subdivision on the environment.
A major function of state and local governments is the development of
a planning process to prevent the impairment of the environmental quality.
Land-use controls can be an effective means in the fulfillment of this
function. These controls can be used to enforce environmental quality
standards, growth limitations, and comprehensive planning.
LEGAL ACTIONS REQUIRE LAWS
Legal Action—A second enforcement action is legal suits. Before legal
actions can be initiated, a sound body of environmental laws and
regulations must exist. Over the last thirty years, legal requirements
have developed tremendously as evidenced in air pollution which has
progressed from smoke codes to sophisticated emission standards. The focal
point has shifted away from early state and local laws based on the
states' police power to the assumption of greater responsibility by the
federal government. Federal laws such as NEPA, the 1970 Clean Air Act,
and the 1972 amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act provide
the necessary frameworks for legal action.
However, the passage of these environmental laws does not mean
that the programs will be properly administered or effective. Joseph Sax
states that:
"It may seem ironic that courts are needed to help make the legislative
process work effectively; that citizens must come to the least demo-
cratic of the branches of government to make democracy work. But
that is one of the intriguing questions now being explored under
the label of environmental litigation."
During the workshop on legal action, Frank Grad of the School of Law,
Columbia University, elaborated on this point when he commented that
the law and legal developments in environmental protection have
only gone as far as our governmental willingness to enforce them.
He claimed that legal action has been a major generating force in
strengthening both strategic and enforcement actions.
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Athough there are many issues related to legal action, two major
ones emerged from the workshop. The first issue is the "standing
doctrine." In the past, the court has been reluctant to allow members of
the public to sue since there was a fear that this would result in a plethora of
crank suits. Although cases like the Sierra Club v. Morton have resolved
standing, Mr. Grad pointed out that the Water Pollution Control Act
gives only those with an "interest" the right to intervene rather than
"any citizen," as under the Clean Air Act of 1970. Another aspect of
standing is to confer rights to some new entity such as "nature." In the
United States, legal institutions are generally resistant to giving things
"rights" until they can be shown to have a value for themselves, as demon-
strated by the lengthy period of time it took for the southern slave to
obtain his rights. In a recent article Christopher Stone argues that:
". . . the environment should have rights is not to say that it should
have every right we can imagine, or even the same body of rights
as human beings have. Nor is it to say that everything in the environ-
ment should have the same rights as every other thing in the
environment." 5
In analyzing the legal dimensions, Mr. Stone argued that courts should
be compelled to show how environmental damage was calculated and how
heavily it was weighed. Two positive consequences would result: (1)
it would shift the focus of courtroom testimony and concern; and (2)
the appellate courts through their review and reversal of insignificant
findings would build up a body of environmental rights. He pointed out
that the Supreme Court may find itself in the position to award rights
in a way that will contribute to a change of popular consensus. It would
be a move that would further develop environmental strategic objectives
and actions.
STATES AS ENVIRONMENTAL POLICEMEN
A second issue is the use of police power. In his presentation, Henry Lord,
Deputy Attorney General, State of Maryland, argued that the states are
well-equipped to deal with environmental problems. As the federal
government has increased its involvement in environmental management,
the police power of the states has been questioned. He pointed out
that the Supreme Court in American Waterways Operators v. Askew has
recently recognized, in a unanimous decision, this problem and resolved it
in a way that gives state officials wide powers to protect natural
resources in which they hold in trust for the citizens. He also argued
that state interests take precedence over local interests, since states are
better at balancing the interjurisdictional environmental costs and
benefits. He cited the wetland as an area where the counties saw its
value in terms of dredging and filling and not of conservation or preserva-
tion of natural resources.
During the past few years, particularly since NEPA's enactment,
the volume of city-initiated suits in the courts has increased rapidly. These
suits have attempted to open decision making to citizen input and to
force compliance to laws and administrative regulations. Since the
topic of citizen suits has been addressed in an earlier chapter on citizen
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participation, the topic will not be repeated. However, the developmni
of public interest law firms such as the Environmental Defense Fund
(EDF) and the Natural Resources Defense Council should be discussed.
In initiating many suits during the past few years, they have come
to play a leading role in determining and clarifying environmental law.
Mr. John Dienelt of the Environmental Defense Fund described the
goal of the Fund as being to insure that the environment is considered in
administrative policy decision-making. They have a staff of scientists
which review every case before it is taken into court, to determine the
technical correctness of their information. The EDF sees litigation
as a means to an end in which there is co-equal participation in public
governmental policy-making and decision-making, particularly in the area
of the environment. The firm's effectiveness in legal action is demonstrated
in the development of the federal environmental impact statement process
through the Calvert Cliffs and Kaber decisions. Their desire is to decrease
the use of legal action as administrative organizations become more
and more responsive to environmental needs and desires.
PRIVATE CORPORATIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Since industry has become a common defendant in environmental law
suits, private corporations have become active in environmental law. In
discussing their development, Everett H. Bellows, Vice President of the Olin
Company, states that corporations need to mobilize their total resources to
deal constructively with environmental issues. He points out that the
Olin Company's environmental resource council was organized to provide
coordination within the company and with the sponsors of conferences
for middle management. He concludes that industry has an obligation to
appeal unfair environmental decisions. They may go to court to resist
arbitrary and uninformed judgments, and to prevent such judgments from
being translated into environmental standards and regulations that
could not be enforced because of technological limitations or environmental
costs.
Since heavy caseloads in the courts have resulted in lengthy delays,
many cities are in the process of developing their own procedures. During
the workshop on legal action, Norman Redlich, Corporation Counsel,
New York City, pointed out that the city attempted to take two procedures
to supplement normal legal action:
First, they have created an environmental control board which attempts
to take many cases out of the court system and place them under the
jurisdiction of administrative agencies. This board has been granted
authority to issue cease-and-desist orders, revoke operating permits, and
impose civil penalties of up to $100 a day for each violation. The city
is working for state legislation to absolve the court proceedings and
judgments and to grant judicial review only in cases in which the imposed
penalty was arbitrary or capricious.
A second technique developed in New York City is the citizen complaint
technique, where citizens are encouraged to file a complaint with the
environmental control boards, alleging code violations. The Environmental
Protection Agency then has the option to prosecute. If this initiative is
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not taken by the agency, the citizen then can prosecute on his own
through tJie courts. A sliding bounty system was initiated in which a
percentage of recovery fees was granted to the reporting citizen. An even
higher percentage was granted if the citizen went to court after an agency
rejection.
Thus, legal actions have become extremely important in the enforcement
of strategic environmental objectives. In addition, the development and
effective administration of other enforcement actions, such as land-use
controls and moratoria, have to depend to a degree on clarification and
interpretation in the courts. It is important to realize that the resolution
of legal issues may determine the evaluation of environmental management.
THE POWER OF THE PURSE: INCENTIVES AND PENALTIES
Economic Incentives and Penalties—A third enforcing action is the
use of various incentives and penalties in residual management. Although
this topic was not directly addressed at the Conference, various examples
such as the tap charges for connecting water and sewer lines, or the
sewage discharge surcharge were discussed in several workshops.
Traditionally, environmental enforcement programs have employed
economic incentives which are designed to incite action. For example,
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1965 financially supported
municipal wastewater treatment plants, through the authorization of
$3.4 billion for such grants. Industry has also received funds for the
improvement of pollution control equipment and tax write-offs for the
adoption of environmental programs. However, economic incentives are
ineffective in bringing the social and environmental costs of production
into pricing and curtailing the inefficient use of natural resources. In
addition, subsidies for the construction of sewage treatment plants do not
by themselves provide an incentive to take action for control of waste
discharges. Even if government and industry were to pay a major portion
of the cost of the waste treatment plant, it is cheaper from their point of
view to dump the untreated waste into the river. Thus, subsidies cannot
work under this type of arrangement unless they are accompanied by
some other enforcing action.
EFFLUENT CHARGES AND OTHER OPTIONS
As an alternative to incentives, effluent charges are based on the
assumption that since the environment is common property, any person
or organization causing environmental damages must pay. These
payments are based on the amount and content of the waste discharged.
Hopefully, the charge would be sufficient to force improvement in the
quality of the discharge. In addition, effluent charges are presently being
defined by many governments in terms of sewage surcharges and penalty
fees. Allen Kneese outlines a national water pollution program based
on an integrative water quality plan and the development of a charge
system. He points out that the strengths of an effluent charge are: (1) the
final price of a product reflects the producer's cost of treating his
waste and results in products from polluting activities being more expensive
in the marketplace, (2) to reduce production costs, the producer adopts
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new production mechanisms and technologies for waste treatment, and
(3) the effluent charge increases tax revenues.
Although the potentiality of effluent charge as an effective enforcement
action is high, the feasibility of widespread development is low. The
industries' opposition stems from their feeling that the charge is a punitive
action and that it is unfair for them to pay for the residuals from waste
discharges. They also argue that funds expended for charge payments could
go into new pollution abatement equipment or research. Industry realizes
that this charge is nearly unavoidable and unevadable.
From a different perspective, some environmental groups label the
effluent charge a "license to pollute" since there is no total prohibition of
all discharges. More sophisticated monitoring devices need to be
developed to make accurate measurements of the quality and quantity
of the discharge.
Other Enforcement Actions—Two additional enforcement actions which
have been used by environmental managers need to be mentioned. First,
enforcement conferences have been widely used in federal water pollution
control programs. These conferences are presently called by the
Administrator of EPA to bring all interested parties together in order
to discuss and develop potential solutions to environmental problems. The
government must rely on the participants for all information regarding
alternative actions. Although cases may ultimately end up in the courts,
the effectiveness of enforcement conferences has been plagued by delays
and an unwillingness to convene such meetings. A second action is the
use of moratoria by local governments. The adoption of moratoria on
land development and rezonings is common in growth control. The
legality of this action has varied from case to case.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has attempted to provide some framework for understanding
the complex relationship between environmental policies and the
differing programs and techniques for their implementation. The "state of
the art" in environmental management is in an embryonic state, with
new actions being developed and tested in a variety of environmental
contexts. No single environmental policy or specific action is going
to work in all environments. Political, social, and economic factors
along with insufficient ecological knowledge will limit their effectiveness.
In order to avoid working at cross purposes, environmental managers need
to develop a comprehensive environmental policy along with a plan
for implementation which integrates the various actions.
Notes for
Chapter V
1 For a detailed discussion, see Lyle J. Sumek, "A "Conceptual Model for Environmental
Management," an unpublished paper. The paper can be obtained through the Graduate
School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado.
2 Austin Ranney (ed.), Political Science and Public Policy, Chicago: Markham Pub-
lishing Company, 1968.
3 See Steve Carter, Murray Frost, and Lyle Sumek, Environmental Management and
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Local Government: Problems and Perceptions. A report conducted under the Environ-
mental Studies Division and prepared for the Office of Research and Development,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1973.
1 The Use of Land: A Citizen's Policy Guide to Urban Growth, New York: Crowell,
1973.
"Christopher D. Stone, "Should Trees Have Standing?—Toward Legal Rights for
Natural Objects," Southern California Law Review XLV (Spring 1972), pp. 457-8.
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V.I The
concept of
carrying
capacity
A. Bruce Bishop
Richard Toth
A. B. Crawford, and
H. H. Fullerton *
The capacity of natural and human
environments to accommodate or ab-
sorb change without experiencing con-
ditions of instability and attendant deg-
radation is a significant concern in
view of current trends of urban growth
and development. The ability of the
environment to sustain particular levels
of activity may already have been ex-
ceeded in some areas and, in others,
resource management options are rap-
idly being foreclosed. In the face of
these changing conditions, a phrase
heard more and more frequently is
carrying capacity. As a developing
concept for regional environmental
management, this paper examines car-
rying capacity as an approach to un-
derstanding and analyzing the ability of
the environment to absorb or support
activities of urban and regional growth.
Accommodating Future Growth
Virtually every urban center faces
problems of accommodating some de-
gree of future development. In manag-
ing the environment for quality regional
growth, questions related to the carry-
ing capacity of environmental resources
lie at the heart of the problem. Two
brief examples from the Wasatch Front
*Presented by A. Bruce Bishop, Assist-
ant Professor of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Utah State University, at the
National Conference on Managing the
Environment.
area of Northern Utah serve as good
illustrations.
The Ogden Valley, situated five miles
east of Ogden, Utah, is basically a rural
agricultural valley of roughly fifty
square miles, with a total population of
about 1,000, residing in three small
communities. The canyon is an im-
portant recreation resource offering ex-
cellent fishing and camping by the river
which flows from the valley watershed
and the Pine View Reservoir. The Og-
den Valley offers extensive recreation
opportunities for residents of the ur-
banized Ogden and Salt Lake City re-
gions. The reservoir is a major water-
based recreational area offering swim-
ming, boating, and fishing. In addition,
golfing, picnicking and camping facili-
ties have been developed in the Valley,
and two major ski areas on the moun-
tain slopes serve the winter recreation-
ists. Upland and mountain wildlife spe-
cies abound in the Valley and the sur-
rounding mountain forest areas. There
are a number of proposals for large
developments in the Ogden Valley and
lower mountain slopes, including vaca-
tion resorts, condominiums, lower den-
sity summer home developments, and
housing tract developments for bed-
room communities for the urban areas.
The Highway Department is consider-
ing plans for major improvements in
access to the Valley. In the face of
the mounting pressure for develop-
ment, without a comprehensive analysis
of the carrying capacity of the Valley,
there may be serious and irreversible
damage to environmental resources.
Key carrying-capacity issues
Some of the issues related to carrying
capacity are:
—What is the capacity of the reser-
voir and the river downstream to
maintain the natural water quality
levels and continue to support ex-
isting ecosystems?
—What is the capacity of soil to
resist erosion from intensive rec-
reation or development use?
—What is the capacity of the
valley to provide infrastructure
for development — water supplies,
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wastewater disposal, solid-waste
disposal areas?
—What capacity constraints are
imposed by the existing transpor-
tation system? What will be the
effects of the increased capacity of
the proposed high-speed access?
—What will be the impact of air
quality conditions with increased
traffic and housing and commer-
cial development?
—What plant and animal species
will be displaced, and what is the
capacity of the ecological systems
to absorb changes from develop-
ment?
—What is the capacity of the
Valley to serve as an open space
and recreation resource?
The canyons immediately above the
Salt Lake City are also being subjected
to intense pressure for development.
These canyon watersheds supply most
of the water needs for the Salt Lake
Valley. They also provide an outstand-
ing recreational resource for winter
skiing and summer mountain-outings
and vacations. Large resorts have al-
ready developed in the canyons to serve
recreation interests with proposals for
many new resort hotel and private
summer home developments. Questions
relating growth and carrying capacity
are:
—What is the capacity of the frag-
ile watershed ecosystems to sup-
port various intensities of develop-
ment and recreation use?
—What is the capacity of air and
water resource systems to absorb
the pollutants from these develop-
ments?
—Can a transportation system of
adequate capacity for the develop-
ment be constructed without com-
plete disruption of the canyon eco-
system?
—What user-capacity can the rec-
reational areas accommodate and
still provide a satisfactory exper-
ience?
These examples illustrate the need
for technical knowledge about the ca-
pacity of the environment to accom-
modate growth.
The carrying capacity concept im-
plies understanding the regional en-
vironment as a support system for nu-
merous, interdependent and competing
activities and systems, and determining
the limiting conditions and capabilites
of the regonal environment to absorb,
withstand, support, or sustain these ac-
tivities without causing unacceptable
changes in environmental quality.
Defining earring capacity
From the standpoint of ecosystem
management, the term "carrying capac-
ity" is used in terms of the biological
given resource "stock" and its maxi-
mum sustained "yield." Specifically, it
is interpreted as the maximum number
of individuals of a species that can be
supported by a given habitat under
various conditions of stress. The gen-
eral implied goal is to maximize the
productivity of the system, subject to
the constraint of non-impairment or
non-degradation of the supporting eco-
logical system.
In this context, carrying capacity is
a working concept with a long history
in resource management. In the man-
agement of range-land resources, the
concept is inherent in the limitation of
livestock numbers according to avail-
able forage and water. A range-land
is said to be stocked at its carrying
capacity when a given number of
animals with known daily nutritional
and water requirements is in equilib-
rium with or does not exceed the actual
land productivity or forage and water
on a sustained yield basis. The con-
sequence of exceeding carrying capac-
ity is a downward trend in range con-
ditions. In forest resource management,
the concept is applied in terms of har-
vesting only the net annual increase in
board-feet of timber produced on the
forest on a sustained yield basis so that
the overall total board-feet of timber
is constantly maintained.
The urban-regional context
Thus far, the concept of carrying
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capacity has mainly been used and ap-
plied in relation to ecological systems.
Many of the difficult problems of en-
vironmental management, however,
arise in the urban-regional context.
Since urban systems interface with nat-
ural systems, and since natural sys-
tems are a part of urban system, the
interpretation of the concept of carry-
ing capacities in this setting is receiving
growing attention.
There is increasing interest in an in-
terdisciplinary approach to the study of
urban systems and ecological systems
(urban ecology). Rollings and Orlans
(1971) note that urban and ecological
systems share four common character-
istics:
(1) a historical property, since
both respond to present and past
events;
(2) a spatial property, since they
respond to events at several dif-
ferent points in space;
(3) a systems property, since
both encompass many different
component activities with complex
feedbacks and interactions; and
(4) a structural property, since
they both exhibit characteristics
of lags, thresholds and limits.
The second, the third, and particular-
ly the fourth property point toward the
potential usefulness of carrying capac-
ity in the urban setting.
The American Association for the
Advancement of Science symposium on
urban ecology (1970) indicated that
"like other man-dominated systems, the
city is an unstable, highly productive,
but poorly buffered system consisting of
relatively few species and dependent on
a large input of energy and materials.
The city may be viewed as a detritus
ecosystem in which all fixed energy
originates outside its limits and from
which large volumes of waste materials
and diffused energy escape to the detri-
ment of other systems." This empha-
sizes the interrelationship between ur-
ban and the surrounding non-urban
area as urban sprawl and high mobility
bring the contiguous agricultural and
natural resource areas within the sup-
porting resource base for urban activ-
ities.
The implications of carrying capacity
concepts appear important for analyz-
ing urban regional growth in terms of
efficiency of energy and material
transfer, handling of wastes and by-
products, and as support system activi-
ties influenced by succession, energy
flow, population dynamics and terri-
toriality. Hollings and Orlans (1971)
summarize these ideas by stating that
''it appears that we are quickly reach-
ing the point where environmental lim-
itation will inevitably impose con-
straints on urban systems."
Domains of urban regions
In extending the concept of carrying
capacity to examine the capability of
a region to sustain existing and pro-
posed activities, consideration must be
given to the character and extent of the
resources, functions, and structures of
urban areas which circumscribe the do-
mains for carrying capacity in a region.
The environmental planner and manag-
er must understand such questions as:
What are the relevant environmental re-
source components? How do they
function? How do they interact with
and influence other components, or
conversely, how are they influenced by
other components? What factors con-
trol levels of environmental quality and
how do proposed activities affect those
factors? The function and structure of
urban environmental resources and
their interactions with one another,
then, are essential to specifying the do-
mains of environmental carrying ca-
pacities for urban regions.
Urban resources
Traditionally, resources have been
understood either as elements of the
natural environment or as inputs to
economic production. In urban areas,
where much of the living environment
is essentially man-made and serves as
a means of organizing man's activities,
our definition of resources and related
environments is too narrow. For urban
areas, rather than sticking to the usual
195
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land (with associated mineral deposits,
forests, etc.), water and air delineations,
the description of urban resources en-
vironments (Perloff, 1968) might be
elaborated along the following lines:
—Ambient resources: airshed, wa-
tershed, open space, quiet and
noise zones, sunlight exposure.
—Spatial resources: underground
space, available and transitional
surface space, airways space.
—Infrastructure and distributive re-
sources: transportation, water and
water distribution, wastewater col-
lection, energy (electricity and
gas) distribution, communications.
—Ecological resources: green plants,
non-green plants, animals.
—Socio-cultural resources: educa-
tional and cultural facilities, health
services, security services (fire,
police), recreation services, hous-
ing stocks.
—Economic resources: raw mater-
ials for production inputs, capital,
labor.
—Amenity resources: seashores,
scenic areas, contiguous natural
areas (mountains, deserts, lakes),
open space.
Resource characteristics
Some of the attributes or charac-
teristics of these classes or types of
urban resources which enter into an
assessment of their capacity to support
a particular activity or changes in sets
of activities are:
(1) Quantity and quality: Quan-
tity and quality are two resource
attributes inextricably connected in
relation to carrying capacity for a
particular activity or use (e.g. vol-
ume of water of quality for drink-
ing, or for cooling; space available
for movement of vehicles, or for
construction, or for open space).
(2) Renewability: The quantity
and quality of a resource is, in
turn, closely related to its charac-
teristics of renewability on non-
renewability. Stock resources, such
as mineral deposits, fossil fuels,
and available land, are essentially
fixed in quantity and, in that sense,
non-renewable. The capacity of
such resources for supporting ur-
ban systems, therefore, depends on
rates of use or exploitation, the
possibilities for salvage and re-
cycling or the development of sub-
stitutes. Naturally renewed re-
sources (natural vegetational and
animal growth) and flow resources
(solar radiation, and natural cycles
for water and other elements) have
renewable characteristics in which
process rates determine the quan-
tity and quality available in a given
time period. Capacity of renew-
able resources depends on the
care and efficiency of man's inter-
vention in the use of the resource
without upsetting or destroying the
natural processes which assure
availability of the resource.
(3) Spatial distribution: Spatial
distribution is related not only to
resource location, but also to iden-
tification of the resources which
are part of the urban region itself.
Drawing boundaries around the
urban region in order to circum-
scribe geographically the resources
which contribute to its carrying
capacity may be a difficult and
sometimes arbitrary task. Electrical
energy, water and fossil fuels are
often situated large distances from
actual centers of urban activity.
Should they be considered as ex-
ternal or imported resources? This
question raises the broader issues
of environmental quality relations
between areas of resource extrac-
tion or production and areas of
resource use.
(4) Economic and social costs:
The classical concept of common
or "free good" resources has little
validity in terms of carrying ca-
pacity for sustaining regional ac-
tivity and growth. There is now a
high value associated with main-
taining the quality of ambient re-
sources such as air and watersheds.
The industrial firm dumping wastes
directly into a stream, airplane
196
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flightpaths over residential areas,
the individual automobile adding
to congestion and air pollution,
and the building that blocks out
the sun are all examples of in-
dividual actions contributing to a
deterioration in environmental
quality for the entire society.
A description of the urban "resourc-
es" compatible with aspects of urban
environments may provide a structure
for determining how growth, as meas-
ured against resource capacities, will
affect regional environmental quality.
Urban activity—systems, linkages
Superimposed upon the mosaic of
social, economic and ecological re-
sources of a region is the domain of
urban activity systems and their link-
ages. The composite of urban activities,
both public and private, contributes to
a set of regional outputs which en-
hances the quality of life. Urban ac-
tivities are linked and supported by the
infrastructure and resource distribution
systems of the region, transportation,
water distribution, and energy distribu-
tion. The current capability of the in-
frastructure and the resources they dis-
tribute to sustain activity are a key as-
pect of the "carrying capacity" of an
urban region, and represent short and
medium run constraints on regional
quality growth.
People and institutions
People and institutions represent the
third important domain of carrying ca-
pacity for urban centers. Institutional
and individual values, as reflected in
present or desired life-styles of the resi-
dents of urban areas, should have an
important influence in determining
quality aspects of regional growth.
To translate the broad concept of
carrying capacity into a useful tool in
achieving quality regional growth re-
quires answers to the following ques-
tions: What will be the demands on
the environment as a support system
relative to the quantity and quality of
available resources? At what resource
and quality levels will the environment
as a support system fail? How do
changes in an activity affect the envi-
ronment's capability to sustain other
current activities or new developments
and activities? What measures would be
most useful in analyzing environmental
carrying capacity? Exploring the con-
cept of carrying capacity as related to
quality regional growth will hopefully
provide a structure for answering these
questions.
Urban-ecological structure
The concept of carrying capacity is
useful only as it enables the environ-
mental manager to assess and evaluate
the impact of various proposals on re-
gional environmental quality. In mak-
ing such judgmental decisions, carry-
ing capacity is related to two important
qualities of ecological and urban sys-
tems (Holling and Orlans, 1971).
Stability in ecological and urban sys-
tems is due to the existence of damp-
ing forces that tend to move the sys-
tems towards an equilibrium state.
However, since the equilibrium changes
continuously with time, the importance
of stability is with reference to the
structure of the system.
Resiliency is a measure of the limits
of stability of the system. If transients
shift elements of the system beyond
domains of stability, then radical
change occurs. The concept of resilien-
cy encompasses the idea that incre-
mental changes may be absorbed, but
cumulative effects of small changes
might reduce overall system resilience.
Again, Holling and Orlans (1971)
stress the need to understand "the com-
plex nature of tradeoffs and limitations
in options and resilience that character-
ize systems operating close to the carry-
ing capacity of the environment."
Dimensions of carrying capacity
Working from these basic notions in
carrying capacity, Figure 1 illustrates
some of the dimensions of carrying ca-
pacity and suggests that a determina-
tion of carrying capacity is based on an
understanding and analysis of both
limiting factors and trigger factors.
197
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vo
oo
URBAN/REGIONAL
RESOURCES
FIGURE 1.—OVERVIEW OF CARRYING CAPACITY RELATIONSHIPS.
URBAN/REGIONAL SYSTEMS: ^
Structure, Function,
and Interaction
Ambient
Spatial
Infrastructure
and
Distributive
PROPOSED
ACTION
Ecological
Socio-Cultural
Economic
Amenity
__. CHANGES IN RESOURCE
USE AND ALLOCATION
j Bearing
'Capacity
I Constraint
Capacity
.Limiting
Factors
Trigger
1 Factors
f Regional
-^Environmental
L Quality
iSocio-psychological
"Capacity
IMPACT
-»• PERFORMANCE
-------
The limiting factor is an environmen-
tal factor which limits growth, repro-
duction or resource use of an individ-
ual, community or activity either physi-
cally or behaviorally.
The trigger factor is a new or
changed environmental factor which
sets off a chain of events in an eco-
logical or urban environmental system.
The carrying capacity of a system
then may be described by the limiting
factors and trigger factors which are
operationally significant, i.e. those fac-
tors which effect a decline in some
valued aspect of regional environmen-
tal quality. Three general dimensions
of carrying capacity are appropriate
areas for analysis of limiting and trigger
factors as related to urban resources,
structure and activity:
Resource-bearing capacity
Resource-bearing capacity is basi-
cally a biological and resource-flow def-
inition. Capacity is examined in terms
of the levels or input rates for an ac-
tivity that can be withstood by the
biota or the resource flow systems and
still return to an unimpaired state. Es-
sentially, this suggests a non-impairment
criterion for establishing levels of use
which can be sustained for an indefinite
period of time without altering or de-
grading the resource. The underlying
objective, then, is achieving a maxi-
mum sustained yield for a given ac-
tivity. The important factors in analyz-
ing resource-bearing capacity are the
ability of the resource to produce the
kinds of S2rvices required, and the abil-
ity of the biota or flow system to re-
cover after peak use; for example, the
ability of air and water to assimilate
certain pollutant waste-loads over a
period of time without deterioration of
ambhnt quality conditions.
System constraint capacities
System constraint capacities are con-
cerned more with the physical limits
of resources or of resource processing
and use systems. The former would be
considered in terms of non-renewable
stocks or resources such as mineral
deposits, fossil fuels, and available land
(in the short and medium run), and the
rates at which such resources are being
developed and used. The capacity for
use of both non-renewable and flow
resources may also be limited by the
capability of the present system to
process and use them. For example, a
certain forest area might be produc-
ing a net annual increase in timber
which is greater than can be harvested
on a sustained yield basis because of
its inaccessibility from the current trans-
portation system. The objective indi-
cated by this definition is efficiency in
resource use and in the management
of resource processing systems.
Social capacities
Social carrying capacity is related to
the overall levels of satisfaction ex-
perienced by users or other affected
individuals resulting from resource
management practices. Social capacity
is stated in terms of maximum number
of use-units (e.g., people, vehicles, etc.)
that can utilize available resources dur-
ing a specified period of time for one
or several activities, while providing
a satisfactory experience for the users.
The operationalization of this goal in
determining a "satisfactory experience"
might be to maximize the total user
satisfaction. Before determinations may
be made about levels of "satisfactory
experience, the kinds of experience the
resource is expected to provide must
be established. A particular resource
or group of resources may be capable
of providing for several different types
of activities. Some of these activities
will compete for the resources, while
others may be compatible. Inevitably,
this will require management decision
about which resource use or combina-
tions of uses will be pursued. Examples
include whether a particular tract of
land should be managed for wilderness
recreation or developed with access
roads and recreation facilities, and
whether a particular tract of urban
land should be zoned and managed
as open space or for various kinds of
residential and commercial develop-
199
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ment. When deriving a set of man-
agement objectives, one must consider
the feasibility of the objective in terms
of resource-bearing capacity and sys-
tem-constraint capacities.
The aspect of "satisfactory experi-
ence" or user satisfaction is a function
of individual attitudes with respect to
the management objectives in question.
For example, "How many people can
be handled in a wilderness area at
one time before the wilderness experi-
ence is lost?" or stated another way,
"What number of people maximizes
the total satisfaction in the use of the
resource for a wilderness experience?"
The quantitative application of this
criterion in determining optimal ca-
pacity of resource based recreation fa-
cilities is discussed by Fisher and Kru-
tilla (1972). A brief review of their
example will provide a clearer picture
of the idea of social carrying capacity.
Figure 2 depicts a special set of aggre-
gate demand schedules. The horizontal
axis represents recreation intensity, i.e.,
the number of recreationists per unit
time. The vertical axis represents qual-
ity of the recreation experience as meas-
ured in some unit of satisfaction (this
could be a price in dollars consumers
were willing to pay for a given quality
of experience). For ease of explica-
tion, assume a family of demand curves,
each one valid over a certain range
of recreation intensity. Moving from
bottom to top, each curve represents
a higher quality experience due to
slightly lesser intensity of recreation
use. Thus the level of satisfaction as
measured by the willingness to pay is
higher. From these demand schedules
the intensity of recreation activity
which achieves the maximum level of
satisfaction can be deduced in the fol-
lowing way: The total satisfaction for
recreation intensity of qt is the area
under the demand curve DD^. If we
move to a level of intensity q2 there
is a gross gain in user satisfaction of
the area under the X!D2' portion of the
curve DD2', but also a loss of satisfac-
tion represented by the area Dj^D^Dx
,D,'. The net gain in user satisfaction
is therefore the difference of the two
areas. We can continue to achieve in-
creases in user satisfaction by increas-
ing intensity, as long as the net gain
from higher intensity use is positive.
The point at which the net difference
becomes zero is interpreted as the op-
timum capacity since moving beyond
this point results in a decline in total
satisfaction. This may be seen graphi-
cally by plotting the total and marginal
benefit (stated in units of user satis-
faction) curves as shown in Figure 3.
The example illustrates limiting fac-
tors in determining carrying capacity
from the standpoint of individual and
social values and behavior. Our percep-
tion of the quality of the environment
in which we move, work, and play, and
the environment's capacity to sustain
these activities at "satisfacory" levels
is closely related to the levels of social
stress and congestion costs experienced
by the user.
Environmental management
In developing environmental manage-
ment strategies for an urban region,
planners and decision makers must con-
tinually assess the social and environ-
mental implications of vigorous pro-
posals. Recognizing and establishing the
limits of capacities of regional activity
support systems along the dimensions
described above could provide decision
makers with a workable approach to
assessing the impact of proposals.
Indices have begun to develop as
a means of providing a working knowl-
edge of environmental quality and of
charting trends and changes in quality
levels. The development of carrying ca-
pability concepts may extend the use-
fulness of these indicators to provide
for comparative evaluations of environ-
mental quality dimensions in terms of
ranges and limits of acceptable levels
and the impact of various regional
growth policies, rather than merely the
presentation of trend information.
Regional environmental management
models which incorporate the concept
of carrying capacity may thus be used
to examine the character of changes
200
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that will occur under different levels rying capacity, and the ways predicted
of activity and types and use, whether changes in the physical environment
such changes are within acceptable relate to the social objectives and values
limits of environmental and social car- for resource use.
202
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V.2 Land-use
planning: the
cornerstone
of local
environmental
Edward J. Kaiser, Karl
D. Elfers, Sidney Cohn
Peggy A. Reichert
Maynard M. Hufschmidt
Raymond E.Stanland, Jr.*
Land-use planning viewed within
the framework of the overall urban
planning process is only that sector
of planning concerned with the loca-
tion and intensity of various urban
activities. Yet, insofar as land use cre-
ates the physical setting for economic
and social system activities and is the
physical expression of these systems
within the environment, its impact is
complex and far reaching. Moreover,
land-use planning should serve as the
basis for other physical development
planning: open space, transportation,
public utilities, public facilities, etc.
Land-use decisions, once enacted
into physical development, remain with-
in the urban system for many years.
Unless massive urban and suburban
renewal every few years is to become
the rule of thumb (as in fact some
urban observers have proclaimed to be
the only option), land-use decisions
must be made with an eye to placing
* Excerpted from Promoting Environ-
mental Quality Through Urban Planning
and Controls. A research report done at
The Center for Urban and Regional
Studies, The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill for the Office of Research
and Monitoring, Environmental Protection
Agency. Excerpts are from a review draft.
all objectives within a comprehensive
and systematic framework.
Limits of land-use planning
Pollution, which may be viewed as
the residual of the overall urban pro-
duction process, may be abated in three
basic ways: through modification of
residuals after production (e.g., sew-
age treatment), through modification of
the production process itself to reduce
the amount or change the character
of the residuals generated (e.g., alter-
ing the basic industrial process), or
through utilization of the assimilative
capacity of the environment to reduce
the degradational impact of the residu-
als generated (e.g., locating industries
along the river into which they dis-
charge at sufficient intervals to allow
the river to "recover" or assimilate the
residuals before receiving another load).
The latter approach, utilizing the as-
similative capacity, involves land-use
planning in its generic sense. Never-
theless, some types of environmental
problems are of such character, in-
tensity, or common proliferation that
land-use planning cannot cope with
them. This is often the case in intensely
developed urban areas where land is
not subject to easy changes and ex-
isting conditions make it impossible
to plan within the assimilative capacity
constraints. Land-use planning as here
discussed, therefore, is a means for
promoting environmental quality most
appropriate to developing urban areas.
Evolution of land-use planning
The traditional approach to land-use
planning begins with a projection of
future economic growth in the urban
area.1 This projection is based on trends
in both the national and regional econ-
omy. It reflects the potential of the
given urban area to capture a part of
this total growth and in some cases
the hope of the community to do so
as well. Given the projection in amount
and type of economic activity, future
population is estimated. These two pro-
jections are then translated into esti-
mates of future demand for industrial,
203
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commercial, residential, and public ac-
tivities. Land supply is evaluated ac-
cording to suitability and capacity for
these various activities. The suitability
and capacity of a land parcel is defined
in terms of its location or accessibility,
size, and general physical quality.
The basic assumption of this ap-
proach is that economic growth will
bring positive benefits to the commu-
nity and that such growth can be best
fostered by designing the land-use pat-
tern to maximize accessibility within
the system of economic activity. Fur-
ther related assumptions include: 1) an
unlimited supply of land suitable for
urbanization exists, 2) a city is essen-
tially an economic production unit and
should be organized in a manner most
efficient for such production and 3) the
negative effects of spatially organizing
land use according to economic ac-
tivity criteria can be assuaged through
technological solutions after they are
discovered, solutions which an economi-
cally productive society will be able
to afford.
These assumptions began to come
under scrutiny in the 1960's when the
effect of the emphasis in land-use plan-
ning on economic system efficiency be-
came more fully disclosed. Pollution in
urban areas was high, and the cost of
reducing it where it was still possible,
through technology alone, was extreme.
More forms of environmental degrada-
tion, however, appeared more perma-
nent. For example, rich natural areas
and farm lands, long accessible points
of amenity to urbanites and necessary
ingredients to the American definition
of the quality of life, were rapidly dis-
appearing as cities expanded through
haphazard suburban sprawl across the
mral fringe. Furthermore, the very ef-
fectiveness of planning characterized
by long range master plans to be im-
plemented primarily through zoning
came under question.
The following discussion will present
some of the approaches currenly being
taken on each of three fronts of inno-
vation:
1) in the redefinition of comprehen-
sive planning to incorporate a
concern with land use/environ-
mental quality relationships;
2) in the inclusion of environmental
system information and evalua-
tion criteria in land-use plan and
policy development;
3) in the emphasis on implementa-
tion and therefore in the creation
of a more sophisticated urban
planning process—guidance sys-
tem planning.
Redefining comprehensive planning
There are two basic ways in which
comprehensive planning is being re-
defined or reorganized to reflect en-
vironmental objectives. The first ap-
proach is to add a new sector to the
total planning program which will focus
specifically on environmental systems
in a manner parallel to that of other
sector planning such as economic de-
velopment, social policy, or transporta-
tion. The second approach involves a
more fundamental realignment of com-
prehensive planning. Thus, an attempt
is made to examine the relationships,
both supportive and conflicting, among
the objectives of the many urban sys-
tems and to develop some resolution
among them which will guide planning
within the various sectors toward a
more coordinated goal set.
The first approach, adding a new
sector to comprehensive planning, par-
allels that taken at the federal level
and by many states whereby a sep-
arate environmental planning sector or
even a separate agency is established.
Huntington, New York, for example,
recently created a local environmental
protection agency. The agency is in-
volved in the traditional pollution ori-
ented programs related to air, water,
solid waste, noise, and pesticides as
well as land conservation. In the spring
of 1972, the town of Huntington spon-
sored the design of an environmental
planning program for the area by a
group of graduate students in the De-
partment of Regional Planning and
Landscape Architecture at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania.2 The program in-
204
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volved an inventory of natural systems
in the area (land, water, climate, plants,
sea, people, and amenity) and from
this, areas for protection, remedy and
redevelopment were designated and
policy actions recommended. To a large
degree, the actions proposed for each
type of designation were related to ques-
tions of land use and development.
The extensive data collected by the
students, much of which is in map
form and the program design itself is
now housed within the new Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
The primary formal procedure by
which environmental objectives are in-
terjected into the planning and develop-
ment process is through the require-
ment for environmental impact state-
ments. Huntington requires environ-
mental impact statements to be sub-
mitted on all public development pro-
posals, whether funded at the federal,
state, county, or local level, and on in-
dustrial use and subdivision requests
by private idividuals.3 Agency per-
sonnel use the information and codifi-
cation scheme when they are called
upon to comment on the environmen-
tal implications of development pro-
posals.
Adding to the general plan
Another example of this approach
is Los Angeles. There the Department
of City Planning is adding a new sector
to the General Plan—"An Environmen-
tal Conservation Element."" It should
be noted that this approach is man-
dated by the State of California in
its Planning and Zoning Law.5 In Cali-
fornia, all cities and counties are re-
quired to adopt general plans which
must contain nine elements: Land Use,
Circulation, Housing, Conservation,
Open Space, Seismic Safety, Noise,
Scenic Highway, and Safety.
The new component of the General
Plan represents a compilation of data
from technical reports and interviews
with personnel from various city agen-
cies involved in environmental ques-
tions. Environmental issues are divided
into six categories: air pollution, water
quality, noise control, the conservation
of land and resources, solid waste dis-
posal and pesticides. The report, while
providing the basis for the new element
of the General Plan, is also intended
to serve several secondary, yet perhaps
more critical, functions: 6
These include (1) serving as a
comprehensive framework through
which the multitude of govern-
mental and private agencies, citizen
groups, etc., can perceive the inter-
relationships between various as-
pects of the environmental prob-
lem, (2) providing the specific
policy recommendations needed
for the formulation of additional
standards and legislation pertain-
ing to environmental quality, (3)
presenting guidelines for the modi-
fication of City procedures so as
to minimize the negative impact of
City operations on the environ-
ment, and (4) as a general and
comprehensive data source for in-
formation pertaining to various en-
vironmental questions in Los An-
geles.
California law now requires that all
cities and counties "make a finding
that any project they intend to carry
out, which may have a significant effect
on the environment, is in accord with
the conservation element of the general
plan." 7
In the approach exemplified by both
Huntington and Los Angeles, environ-
mental objectives are examined some-
what separately from other community
objectives. No explicit attempt is made
to reassess other community objectives
related to social or economic goals
which may, by their very nature, frus-
trate the achievement of environmental
quality.
Changing community goals
The second approach to redefining
comprehensive planning involves a
more fundamental realignment of all
community objectives in the light of
a new awareness of the environmental
implications. Environmental quality is
viewed as an integral facet of the
205
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broader goals related to the "quality
of life."
For example, Wayne County, Michi-
gan, embarked on a new approach to
comprehensive planning in 1970 in
which environmental quality was pos-
ited as one of the most fundamental
issues of urbanization. To a large ex-
tent, the redefinition of comprehensive
planning for Wayne County has in-
volved a rather compflex process of
long-range goal planning for the area.
The data generated through the proc-
ess is aimed more at redefining the
mind-set which the public and its de-
cision makers bring to questions of ur-
banization to include an understanding
of the complex and interdependent eco-
system rather than pointing to specific
action recommendations.8 The recom-
mendations included in the volume on
environmental quality . . . while not
all are directly related to questions of
land use, do exhibit strong implications
for land-use guidance: 9
A. Establish an optimum population
range for the County so that the
total spatial needs of the popula-
tion can be met.
B. Adopt policies and methods to in-
sure the full range of life-style
options to all citizens.
C. Program gradual steps to adjust
the economy of the County to
the optimum of Population "A"
above.
D. Urge the transition of energy
generation to other than fossil
fuel sources.
E. Urge and require recycling of
exhaustible materials.
F. Recognize the relationship of tax-
ation and municipal boundary is-
sues to environmental problems
and take appropriate steps.
G. Conserve land resources by ero-
sion and sedimentation-control
ordinances at both municipal and
county levels.
H. Develop jointly with the Chamber
of Commerce and Economic De-
v.lopment Agencies methods of
identifying, reporting and coping
with nonfiscal costs of pollution.
I. Periodically report public and
private fiscal cost of pollution.
J. Adopt policies and methods (zon-
ing and/or acquisition as ex-
amples) which preserve open
land.
K. Urge consumer participation in
environmental protection efforts.
Alternative futures
The Albuquerque-Bernallillo County
Planning Department took a similar
approach to redefining comprehensive
planning goals. The Department pub-
lished a discussion of community goals
within the context of long-term en-
vironmental system constraints.10 The
Comprehensive Plan, Metropolitan En-
vironment Framework assesses past and
future trends in environmental quality
and poses two alternative growth strate-
gies based on two different goal-sets
to deal with the identified trends. The
first option would require more strin-
gent public controls of urban growth
aimed at simply modifying the trends
in degradation to an accepted degree.
The second approach is based on a
fundamental alteration of trends to in-
sure optimum long-term environmental
quality. For example, under "Strategy
1" population size would be estimated
according to a determination, as yet
undefined, of the local resource ca-
pacity. In terms of land use, "Strategy
1" would require standards for location
and control of development rates. Strat-
egy 2 would call for improving land
through land development.
These two orientations to the re-
definition of comprehensive planning
goals represented on the one hand by
Huntington and Los Angeles and on
the other by Wayne County and Albu-
querque differ primarily in purpose. In
the case of the first two examples, the
intention is to develop an action pro-
gram to achieve agreed-upon environ-
mental objectives such as national
standards for air and water quality.
The tim; frame of such planning is
thus rather short-range. In the second
approach, the objective is not so much
to develop an immediate action pro-
206
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gram as it is to develop an understand-
ing of the complex interdependencies
among environmental systems and the
relationship of urban man to the eco-
systems within which he participates.
Actually, these two approaches need
not be viewed as mutually exclusive.
It may well be that both approaches
are necessary and should be undertaken
simultaneously.
The second front:
The land-use planning process
Recent approaches to defining an
environmental system information base
for planning may be viewed as re-
flecting three general schools of
thought. The first focuses on an inven-
tory of the key natural sub-systems in
the planning area which pose resource
constraints on urban development. The
second approach is also based on an
inventory of the natural sub-systems
but emphasizes their interpretation as
interdependent processes in the eco-
system. The third approach also inven-
tories key natural sub-systems but inter-
prets their significance in terms of
man's visual perception of the environ-
ment. The three approaches, thus, may
be termed respectively—a natural sys-
tem inventory analysis, an eco-system
analysis, and a visual landscape
analysis.
Regardless of the approach taken to
resource analysis, the information gen-
erated may be used at various stages in
the planning process to monitor current
environmental trends and predict future
conflicts in order to focus planning pri-
orities, to determine the optimal land-
use allocations from an enviornmental
quality perspective as an input along
with other economic and social system
demands for land-use planning, to de-
termine the environmental impact of
alternative plans or policies in order to
select the best one and to determine the
design of a project once the general
alternative has been selected in order
to foster the best fit between the
demands of urban man and the de-
mands of nature (the assumption here is
that, to a certain extent, modern urban
man's life style is simply not completely
harmonious with the demands of the
natural environment).
Natural systems inventory
The primary objective of this type
of natural resource inventory is to de-
velop a natural features information
base which may be used in the planning
process as a rationale for determining
optimal space allocations for land use.
The central operating principle is that
specific features of the natural environ-
ment exhibit an intrinsic suitability for
some land uses more than for others.
Common environmental sub-systems in-
ventoried include geology, pedology
(soils), hydrology, meteorology, clima-
tology, plant associations, and fish and
wildlife.
At present, there appear to be two
fundamentally contrasting objectives:
first, to determine environmental con-
straints to development and second, to
protect the environment from develop-
ment.
The study, The Natural Features of
the Washington Metropolitan Area,
prepared by the Metropoltian Washing-
ton Council of Governments is an
example of an inventory conducted to
determine environmental constraints to
development.11 The study focusses on
seven natural features of the area which
impact on development: Geology, Min-
erals, Elevation, Slope, Soils, Streams
and Drainage Basins, Flood Plains,
Groundwater, and Woodlands. Wood-
lands are the only plant associations
identified and this is justified on the
grounds of aesthetics and amenity, con-
servation, and direct economic value as
a commercial product. Fish and wild-
life are not assessed. Those features that
are identified were selected because of,
and evaluated with respect to, their im-
pact on urbanization. The information
is finally synthesized into a "natural
features composite." The composite
map "shows some of the areas where
public policy should reflect the limita-
tions or opportunities [primarily for
economic gain] inherent in the physical
environment: areas of shallow depths to
207
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bedrock; poor drainage areas; areas
having mineral resource potential and
areas where landslides, flood plains, and
severe slopes occur."12
Since the publication of Design with
Nature in 1969, the name Ian McHarg
has become associated with the second
approach to environmental systems
analysis emphasizing the protection of
natural processes.13 Hence, McHarg's
environmental analysis of the Twin
Cities Metropolitan Area shall be de-
scribed to represent an inventory and
analysis of key natural systems for the
purpose of their protection."
The list of phenomena thus inven-
toried are similar to those identified in
the Washington study although plant
associations and fish and wildlife are
given attention here: climate, historical
geology, bedrock geology, superficial
geology, foundation conditions, eco-
nomic minerals, physiography, hydrolo-
gy (surface water and ground water)
pedology, plant associations, fish and
wildlife, and existing land use.
The major environmental systems in-
ventorird are evaluated in terms of
relevance to four land-usa groups: "
Production. Those land uses related
to production from the land. Exam-
ples are: agriculture, forestry, wild-
life propagation, and mineral extrac-
tive industries.
Protection. Those land uses whose
primary purposes are to preserve,
protect, and conserve those elements
of the natural environment consid-
ered to be unique, scarce or vul-
nerable or constitute a hazard to life
and health. Such resources may in-
clude erodable slopes, flood plains,
and recharge areas.
Recreation. Those land uses whose
primary purposes are to enable the
constructive use of leisure time in an
active or passive manner.
Urbanization. Those land uses re-
lated to residential, commercial, in-
stitutional, and industrial develop-
ments.
Attributes of each environmental sub-
system are ranked on a scale of 1 to 5,
one being most desirable and five being
least desirable, for each land-use cate-
gory.
Using geology as an example: bed-
rock, flat land on sands and gravels,
flatland on drift, sloping land on sands
and gravels, sloping land on drift, and
alluvium, lake deposits, eskers and
kames, are given successively lower
values as foundation materials.16
Next, relevant natural phenomena and
processes are incorporated into suit-
ability classes. A matrix for each en-
vironmental sub-system comparing its
relevance to the four land-use groups
is developed.
The matrices are then used to map
the intrinsic suitability of each spe-
cific land use (e.g., production involves
agriculture, forestry, wildlife produc-
tion and extractive minerals). These
maps are combined into four maps
of the intrinsic suitability for the four
major land uses and finally a single
synthesis map is produced. Each pro-
spective land use is ranked in order
of relative importance. Ranking could
vary according to the objectives of the
community. The rank order selected in
this case was protection, urbanization,
agriculture, active recreation, forestry,
and extraction; thus, highest priority
was placed on areas designated of nat-
ural value.17
A matrix is prepared in which all
land uses are listed on each coordinate.
Those which were compatible if co-
existing are so identified as are those
that are incompatible. Mapping pro-
ceeds by identifying the category of
Protection with the compatible and per-
mitted land uses. Thereafter, all prime
urban land not in competition with any
other category is mapped. Prime urban
is next mapped showing competition
with prime Agriculture and prime Rec-
reation. This procedure is followed
through the hierarchy of the matrix.
The final map reveals not only single
intrinsic land uses, but those that are
complementary and competitive, in a
range of values.
Ecosystem system analysis
The second approach to environ-
208
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mental system inventory and analysis
differs from the first primarily in the
scale of investigation. While the first
approach necessarily involves a rather
general cut of natural features such as
hydrology, pedology, meteorology, and
wildlife to be incorporated in the gen-
eral plan-making process, an ecosystem
analysis examines the living organisms
and their non-living environment found
at the project site level.
Although few studies of this type
have actually been conducted, the eco-
logical analysis model proposed by Dr.
J. Frank McCormick perhaps best rep-
resents the approach.18 McCormick sug-
gests the following steps for an ecolog-
ical analysis:
1) Identify species present.
2) Determine species distribution and
abundance.
3) Identify species associations, and
describe the distribution and
abundance of the major plant
communities.
4) Interpret what factor or factors
most strongly influence species
distribution.
5) Relate species and community dis-
tribution to ecological processes
which should be considered in
development plans.
6) Attempt to place relative import-
ance values on individual species,
communities and areas of the
study area.
7) Recommend certain development
procedures which should or
should not be followed.
The ecological analysis thus traces
the linkages and interdependencies
among environmental elements at a
more detailed level than is approached
in a broad natural systems inventory.
The key operating assumption is that
an area which incorporates several sub-
systems (for example, a coastal marsh-
land which is a multiple species—fish,
wildlife, and vegetation—habitat) is
necessarily more complex and thus less
tolerant to human activity.
McCormick's approach would lead to
the development of a site design plan
which specifies precisely what species,
populations, and community size and
location should be preserved to main-
tain the "character" of the area as a
viable ecosystem.
Visual landscape analysis
The third approach to environmental
system evaluation for planning is the
visual landscape analysis. The overriding
objective of the visual analysis approach
to the study of environmental systems
for planning is the identification, pro-
tection and enhancement of landscapes
which contribute to the visual quality of
the environment. The operating tenet
of the visual analysis, however, is that
landscapes with visual quality are likely
to be significant in terms of physical and
biological processes which are focused
there; therefore, those areas should be
carefully managed to protect a resource
significant not only for reasons of
amenity or aesthetics but also the gen-
eral health and safety of man and
nature.
The third front:
Land-use guidance system
New goals, new information and a
new emphasis on implementation have
spawned the development of many new
methodologies for incorporation into the
land-use planning process. The potential
synthesis of these methodologies points
to a new land-use planning process
which we have termed guidance system
planning. The ultimate aim of this new
process is in infusion of goals and in-
formation, which now reflect an en-
vironmental system or natural process
orientation, into the urbanization pro-
cess. In this section, an operational view
of the guidance system planning process
will be presented in some detail.
Stage 1:
Inventory, monitor, predict
The first stage in the process involves
an inventory of natural systems in the
area, existing land use, and many other
factors traditionally analyzed as infor-
material input for land-use planning. In
addition, indicators of urban and en-
vironmental system performance may
209
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be monitored to explore current trends
and predict future system performance.
Essentially, the inventory is a back-
ground study intended to delineate the
scope of local problems related to the
goal of environmental quality. Hence,
the inventory stage facilitates the defi-
nition of goals into objectives.
The information system for environ-
mental systems produced through the
inventory may be combined with a
monitoring of urban growth or a pre-
dictive model of potential growth pat-
terns to forecast possible points of con-
flict between development demands and
natural system demands. The "Early
Warning System" developed for the
Santa Cruz Mountains area illustrates
one approach to developing such a pre-
diction capacity.19 Essentially, the model
is "a predictive tool for locating poten-
tial development and dynamics con-
flicts." »
The "Early Warning System" model
illustrates a method of predicting those
areas where there is likely to be a
conflict between natural dynamic sys-
tems and five forms of development:
selected residential, logging, tree farm-
ing, grazing and speciality crops. All of
these uses are presently found in the
study area, but the method is theoretic-
ally applicable to any use. The system
includes a comparison of a mapped ex-
pression of developer interests in terms
of physyical potential with a mapped
expression of the natural dynamic sys-
tems of the same area. Land uses are
reduced to a common level by the con-
sideration of the actual physical impacts
which development produces rather than
its "land-use" category. With the use of
an Early Warning map the planner
could easily identify the areas which
are likely to have potential impact prob-
lems in advance of actual development.
The nature of additional information
which is required can be identified
through an impact analysis process and
land-use policies can eventually be de-
veloped to avoid or at least minimize
further environmental degradation. The
model, carried out in this study by tra-
ditional mapping methods, is based
upon a coordinate grid system which
was developed to efficiently store quan-
tities of complex information so that
it could later be converted to a com-
puterized information system.
Stage 2: Decision guides
Decision Guides are those plans, pol-
icies, budgets, and procedures developed
by the planning staff to aid the local
governing body in their decision-mak-
ing capacity.
Traditionally, the land-use plan has
served as a decision guide. The land-
use plan is a very generalized vision in
map form of the desired future physical
characteristics of the urban area in
terms of the location, intensity, and
amount of land which will be developed
for various space-using activities. Inso-
far as the land-use plan presents a
visual interpretation of physical char-
acteristics, some twenty years hence, it
has not been the most effective context
of information and objective clarifica-
tion necessary to evaluate the implica-
tions of these more discrete day to day
decisions affecting land use. Thus, the
land-use plan is often supplemented by
policy recommendations as well as more
detailed policy and program plans
focusing on more specific issues within
a shorter time horizon than the ten to
twenty-year reference of the traditional
land use plan.
The Optimum Land-Use Plan for
Redmond, Washington is an example of
a land-use policy guide which empha-
sizes development based on congruence
with natural land features.21 Land cap-
ability was evaluated in terms of sur-
ficial geology, current pollution levels
(air, water, and noise), physiographic
features (surface water, marshes, 100-
year flood plain, acquifer recharge
areas, slopes), climate and hydrology,
vegetation and wildlife. Development
principles appropriate to the conserva-
tion or improvement of each factor
were recommended. Prior to the design
of the "optimum" land-use plan, the
compatibility of land use to land use
(e.g., camping with surburban residen-
tial development) and land use to land
210
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FIGURE 1.—LAND USE GUIDANCE SYSTEM PLANNING PROCESS
THEORETICAL
RATIONAL
PLANNING
PROCESS
LAND USE
PLANNING
ACTIVITIES
OUTPUTS
OF
PLANNING
ACTIVITIES
STAGE 1
Prnhlpm
identifi-
cation and
analysis
Inventorying,
monitoring,
prediction
interpre-
tation
Background
studies,
status
reports,
suitability
maps
CONSEQUENCES
^
STAGE 2
Goals,
objectives,
and
choice
criteria
Formulating
general
goal-
oriented
decision
guides
Goal plans,
choice
criteria
policies,
strategies
STAGE 3
Formulation
of
alternatives
Formulating
specific
decision
guides and
action
instruments
Specific
Budgets,
policies,
plans,
programs,
projects,
model
STAGE 4
Evaluation
of
alternatives
Testing
alternative
plans and
predictions
Effectiveness
and
environmental
impact
analyses
STAGE 5
Action
decisions
Selecting
and
implementing
action
instruments
Indirect
actions:
Regulations,
Incentives,
Public
investments.
Direct
regulations, [ _ Actions:
incentives ! "u""c
STAGE 6
Feedback
Monitoring the
urban environmental
system and
performance action
instruments
Monitoring
environmental
; quality
indicators.
Public surveys.
I Political
activities.
^^
! investments c "n
1 1 j f 1 II 1
Local Government's Course of Action for Promoting Environmental Quality
Xx> ^
A
/
\
N
^
The Urbanization Process and Urban Environmental Quality ^ '
^
-------
(e.g., commercial activity to slopes over
30%) was assessed as either being in-
compatible, moderately compatible, or
fully compatible. In addition, each type
of land use was rated as severe, moder-
ate or minimal in terms of its potential
adverse environmental consequences
(e.g., soil erosion or stream sedimenta-
tion potentials). The resulting matrix of
"land-use intercompatibility" was then a
decision guide for the plan design stage.
Furthermore, a policy to "optimize mul-
tiple compatible uses, as well as single
uses" was posed as a decision guide.
Other inputs to the design stage in-
cluded evaluations of the economic base,
projected land absorption, population
growth, housing needs, development
pressures (including parcel size and
distribution and the prevalence of land
speculation) and existing and projected
land-use distribution.
The Huntington, New York Environ-
mental Planning Program discussed pre-
viously is an example of a stricter pol-
icy plan approach.22 No future land-use
plan in map form is presented. Rather,
specific management actions are recom-
mended, evolving from an inventory of
the natural systems in the area. These
actions would apply generally through-
out the area (e.g., the prohibition of
nitrogen-carrying fertilizers). In addi-
tion, certain areas of the town are
singled out for special attention: re-
medial action (e.g., installing tertiary
sewage treatment for existing develop-
ment where cesspools and septic tanks
exceed I/acre); redevelopment of the
urban infrastructure to restore ecolog-
ical equilibrium (e.g., redesigning the
storm drainage system into the local
harbor); and protection of natural re-
sources (e.g., public acquisition of re-
maining open spaces.)
A policy plan may focus on a more
limited facet of the land-use environ-
mental quality interface. For example,
the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional
Planning Commission has developed a
Soils Development Guide.23 The Guide
was prepared for distribution to local
jurisdictions within the seven county
region. The Atlanta Regional Commis-
sion recently completed a policy plan
for an area-wide resource, the Chatta-
hoochee River Corridor. The plan ex-
amines the use of a 48-mile stretch
of the river north of Atlanta and the
adjacent land 2000 feet from each bank.
The report recommends a comprehen-
sive land development plan for the ad-
jacent areas, development guides (some
of which are posed for county-wide
adoption, e.g., soil erosion, sediment
control and flood plain development
regulations; others for adoption only
within the 4,000 foot corridor, e.g.,
general development standards, a "River
Buffer Zone." Flood Hazard Zone, PUD
standards; and a voluntary protection
zone), and a program for public ac-
quisition of certain areas vital to public
recreation or the ecological health of
the corridor.24
Stage 3: Policy proposals
The third stage in the process is the
generation of specific policy or project
proposals. For example, in the Opti-
mum Land-Use Plan for Redmond,
Washington cited above, it was recom-
mended that the city acquire open space
through less than fee simple purchase.
If Redmond is to acquire open space in
this manner, it must first determine
which of the several approaches to less
than fee simple purchase is most ap-
propriate to its objective of open space
preservation. Each of the alternative
purchase arrangements must be exam-
ined in some detail. In the same plan,
it was also recommended that flood-
plains, steep slopes, and mash areas be
carefully managed. Alternative ap-
proaches to such management remain
to be proposed.
Stage 4: Testing alternatives
The fourth stage in the process is the
testing of alternatives. Alternatives may
be tested for two purposes: First, to de-
termine the general effectiveness of the
proposal in achieving the objectives de-
sired and second, to determine the
environmental impact of the proposed
action.
Evaluation of Effectiveness. In the
212
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"Computerized Guidance System" de-
veloped by Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
a variety of data is collected and
organized on a 22.95 acre grid basis and
placed into model form in order to
"relate the effect of a set of policies on
a plan ... to assist the County com-
missioners in establishing and following
policies to achieve the desired end." *
A series of policies was combined to
produce a County Park Plan using this
system of data and modeling links.
Seven major policy areas were defined
related to open space objectives: maxi-
mum utility, site quality, accessibility,
proximity, land value, supply and de-
mand, and threat. For example, in
terms of maximum utility, the operating
policy was that "the park site which is
suitable for the greater number of rec-
reation activities is a better site than one
suitable for fewer activities." Each policy
was then converted into a model:20
Some of these models are sets of
overlays, whereby a variety of fac-
tors are combined to determine
suitability for parks. The Site Qual-
ity Map is illustrative of this type
model. The accessibility model is a
behavioral model, based on a
formula derived from a survey of
county residents. Its basis is the
observed effect of distance on fre-
quency of park visitation. The
threat model is a simulation model.
Variable were: population growth
by municipality, vacant land by
municipality, presence of sewers,
proximity to highways, and existing
urbanization. No attempt was made
to base this model on observed
data.
The models for each objective were
given a priority weighting and the com-
bined model then applied through use
of a computer to each cell, resulting in
a score for each. The outcome was a
priority listing of acquisition sites.
The approach is also being used to
develop a Natural Resources Plan for
Bucks County.27 The entire plan will
consist not only of a land-use intensity
plan based on a comparison of each
planning cell's natural features, its sensi-
tivity to development, but also a set of
implementation policies and the integra-
tion of the Natural Resources Plan with
other elements of the Comprehensive
Plan. The Natural Resources Plan, still
in the first stages, involves three major
steps:2*
The first step in developing the
Natural Resources Plan is to estab-
lish operational definitions for the
various natural critical features of
Bucks county. . . . Evaluation and
weighting of critical natural fea-
tures is the next step in plan de-
velopment. Priorities for protection
are established. . . . The last phase
in plan development is the setting
of priorities and targets. Major
policy issues are tested. For exam-
ple, one policy might be to protect
the most threatened resources. A
conflicting policy would be to pro-
tect areas where land values are
low and the most land could be
preserved for each dollar spent.
Both are valid planning concepts.
A weighting system can incorpo-
rate the two into a single plan
which may be pre-tested by com-
puter, whereas intuitive discussions
of conflicting policy issues often
lead nowhere.
Evaluation of Environmental Impact.
In addition to testing the potential effec-
tiveness of a plan, policy, or regulation,
there is now a trend toward testing
the environmental impact of alterna-
tives. Most evaluation methodologies
developed thus far are applicable at
the project level and are not suited for
the evaluation of a general plan such as
a land-use plan. These methodologies
focus on producing an information dis-
play matrix for the decision-maker.
The information display matrix ap-
proach is useful because, although
models of the various environmental
sub-systems have been developed in
which the various elements of the single
sub-system have been weighted in terms
of importance to the system function,
there is yet no accepted model available
in which the relative importance of all
the sub-systems has been determined.
213
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To a certain extent, the relative im-
portance will vary depending on the
objectives of the given community in-
volved.
Stage 5: Action instruments
The fifth stage of the guidance system
planning process involves making a
decision or choice among the alterna-
tives which have been evaluated. It may
be generally stated that no single tool
is effective in and of itself. The essence
of guidance system planning is the de-
sign of a series of action instruments
which, operating in concert, create a
new set of conditions and roles for
urban development.
This discussion of land-use guidance
instruments focusses on the control of
the pattern of urban development cen-
tering on three fundamental objectives:
(1) The control of the spatial
location of development;
(2) The control of the timing
or sequence or development; and
(3) The control of the spatial
design characteristics at the site.
Spatial location and timing
(1) To economize on the costs
of providing municipal facilities
and services and to maintain them
at a high quality level;
(2) to retain municipal control
over the eventual character of de-
velopment by preventing premature
and sporadic building;
(3) to maintain a desirable de-
gree of balance among various
uses of land;
(4) to achieve greater detail
and specificity in development reg-
lation.
Overtime, these "needs" have re-
mained valid although their circum-
stantial basis has expanded to include:
municipal fiscal balance, equitable
housing opportunity for all socio-eco-
nomic groups, provision of adequate
public facilities to insure public health,
safety, and welfare, and more recently
prevention of development where and/
or when it would impact adversely on
the environment.
Assuming that an environmentally
sound land-use plan has been developed
for the area, three general categories of
implementation tools exist—zoning, tax-
ation policies, and major public invest-
ments such as transportation, water, and
sanitary sewer systems.
Innovating zoning
Innovation in zoning has been char-
acterized primarily by the creation of
new types of zones or districts. These
include the following:
Large Lot Zoning—This zoning tech-
nique involves designating areas, which
are deemed valuable for their natural
resources, agricultural potential, or sim-
ply as open space, for very low density
(minimum 1-5 acres) single family or
agricultural use. This approach may be
useful for areas difficult to service with
public water and sewer in the near
future and which would become envi-
ronmentally degraded through high
density development.
Exclusive Agricultural Zoning—The
Village of Harristown, Illinois Zoning
Ordinance states that™
The Agricultural Zone is estab-
lished as a zone in which agricul-
tural and certain related uses are
encouraged as the principle uses of
land. The specific intent of the
agricultural zone is to facilitate
the long-term use of lands best
suited to agricultural production by
preventing a mixture of urban and
rural uses which place unbalanced
loads on agricultural lands and
which may result in speculative or
inflated land values which encour-
age the premature termination of
agricultural pursuits.
Three comments on effective agricul-
tural zoning should be made. First, the
tax assessment policy on such land is a
crucial factor. Too often, development
pressure in urban fringe areas brings a
rise in the property tax on agricultural
lands, agriculture becomes uneconomi-
cal. Secondly, exclusive agricultural
zoning is intended to promote agricul-
tural activity. Therefore, it should be
applied only to prime agricultural land
214
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if zoning is to be used, in fact, in keep-
ing with the best and highest use doc-
trine. Thirdly. ". . . many farmers will
resist such a zoning classification, unless
reassured that their property will be re-
zoned when they want to sell at specu-
lative values." *
Conservation Zones — Borrowing
again from Harriston, Illinois Zoning
Ordinance,33
The Conservation Zone is estab-
lished to prevent the construction
upon or alteration of rural or
natural environments which have
natural conditions of soil, slope,
susceptability to flooding or ero-
sion, geological condition, vegeta-
tion or an interreaction between
the aforesaid which makes such
lands unsuitable for urban develop-
ment. Further, this zone is estab-
lished to protect areas of the
environment, that, if altered, would
cause health or pollution prob-
lems and environmental degrada-
tion. The Conservation Zone will
also insure adequate areas for fu-
ture conservation and recreation
pursuits. Certain agricultural uses
would be permitted.
Conservation districts, sometimes
called Natural Resource Districts, are
intended primarily for conservation
use alone although agriculture is often
permitted. For example, the Coon Rap-
ids, Minnesota City Code establishing
a Conservation District cites the follow-
ing permitted uses:83
(i) Outdoor recreational uses
operated by a governmental agency
or conservation group, homeowner
or private association and facilities
for making some useful to public
or association.
(ii) Open space areas connected
with residential, commercial, and
industrial planned unit develop-
ment.
(iii) Conservation uses including
drainage control, forestry, wildlife
sanctuaries and facilities for mak-
ing some available and useful to
public.
(iv) Agricultural uses.
(v) Nature study areas and ar-
boretums.
A number of more specific, yet
still conservation-oriented, zoning ap-
proaches and other development ordi-
nances have been developed: flood-plain
zoning,34 coastal plain zoning,35 wetlands
zoning,36 stream-bank zoning,37 shore-
land zoning, and steep-slope zoning (or
hillside ordinances).38 Often a spe-
cial use permit is required for any
construction in environmentally sensi-
tive areas or for types of development
with a high impact potential. Special use
permits allow for a greater degree of
detail and flexibility in controlling the
quality of development and its impact
on the environment.
Taxation innovations
Innovations in taxation policy to con-
trol the timing and location of develop-
ment have been closely related to at-
tempts to establish and retain conserva-
tion and agricultural zones. The South-
eastern Wisconsin Regional Planning
Commission notes that: 3"
Under present Wisconsin Constitu-
tion and Statutory Law, the most
satisfactory way to relieve the own-
er of lands zoned for exclusive
agricultural or conservancy use
from unrealistically high property
assessment and taxation is to re-
move the development potential.
This may be accomplished in one
of three ways:
1. The property owner may vol-
untarily grant an easement to a
local unit prohibiting development
for a period of at least 20 years.
2. The property owner may vol-
untarily place restrictive covenants
upon the lands enforceable by a
governmental unit in perpetuity or
for some substantial period of time.
3. A governmental unit may
purchase the development rights.
Minnesota's "Green Acres Law"
(Chapter 60, Extra Session Laws of
1967) authorizes the owner of agricul-
tural land to receive a deferment on
property taxes. Agricultural lands is as-
sessed according to its market value
215
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given that use until it is sold or con-
verted to urban use.
The Livingston County, New York
Planning Board is now utilizing the
"Agricultural Districts" Law enacted by
the State in 1971, designated "to en-
courage continuance of a strong agri-
cultural industry in the state and to
discourage urban scatteration into good
farm areas." 40
Pennsylvania's Act 515, passed in
1965, is based on the same concept of
tax abatement or deferral. Act 515,
however, differs from some other state's
laws in that it is applicable to a wider
range of natural resource areas than
simply agricultural. Act 515 "enables
certain counties of the Commonwealth
to covenant with land owners for the
preservation of land in farm, forest,
water supply or open space uses."41
Innovations in the area of public
investment to control the location and
timing of urban development have been
characterized by an increased recogni-
tion and use of public utility and trans-
portation systems to shape urban growth
patterns.
The Metropolitan Council of the
Twin Cities, Minnesota has adopted a
"Diversified Centers" growth strategy."
That portion of the Metropolitan De-
velopment Guide dealing with sanitary
sewer states the following policy with
respect to their use as a device to imple-
ment the growth strategy:43
—Phase interceptor extensions to
promote orderly and economic de-
velopment.
—Extend interceptors into commu-
nities only when the residents are
assured of governmental capability
to provide a full range of urban
services and to exercise adequate
planning and control.
—Prohibit extension of sewer sys-
tems into areas where development
should not occur, such as flood
plains, airport clear zones, major
groundwater recharge areas, and
areas designated for open space
use.
Similarly, the Development Guide indi-
cates that open space, transit and
thoroughfares will also be used as means
to implement the development plan.4*
Public investment plans
Two basic approaches to achieving
an interface between public investment
planning and land-use planning have
been offered. The first, termed Frame-
work or Development District Zoning,
is more a technique for utilizing com-
prehensive capital improvement plan-
ning to control the location and timing
of development than a zoning technique
in the traditional sense emphasizing the
segregation of incompatible uses. For
example, Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
as described previously, has proposed
the use of development district concept.
Four types of development areas are
proposed: Urban, Development, Rural
Holding, and Resource Protection.45
Growth is encouraged in Develop-
ment Districts not only through the
provision of public services based on a
five year program but also rezoning
parcels in the area to more intensive
uses. Only in Development Areas is
more specific-use zoning applied. Rural
Holding Districts are placed in a "wait-
and-see" condition and would be re-
evaluated periodically. Development in
Holding Districts would be discouraged
through several measures. Public serv-
ices would not be extended for five
years at least. Other effectuation meas-
ures would include large lot zoning
(minimum 5 acres), lower tax assess-
ments under Act 515 (previously dis-
cussed), prohibition of development on
sites exhibiting unfavorable percolation,
agricultural management and assistance
programs for farmers in the area, and
public education. Development would
be discouraged or prohibited in Re-
source Protection Areas through re-
source protection zoning of critical
areas, reservation by official map of
protection areas to be acquired within
three to five years, the purchase of
development rights or easements, and
other measures.
The second approach to coordinating
public investments to control the loca-
tion and timing of development is the
216
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use of a Development Timing Ordi-
nance. Although this type of ordinance
is not entirely new," its recent revival
by the town of Ramapo, New York has
created a great deal of interest." In
1969, Ramapo48
amended its zoning ordinance to
create a new kind of "special per-
mit" use labeled the "Residential
Development Use." Anyone want-
to use land for residential develop-
ment cannot do so without a
special permit. And a special per-
mit is granted only if standards are
met for minimum facilities and
services available to the new de-
velopment. The required services
include sewerage, drainage, parks
or recreation, schools, roads, and
firehouses. The ordinance sets up a
point system of values assigned to
these services. A special permit
requires a proposed development
to satisfy at least 15 development
points. The town, for its part, is
pursuing an overall development
plan and a capital improvement
program drawn from that plan. If
services needed for residential de-
velopment are missing, Ramapo
proposes to include them within its
18-year program of capital im-
provements, of which the first six
years are specified in a capital
budget.
Spatial design characteristics
There are three basic ways to pro-
tect the environment by controlling the
spatial design characteristics of develop-
ment: the use of density zoning or
planned unit development ordinances;
the inclusion of critical environmental
provisions in zoning, subdivision, build-
ing, or health ordinances; and the re-
quirement of environmental impact
analysis on proposed development as a
prerequisite to the granting of rezon-
ing, subdivision plat, or building permit.
Essentially, both density zoning and
planned unit development offer the de-
veloper flexibility in designing the site
as long as an overall density restriction
and other requirements as for improve-
ments are met. This flexibility offers
the potential for promoting environ-
mental quality since developmment may
be clustered and sensitive areas retained
as open space. Most density zoning or
planned unit development ordinances
require the submission of a site plan as
a prerequisite to approval. Through site
review, assurance can be made that the
most optimum site design environmen-
tally has been achieved. Bucks County
has proposed a rather innovative addi-
tion to standards for cluster develop-
ments. Not only would density require-
ments be stipulated but so, too, would
an open space ratio and an impervious
surface ratio (a ratio of all surface area
impervious to rain—buildings, parking
areas, driveways, roads, sidewalks, etc.
—to the gross site area)."
The third approach to site control is
to require developers to submit an en-
vironmental impact evaluation on pro-
posed development. Although where
such a requirement has been adopted
it is limited to a disclosure requirement
only, it does tend to shift the ultimate
responsibility for environmentally sound
development practice to the developer.
The Rocky Mountain Center on En-
vironment has proposed a Model En-
vironmental Subdivision Regulation
which would extend the impact state-
ment requirement concept beyond
simply disclosure. No subdivision per-
mit would be granted unless the
"Environmental Inventory and Analy-
sis" was adequate and insured that the
following provisions would be met:51
A. Will not result in water pol-
lution. In making this determina-
tion, they shall consider: the
amount of rainfall received by the
area, the relation of the land to
flood plains, the nature of soils and
subsoils and their ability to ade-
quately support waste disposal; the
slope of the land and its effect on
effluents; the presence of streams
as related to effluent disposal; the
applicable health and water re-
sources department regulations.
B. Does have sufficient water
available per lot, both physically
217
-------
and legally, for the foreseeable
needs of the subdivision or devel-
opement.
C. Will not cause an unreason-
able depreciation of an existing
water supply.
D. Will not cause unreasonable
soil erosion or reduction in the
capacity of the land to hold water
so that a dangerous or unhealthy
condition may result.
E. Will not cause air pollution.
In making this determination, they
shall consider: the elevation of
land above sea level; land topog-
raphy; prevailing winds or the
absence thereof; local and regional
airshed; increase in sources, or
quantity of emissions, as well as
quality of such.
F. Will not cause unreasonable
highway congestion or unsafe con-
ditions with respect to use of the
highways existing or proposed.
G. Will not cause unreasonable
burden on the ability of the local
government to provide water, sew-
age, fire, police, hospital, solid
waste disposal, and other services.
1. Will not have an undue ad-
verse effect on the scenic or natural
beauty of the area, aesthetics, his-
toric sites or rare and irreplaceable
natural areas.
J. Will not have an undue ad-
verse effect on wildlife and their
habitat, on the preservation of agri-
cultural land, on human psycho-
logical-physiological dependence
upon open space, and on the
boundary-line defining urban land
use from rural.
K. Is in conformance with a
duly adopted master plan, land-use
plan or land-capability plan.
Stage 6: Monitoring
The final stage in the guidance sys-
tem planning process, feedback and
monitoring, brings the process full
circle. Evaluation of urban system per-
formance is obviously necessary to
maintaining an adequate information
system for continuous planning.
The guidance system planning proc-
ess depicted as the third front of inno-
vation in land use-environmental quality
planning remains a rather theoretical
concept. Yet, to a certain extent, it is
the organizing concept of much plan-
ning activity at the local level.
Notes for
Paper 2
lSee, for example: F. Stuart Chapin,
Jr., Urban Land-Use Planning (Urbana:
The University of Illinois Press, 1966);
Ira S. Lowry, Model of Metropolis.
21. Thomas Atkins, et al., Huntingdon
Environmental Planning Program (Phila-
delphia: Department of Regional Planning
and Landscape Architecture, University of
Pennsylvania, 1972).
3 Interview with Michael Pawlukiewicz,
Environmental Planner, Department of
Environmental Protection, Huntington,
New York, November 24, 1972.
4 Los Angeles Department of City Plan-
ning, An Environmental Conservation Ele-
ment for the Los Angeles General Plan,
Draft report (Los Angeles: Department of
City Planning, 1970).
5 California State Code, Title VII, Chap-
ter 3, Local Planning.
8 Los Angeles Department of City Plan-
ning, op. cit.
'Section 21151 of the Public Resources
Code of California, as amended by Chap-
ter 1433, Stats. 1970.
8 Telephone Interview with Francis P.
Bennett, Director Wayne County, Michi-
gan Planning Commission, December 21,
1972.
9 Wayne County Planning Commission,
Planning and the Environment, Vol. 2 of
Comprehensive Planning Process for
Wayne County (3 vols.; Detroit: Wayne
County Planning Commission, 1970-72).
10 Albuquerque-Bernallillo County Plan-
ning Department, The Comprehensive
Plan, Metropolitan Environment Frame-
work (Albuquerque: Albuquerque-Bernal-
lillo County Planning Department, 1972).
11 Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments, Natural Features of the
Washington Metropolitan Area (Washing-
ton, D.C.: Metropolitan Washington
Council of Governments, January, 1968).
12 Ibid.
13 Ian McHarg, Design With Nature
218
-------
(Barden City: Natural History Press,
1969).
"Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd,
An Ecological Study of the Twin Cities
Metropolitan Area (St. Paul: Twin Cities
Metropolitan Council, 1969).
15 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
" Ibid.
"Interview with J. Frank McCormick,
Professor of Botany at the University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, October 10,
1972.
"Tito Patri, David C. Streatfield, and
Thomas J. Ingruire, The Santa Cruz
Mountains Regional Pilot Study, Early
Warning System (Berkeley: Department
of Landscape Architecture, College of En-
vironmental Design, University of Cali-
fornia, August, 1970).
20 Ibid.
21 Redmond Department of City Plan-
ning, Optimum Land Use (Redmond: De-
partment of City Planning, 1972).
22 Thomas J. Atkins, et al., op. cit.
23 Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Plan-
ning Commission, Soils Development
Guide (Waukesha: Southeastern Wisconsin
Regional Planning Commission, 1969).
24 Atlanta Regional Commission, Chatta-
hoochee Corridor Study, Draft report
(Atlanta: Atlanta Regional Commission,
July, 1972).
25 Lane H. Kendig, "Computerized Guid-
ance System as Developed in Bucks Coun-
ty," presented at Confer-In-West, Annual
Meeting of the American Institute of
Planners, San Francisco, Calif., October
24-28, 1971, (mimeographed, available
from The American Institute of Planners,
1776 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington,
D.C.).
211 Ibid.
27 Bucks County, Pennsylvania Planning
Commission, Natural Resources Plan for
Bucks County (Doylestown: Bucks Coun-
ty Planning Commission, 1971).
28 Ibid.
20 Henry Fagin, "Clinic: Development
Timing," Planning 1955 (Chicago: Amer-
ican Society of Planning Officials, 1955).
30 Village of Harristown, Illinois, Zoning
Ordinance (Harristown: Village of Harris-
town, 1972), section 3.1.
31Gunnar C. Isberg, "Development
Problems in the Urban-Rural Fringe:
Need for Unified Plans and Programs,"
Submitted for presentation at Confer-In
72, Annual Meeting of the American
Institute of Planners, Boston, October,
1972.
33 Village of Harristown, Illinois, op. cit.,
section 3.1.
33 City of Coon Rapids, Minneosta Ordi-
nance No. 378, "An Ordinance Creating
a Conservancy District Designated (CD)
and, Therefore Amending City Code
Chapter 11-300," May 9, 1972.
"See: Chapter VII; and Jon A. Kusler
and Thomas M. Lee, Regulations for
Flood Plains, Planning Advisory Service
Report No. 277 (Chicago: American So-
ciety of Planning Officials, February,
1972).
35 See: James C. Kite and James M.
Stepp, eds., Coastal "Lone Resource Man-
agement (New York: Praeger Publishers,
1971).
33 See: Jennifer G. Turner, "Preservation
of Wetlands: A Critical Evaluation of
Connecticut's Approach," Submitted for
presentation at Confer-In 72, Annual
Meeting of the American Institute of Plan-
ners, Boston, October, 1972).
37 See, for example: Atlanta Regional
Commission, Chattahoochee River Corri-
dor Study (Atlanta: The Commission,
July, 1972).
38 See: American Society of Planning
Officials, Hillside Development, Planning
Advisory Service Report No. 126 (Chi-
cago: American Society of Planning Offi-
cals,i September, 1959).
30 Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Plan-
ning Commission, op. cit.
'° Livingston County Planning Board,
Agricultural Land Resources and Conser-
vation Areas (Geneva, New York: Liv-
ingston County Planning Board, 1972).
41 Bucks County Planning Commission,
"Plan for Implementation of Provisions of
Act 515 of 1965," (unpublished, Doyles-
town: Bucks County Planning Commis-
sion, February 3, 1971).
42 Metroplitan Council of the Twin
Cities Area, Metropolitan Development
Guide. Major Diversified Centers—Poli-
cies, System Plan, Program (St. Paul:
Metropolitan Council, February, 1971).
43 Metropolitan Council of the Twin
Cities Area, Metropolitan Development
Guide. Sanitary Sewers—Policies, System
Plan, Program (St. Paul: Metropolitan
Council, 1970).
44 Metropolitan Council of the Twin
Cities Area, Metropolitan Development
Guide. Diversified Centers—Policies, Sys-
tem Plan, Program.
219
-------
15 Bucks County Planning Commission, " Ibid.
The Urban Fringe: Techniques for Guid- ™ Bucks County Planning Commission,
ing the Development of Bucks County. "Proposed Amendment to Middletown
'"See, for example: Philip P. Green, Jr., Township Zoning Ordinance," unpublished
et at., "Clinic: Development Timing," (Doylestown: Bucks County Planning
Planning 1955 (Chicago: American Society Commission, 1972).
of Planning Officials, 1955); David Heeler, ''"Buffalo County, Wisconsin, Zoning
Toward A More Effective Land Use Guid- Ordinance (Alma, Wisconsin: Buffalo
ance System: A Summary and Analysis of County, 1965).
Five Major Reports (Chicago: American 5l Rocky Mountain Center on Environ-
Society of Planning Officials, 1969). ment, Land Use Packet No. 1 (Denver:
"See: "Ramapo," Planning, The ASPO Rocky Mountain Center on Environment,
Magazine Volume 38, No. 6, (July, 1972). November 1, 1971).
220
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V.3 Impact
statements:
more myth
than reality
Lyle J. Sumek *
Today, the provision for environmen-
tal impact statements is considered by
many government officials as one of the
most recently controversial environ-
mental measures. The concept of assess-
ing potential environmental consequen-
ces originated with the National En-
vironmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969 which marked a dramatic shift
in governmental policy and actions re-
garding the environment. In this act,
Section 102 stated that federal agencies
are required to prepare and use environ-
mental impact statements (a detailed
analysis of environmental factors within
proposed action) in their agency's review
process before they take any "major ac-
tions" including recommendations and
reports on legislation which "significant-
ly affect the quality of the human en-
vironment." * Since its enactment, many
state and local governments have fol-
lowed the federal example by adapting
their own variation of environmental
impact statements process. The purpose
of this article is to assess the viability of
at the federal, state and local levels, as
a means of improving environmental
quality.
I. The Federal approach
The provisions of NEPA have been
compared in importance to the Full Em-
ployment Act of 1946, since it is de-
signed to (1) bring about a national
consensus and new direction for future
*Lyle J. Sumek is Professor of Political
Science, Northern Illinois University. His
article was prepared for this volume.
development considering environmental
quality and (2) modify and develop
new decision-making processes consid-
ering environmental factors which were
once neglected. In order to truly ap-
preciate the significance of NEPA and
the problems encountered in develop-
ing an assessment process, the legal re-
quirements need to be briefly reviewed.
NEPA consists of three components:
A General Policy Statement was
adopted which recognized that each
person has a responsibility to contrib-
ute to the preservation and enhance-
ment of that environment. NEPA or-
ders all Federal departments and agen-
cies to use all practicable means to im-
prove and coordinate their planning,
functioning and programming in order
for the nation to achieve the follow-
ing goals: (1) to fulfill the responsibility
of each generation as trustee of the en-
vironment for succeeding generations;
(2) to assure for all Americans safe,
healthy, productive, and aesthetically
and culturally pleasing surroundings;
(3) to attain the widest range of bene-
ficial uses of the environment without
degrading or degradation, risk to health
or safety or other undesirable or un-
attended consequences; (4) to preserve
important historic, cultural, natural as-
pects of our national heritage and main-
tain wherever possible an environment
which supports diversity and variety of
individual choice; (5) to achieve a bal-
ance between population and resource
use which will permit high standards of
living and a wide sharing of life's
amenities; and (6) to enhance the qual-
ity of renewable resources and approach
the maximum attainable recycling of
depletiable resources.'
The Council on Environmental Qual-
ity (CEQ) was created for develop-
ing and implementing environmental
policy. Although opposed by President
Nixon, the creation of this new body
was approved with little Congressional
debate or opposition. The CEQ is locat-
ed in the Executive Office of the Presi-
dent and is composed of three mem-
bers who shall be appointed by the
President to serve at his pleasure, with
and by the consent of the Senate.
221
-------
Their primary funcions include (1)
the advising and assisting of the Presi-
dent on the preparation of the annual
report called the Environmental Quality
Report, which is available annually
from CEQ: (2) the gathering of infor-
mation concerning the conditions and
trends in the quality of the environ-
ment, and analyzing and interpreting this
information with the purpose in mind
of submitting to Presidential sudy re-
lating to these conditions; (3) the review-
ing and assessing of the various pro-
grams and activities of the Federal
agencies to try to assure their consis-
tency with the environmental policy de-
clared in the NEPA; and, (4) the re-
porting to the President at least once
a year on the general condition of the
environment.4
The birth of the EPA
Although not created as a provision
of NEPA, it is important to keep in
mind the other agency of the Federal
government which is responsible for en-
vironmental quality. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) was created
December 2, 1970 in a reorganization
of the executive branch, which entailed
the consolidation of Federal programs
dealing with air pollution, water pollu-
tion, solid waste disposal, pesticide regu-
lation, and environmental radiation. The
agency was first headed by William D.
Ruckelshaus. Although EPA and CEQ
are both concerned with environmental
policy there is significant difference be-
tween the two. CEQ is in the Executive
Office of the President and is respon-
sible for policy advice, reviewing and
coordinating environmental impact
statements as well as environmental con-
trol activities of all agencies. The staff
is small which limits their involvement
in other agencies' activities. On the
other hand, EPA as an operating line
agency is responsible for administering
and conducting all federal pollution
control programs, focusing on pollution
control as a strategy for securing en-
vironmental quality as well as preser-
vation of wildlife and natural resources.
In the environmental impact statement
process, EPA functions like any other
federal agency in reviewing statements.
The Environmental Impact Statement
Process as outlined in NEPA was spe-
cifically designed as a way of assess-
ing environmental consequences on pro-
posals rather than a cursory exposition
of agency intent or justification for the
program. The intent is to have Federal
agencies analyze their policy alternatives
before actual decisions are made. The
reason for including the action forcing
procedure was the fear that in absence
of such a procedure agencies might
evade implementation of the policy.
The remainder of this section will an-
alyze how the impact process is being
implemented.
Guidelines for impact statements
According to NEPA, the Council on
Environmental Quality becomes the pri-
mary administrating body with the re-
sponsibility for developing explicit
guidelines regarding the processes of
preparation and reviewing of impact
statements. On March 5, 1970, Presi-
dent Nixon issued Executive Order
11514, which outlined the implementa-
tion process for NEPA and clarified
CEQ's role. In this Executive Order,
the President stated that all Federal
agencies' heads shall monitor, evaluate,
and control on a continuing basis their
agency's activities so as to protect and
enhance the quality of the environ-
ment, to develop procedures to assure
timely public information and under-
standing of Federal plans and programs
with environmental impact in order to
obtain the views of interested parties.6
It also stressed that public hearings be
used wherever appropriate and that the
public be provided all relevant infor-
mation on alternative courses of action.
State and local agencies were encour-
aged to adopt similar procedures for
informing the public concerning their
activities effecting environmental qual-
ity. Finally, the Executive Order estab-
lished the responsibilities of the Council
on Environmental Quality, which in-
cludes (1) the evaluation of existing
programs and policies of Federal agen-
222
-------
cies, to direct them toward the con-
trolling of pollution and the enhance-
ment of the environment and (2) the
development of guidelines to the Fed-
eral agencies for the preparation of
detailed environmental impact state-
ments.
To standardize the process, CEQ is-
sued general guidelines to Federal
agencies on how to handle environ-
mental impact statements that they must
prepare. A major innovation was that
draft statements must be made avail-
able to the public 90 days before an
administrative action is taken, but not
including proposals for, or reports on
legislation. Final statements must be
available for 30 days prior to such
action for public comments on possible
revisions.
On April 23, 1971, CEQ revised its
guidelines integrating the requirements
of Section 102 of NEPA and Section
309 of the Clean Air Act, as amended,
which calls for public comment by the
Administrator of EPA on proposed
legislation, regulations or agency actions
affecting EPA's areas of jurisdiction,
including air and water quality, solid
waste, pesticides, radiation, and noise.
These revised guidelines applied to
agency actions for draft statements
circulated after June 30, 1971. All Fed-
eral agencies were asked to update their
own procedures for writing and review-
ing environmental impact statements
which should be made available to CEQ
for review prior to formal issuance. The
points: (1) identifying types of agency
actions requiring environmental impact
statements, appropriate time for inter-
agency consultations, and internal agen-
cy review process; (2) assuring advance
comments from EPA; (3) including an
adequate description of proposed action
which will allow careful assessment by
commenting agencies; (4) assuring to
maximum extent practicable, the mini-
mum 90 day periods of public avail-
ability for draft and final environmental
impact statements, and, (5) allowing
timely public information and under-
standing, which should include, where
appropriate, public hearings and public
access to draft and final environmental
impact statements. However, in July,
1971, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District in Calvert Cliffs' Coordinat-
ing Committee vs. AEC found that
AEC had failed to provide for environ-
mental review of cases in which a con-
struction permit had been granted prior
to NEPA's effective date, but an op-
erating permit had not been granted at
that time.6 This ruling resulted in CEQ
delaying the deadline for Federal agen-
cies in submitting their guidelines so
they could modify them in considering
the court decision. As a result, it was
not until November, 1971, that agen-
cies' guidelines were submitted for CEQ
and public review.
Goal: Self-implementation
The ultimate goal of the CEQ guide-
lines is to make the process of formu-
lating Federal impact statements self-
implementing, which means that envi-
ronmental factors will receive proper
consideration without court or CEQ in-
tervention. However, achievement of the
goal has been hindered by (1) the ab-
sence of a strong and comprehensive
program to implement the delegation;
(2) the fact that NEPA does not set
forth any enforcement provisions to en-
sure compliance nor does it state that
noncompliance is unlawful, and (3) a
reluctance of agencies to modify their
decision-making processes to incorporate
the environmental impact statement
process. The statement process so far has
been one of reluctant implementation
and cooperation. The courts have ended
up playing the role of policing by de-
termining whether agencies have fully
and in good faith complied with the
procedures. The result has been that
the effectiveness of the environmental
impact statement has depended upon
the courts for elaboration and clarifi-
cation through over two hundred court
cases.
Today, the environmental impact
statement process, as outlined in the
guidelines and clarified in the courts,
is complex, allowing departmental vari-
ation. A simplistic model of the over-
all process for developing an environ-
223
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mental impact statement is shown in
Figure 1.
After a determination is made that
an environmental impact statement
should be written, the general process
always consists of the preparation of
a draft environmental impact state-
ment which is then sent to CEQ, other
Federal agencies, state and local gov-
ernments, and public interest groups
for review, with comments being sent
back to the sponsoring agency where
the draft environmental impact state-
ment is revised and a final statement
is issued. The courts, through their
rulings on specific cases, have played
an active role enforcing the procedural
requirements of NEPA.
EIS requirements
To fully comprehend this process, one
must begin with the decision to write an
environmental impact statement. Under
Section 102, all Federal agencies have a
duty to implement the national policy
and to consider in the development of
policies and regulations, to the fullest
extent possible, environmental matters.
As part of this obligation, NEPA re-
quires that an impact statement must be
written for major proposals of legislation
and other federal actions which may sig-
nificantly effect the quality of the hu-
man environment. With the legislation
using the terms "major" and "signifi-
cant," many agencies have been able
to exercise judgment in deciding the
applicability of these terms in light of
its knowledge of the nature and effect
of its programs. This situation has re-
sulted in much confusion over whether
an environmental impact statement is
required. During the first year and one-
half, environmental groups brought
many lawsuits against agencies forcing
them to write environmental impact
sttaements.7
Although there is some variation in
many Federal agencies, a good example
would be the Federal Highway Ad-
ministration. It set forth the general
criteria that statements must be drafted
on all highways which are considered
to be major actions and are likely to
significantly affect the human environ-
ment, where organized opposition has
occurred or is anticipated, and signifi-
cantly affect historic or conservation
lands. In defining what constitutes a
major action, the guidelines stipulate
that it includes any highway in an en-
tirely or generally new location, or a
FORMULATION OF FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
EIS Comments Final
Preparation Draft Review on EIS Revision EIS
Sponsoring
Agency
Council on
Environmental Quality
Federal Agencies
State and Local
Governments
Public (particularly,
environmental groups)
Sponsoring.
Agency
CEQ
\
\
\
\
COURTS
224
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major upgrading of an existing highway
requiring functional changes such as
adding medians, widening a road from
two to four lanes, and extensive right-
of-way acquisition. A significant en-
vironmental effect includes whether the
project is likely to have an adverse
impact on natural, ecological, cultural
or scenic resources, to be highly con-
troversial regarding relocation housing
resources, to divide or disrupt an es-
tablished community or disrupt orderly
planned development or is inconsistent
with plans adopted by the community,
and to have a significant detrimental
effect on air, water and noise pollu-
tion. Other agencies are more spe-
cific, as demonstrated in the Federal
Power Commission cutoff line for hy-
droelectric projects at 2,000 horse-
power.
Pre-NEPA projects
In addition, many agencies have been
confused over the requirement of en-
vironmental impact statements for ac-
tivities begun or authorized before
NEPA's enactment. Since NEPA con-
tains no transitional language, the
Council's guidelines tried to deal with
this problem. If prior commitments,
legal or financial, make it impractical
to change the course of action, there
should still be an environmental im-
pact statement discussing the project's
environmental effect and possibilities
of minimizing adverse consequences
from the remaining major actions. The
retroactivity problem remains in the
licensing of nuclear electric power
plants. In the case of the Quad City
Nuclear Power Station where construc-
tion was being completed on a project
initiated before NEPA's enactment, the
Atomic Energy Commission attempted
to circumvent the environmental im-
pact statement process by granting a
partial operating license before a final
environmental impact statement review
of the application for full license was
completed. The U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia in granting
a preliminary injunction found that
the issuance of a partial license con-
stituted final agency actions requiring
compliance with Section 102."
Environmental impact statements are
also required for certain environmental
action by EPA authorized under en-
vironmental legislation. In the Kalur
v. Resor decision, the U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia
upset Federal antipollution programs
relying on the government's right to
issue permits for dumping of chemi-
cal pollutants into a nearby Grand
River where Kalur goes canoeing.
The decision prohibited the Fed-
eral government from issuing permits
that shield polluters and potential pol-
luters where Congress has specifically
prohibited such activities. It found no
merit in the Federal government's
claim that environmental impact state-
ments should not be required for issu-
ance of pollution control permits.*
EPA's position with regard to the re-
quirements of Section 102, NEPA,
were further clarified in the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act of 1972.
Section 511(c) exempts EPA from this
obligation except for sewage treat-
ment plant construction and for dis-
charge permits for new sources.10
Timing of the EIS
A secondary question is when in the
agencies' planning process should an
environmental impact statement be
written. According to CEQ's guidelines,
environmental impact statements must
be prepared early enough in the agen-
cy's review process to permit meaning-
ful consideration of the environmental
impact statements should come early
in the agency's process in order to
comply with NEPA, so that program
formulation will be directed by re-
search results rather than research pro-
grams being designed to substantiate
programs.11 This means that the agency
must anticipate a minimum 90-day wait
from ths filing of the environmental
impact statement to the initiation of
action, which may be extended if the
final environmental impact statement
follows the draft by more than 60
days. If any revisions are required,
225
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the process may be extended even
longer. It is important to note that
these waiting periods do not apply to
legislative proposals and reports and
may be modified with CEQ consent
under the following conditions: emer-
gency circumstances, expense to the
Federal Government, or impaired pro-
gram effectiveness.
Drafting an EIS
After it determines that an environ-
mental impact statement is required, the
sponsoring agency prepares a draft state-
ment using its own expertise and infor-
mation. In th; writing of statements,
Section 102 requires that federal agen-
cies must: (1) utilize a systematic inter-
disciplinary approach which will ensure
the integrated use of natural and social
sciences and the environmental design
arts in planning and decision making
which may have an ampact on man's en-
vironment; (2) identify and develop
methods in consultation with the CEQ
established by Title II of this Act to en-
sure that presently unquantifiable envi-
ronmental amenities and values may be
given appropriate consideration in deci-
sion making along with economic and
technical considerations; and (3) consult
and obtain comments from other Fed-
eral agencies which may have juris-
diction under law or expertise with re-
spect to the environmental impact, as
well as Federal, state, and local agen-
cies.
If two or more agencies are involved
on the same project, one agency will
be designated as the "lead" agency
and assume responsibility for prepara-
tion and review of environmental im-
pact statements. The designation of a
"lead" agency is not as easy a job
as it may look. For example, in the
case of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the
Department of Interior was the lead
agency since it was the first federal
agency involved when it granted the
pipeline right-of-way permit across fed-
eral lands. However, if the pipeline had
involved private or non-federal lands, it
is not clear whether the Department
of Interior or the Department of Trans-
portation would have been the "lead"
agency, since the latter department
could have been involved on access
roads and highways. The possible con-
fusion lingers on.
State involvement
Unless the state or local law re-
quires its own environmental impact
statement, a state prepares an environ-
mental impact statement only when its
actions are supported by Federal con-
tracts, grants, or permits, and the pro-
cedures of the Federal agency have
delegated initial preparation 'of state-
ments to the state level. For example,
the Federal Highway Administration,
in providing matching grants for many
state highway construction programs,
has the appropriate State Highway De-
partment prepare the draft statements,
but takes responsibility for the final
statement. Here, and in other cases
where the state or local government
is applying for Federal funds, the ap-
plicant is asked to consider and evalu-
ate the environmental impact of the
project. This part of the application
becomes the agency's environmental
impact statement.
In general, every Federal environ-
mental impact should contain the fol-
lowing elements:
(1) a description of proposed action
—The description includes basic data
concerning the project as well as exist-
ing and proposed land use and other
existing environmental features.
(2) an analysis of the environmental
impact of the propossd action—This
evaluation emphasizes significant bene-
ficial and detrimental environmental
consequences upon the state, region, or
community. The environmental impact
considers such factors as anticipated in-
creases in urbanization and displacea-
ment of people.
(3) a discussion of adverse environ-
mental effects which cannot be avoided
should the proposal be implemented-—
This evaluation focuses on such prob-
lems as water or air pollution, effects
upon land, damage to life systems,
urban congestion, threats to health, or
226
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other consequences adverse to the en-
vironment. Adverse effects include
those which cannot be reduced in sever-
ity and those which can be reduced, but
not eliminated, to an acceptable level.
For the last two elements, courts have
ruled that environmental impact state-
ments must consider and balance op-
posing considerations. In the case of the
Cannikin Underground Nuclear Test
Committee For Nuclear Responsibility
v. Seaborg, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia held that
an environmental impact statement
must inform the officials making the
ultimate decision of the full range of
responsible opinion on the effects of the
proposal.12 Therefore, a statement must
set forth opposing views on significant
environmental issues raised by the pro-
posal. The Court stressed that it would
be arbitrary and impermissible to omit
from a statement any reference whatso-
ever to the existence of reasonable or
responsible scientific opinion on such
issues. What is required is a meaningful
reference that identifies the problem at
hand for the responsible officials. The
significance of this decision is that the
initiating agency is required to circulate
a draft for comment, to discuss oppos-
ing opinion in an effective way to meld
the best knowledge on the environmen-
tal issue, and consider all major schools
of thought in the draft statement. If
there are responsible opinions of which
the agency is unaware, they can be
brought out in comments on the draft.
(4) an analysis and consideration of
alternatives to proposed action—The
exploration of alternatives including an
objective evaluation and analysis of the
probable beneficial and/or adverse ef-
fects of each, including an alternative
for no project at all or project termina-
tion. In National Resources Defense
Council v. Morton, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia
clarified recently the requirement of
discussion of alternatives within envi-
ronmental impact statements." The
agencies may not limit consideration of
alternatives to alternatives which could
be adopted by the agency issuing the
impact statement, but rather must in-
clude the broad problem area and al-
ternatives that could be implemented or
developed by other agencies. The case
involved the proposed sale of offshore
gas and oil leases by Department of In-
terior, estimated in worth at $400,000,-
000. The Court enjoined the sale on the
basis that the environmental impact
statement did not adequately discuss
alternatives to the proposed action. Par-
ticularly, agencies may not limit alterna-
tives which could be adopted and put
into effect by the official or agency
issuing the statement. All reasonable
alternatives must be discussed, includ-
ing those which depend for implemen-
tation on legislative or executive action
outside direct control of the agency.
The environmental impact statement is
not only for the exposition of thinking
of the agency, but also for guidance of
those ultimate decisionmakers and must
provide them with environmental effects
of both proposals and the alternatives
for consideration along with various
other elements of public interest. In this
particular case, the opinion set forth the
specific alternative possibilities for
meeting the energy crisis which should
be discussed in the impact statements.
(5) the relationship between local
short-term uses of the environment and
the maintenance and enhancement of
long-term productivity—Short-term uses
include construction, changes in traffic
patterns, the taking of natural or man-
made features, as compared to the long-
term effects including foreseen changes
in land use patterns, water and air qual-
ity, wildlife and other environmental
factors.
(6) any irreversible or irretrievable
commitments of resources involved—
Most projects require use of natural re-
sources, such as forest or agricultural
land, which are generally insignificant
quantities. A project may generate other
related actions that could reach major
proportion and which would be difficult
to rescind. For example, a new highway
project which would provide access to
a previously nonaccessible area acts as
227
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a catalyst for industrial, commercial, or
residential development in the area.
In summary, a Federal environmen-
tal impact statement must be suffi-
ciently detailed to allow an admin-
istrator to arrive at a reasonably ac-
curate decision regarding environmen-
tal costs and benefits from program
implementation. An adequate discus-
sion of alternative proposals must al-
low for program modification during
agency review in order to assure that
their action will be in accordance with
the goal in NEPA.
Reviewing the EIS
After a draft environmental impact
statement is prepared, the sponsoring
agency sends it out for review and com-
ments by other Federal agencies which
have a specialized expertise relating to
the project and to state and local govern-
ments. Because of its small staff, CEQ
may or may not comment. Their pri-
mary role has been to serve as a traffic
coordinator for the flow of environ-
mental impact statements, leaving most
substantive comments to particular ex-
pert agencies. In an appendix to the
CEQ Guidelines, there is a list of Fed-
eral agencies designating areas of ex-
pertise in a particular aspect of the
environment which should be asked to
comment. For example, in the area of
urban planning the following agencies
would be expected to have expertise
and comment on the draft: Department
of Transportation (Federal Highway
Administration), Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development, Environ-
mental Protection Agency, Department
of Interior (Geological Survey and Bu-
reau of Outdoor Recreation), and the
Department of Commerce (Economic
Development Administration).
In addition, state, regional and local
governments may be affected by the
environmental impact statement. When
necessary, copies of the draft environ-
mental impact statement are either sent
directly to that agency authorized to
develop and enforce environmental
standards or to the state, regional, or
metropolitan clearinghouse set up by
A-95, Office of Management and
Budget. The scope of what actions are
susceptible to state and local review
is limited. Budget and legislation pro-
posals are usually excluded from such
local review.
Furthermore, the draft environmen-
tal impact statements must be made
available to the public. Any individual,
group, or organization may comment
on the draft by expressing support or
opposition, suggesting alternatives, or
pointing out environmental effects
which may have been overlooked. The
comments may take a variety of forms
—a letter, a critique or a "counter-102
Statement" setting forth views and
analysis of the draft. Many Federal
agencies encourage the involvement of
environmentalists by securing com-
ments directly from local or regional
environmental groups such as the Si-
erra Club and the National Audubon
Society. Some agencies, like the Federal
Highway Administration, are required
by law to hold public hearings. In addi-
tion, Executive Order 11514 encour-
ages other agencies to hold them as a
process to obtain public opinion. For
non-regulatory hearings, the draft en-
vironmental impact statements must be
made available at least 15 days in ad-
vance.
In general, Federal agencies must
allow at least 30 days for comments,
with 45 days for EPA comments on
the project. Some agencies have found
that this is insufficient time and as a
result have written longer periods in
their procedures for the review proc-
ess. In addition, CEQ Guidelines sug-
gest that requests for 15 day extensions
should be considered favorably.
The final statement
After the comments are returned to
the sponsoring agency, the information
is uszd to modify the project, if neces-
sary, and to prepare a final environmen-
tal impact statement. In the final state-
ment, the agency must include copies of
all comments received. It is the agency's
responsibility to make comments avail-
able on request, with requests being
228
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directed at the agency's environmental
liaison officer.
As of June 1, 1972, CEQ had re-
ceived a total of 2,933 environmental
impact statements, of which 1,552 were
final statements. A breakdown by de-
partment of those which have frequent
contact with local government follows:
Department of Transportation, 1,696;
Corps of Engineers, 438; Department
of Agriculture, 188; and Housing and
Urban Development, 34. By type of
projects, the number submitted are as
follows: roads, 1,436; watershed pro-
tection and flood control, 403; airports,
220; navigation, 186; electric power,
150; parks and wildlife refuges, 66."
At the request of Representative
Dingell (D-Mich), Chairman, Subcom-
mittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Con-
servation, House Committee on Mer-
chant Marine and Fisheries, the Gen-
eral Accounting Office (GAO) con-
ducted a study to evaluate the imple-
mentation of Section 102, NEPA, and
the adequacy of selected environmen-
tal impact statements. The GAO se-
lected one impact statement from the
following agencies: the Soil Conserva-
tion Service, the Army Corps of En-
gineers, the Reclamation Bureau, the
Federal Highway Administration, the
Forest Service and the Department of
Housing and Urban Development. Al-
though the GAO report indicated that
these agencies were concerned about
the environmental consequences of
their programs and projects, it con-
cluded in general that the usefulness
of impact statements was impaired by:
(1) Inadequate discussion of, and
support for, the identified environmen-
tal impacts which involved surface
treatment of impact or, to an absence
of indepth technical discussions of the
consequences of proposed projects.
Some conclusions were not substanti-
ated with hard data and others were
falsely or mistakenly reported. The im-
pact of the projects was partially iden-
tified but the extent of the impact was
not dealt with. There was also the tend-
ency to completely ignore possible en-
vironmental consequences.
(2) Inadequate treatment of review-
ing agencies' comments on environmen-
tal impacts which involved the failure
of agencies to circulate their plans to
other agencies about the proposed proj-
ects. Often, public views were either not
solicited or were not adequately con-
sidered.
(3) Inadequate consideration of al-
ternatives and their environmental im-
pacts which involved not only the fail-
ure to conduct and/or report on in-
depth studies and to support conclu-
sions reached with specific data, but
also the failure to consider alternative
proposals at all. The tendency was to
merely state that one alternative was
best and to leave it at that.16
In a similar study, an interdiscipli-
nary team at the University of Colo-
rado, under a grant from RANK of
the National Science Foundation, re-
viewed and analyzed environmental im-
pact statements through January 1972.
They concluded that
. . . The impact statement process
as it is now being implemented
in government decisionmaking is
not a very effective tool in protect-
ing the environment. Although
two-thirds of the actions for
which statements were prepared
had adverse effects, the actions
proceeded essentially unchanged.
The EPA, which would appear
to be an agency responsible for
suggesting environmentally less
damaging alternatives, did not
comment in a majority of cases."
NEPA circumvented
Thus, although the decisionmaking
process has been opened up to con-
sider environmental factors and to al-
low public participation, the implemen-
tation of Section 102 has not followed
the procedural requirements of NEPA,
In addition, neither NEPA nor the
102 process dictates the agency's choice
of a particular alternative. Courts have
ruled that after an agency has met the
requirements of NEPA the agency's de-
cision, whatever it may be, is subject
to limited judicial review afforded by
229
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arbitrary-or-capricious and substantial-
evidence tests. Thus, agencies may ini-
tiate a project although significant en-
vironmental damage may result.
State and local approaches
The requirement of environmental
impact statements for federally funded
projects at the state or local levels has
stimulated many states as well as local
bodies to write or draft and pass legis-
lation similar to NEPA. As of Septem-
ber 1972, ten states including Montana,
Delaware, New Mexico, North Caro-
lina, Washington, Wisconsin, Indiana,
California, Arizona and Hawaii, had
adopted some form of environmental
impact statements at the state level.
Arizona and Hawaii have adopted the
requirements through administrative
and executive orders, the other states
through legislation similar to NEPA.
Although there are similarities in the
provisions of the state requirements,
there are some differences that are ap-
parent. For example, in the state of
Montana there is the Environmental
Quality Council consisting of thirteen
members, including representatives from
the legislature, the public and the Gov-
ernor's office. Their responsibilities in-
clude the development of guidelines for
the preparation of impact statements as
well as reviewing and commenting on
Federal environmental impact state-
ments. This Council is an arm of the
legislature rather than of the executive
branch, and oversees the functioning
of executive agencies. It also acts as an
ombudsman for the public, with statu-
tory power enabling it to investigate on
its own initiative or the public request
to ensure compliance with environmen-
tal protection laws. In Wisconsin, the
Bureau of Environmental Impact is
responsible for investigating and evalu-
ating the total impact of public and
private projects on the environment.
Arizona's Game and Fish Department
is now required to complete impact
statements prior to the construction of
any large scale water development. Ha-
waii covers projects built on state land
or with state funds and must be filed
with the Office of Environmental Qual-
ity. In Indiana and North Carolina the
law requires environmental impact
statements to be filed with the Gov-
ernor.
California was the first state to adopt
environmental impact procedures and
has passed legislation similar to NEPA.
Several unique features exist in the
California law including: (1) the spon-
soring agency is responsible for paying
for the preparation of the environ-
mental impact statement; (2) an en-
vironmental impact statement must in-
clude mitigation measures proposed to
minimize impact; (3) cities are required
to make environmental impact reports
on any project which may have a signif-
icant effect, and submit them to the
local planning agency; (4) all state re-
views of federal projects must be con-
ducted under the direction of their
law, which results in Federal agencies
receiving more information than is re-
quired presently under NEPA; and (5)
the state act makes all environmental
impact statements falling under its jur-
isdiction available to the state legisla-
ture and to the public. Guidelines were
developed by the Office of Planning and
Research.
Private projects included \
In the beginning, environmental im-
pact statements were prepared by pub-
lic agencies on only public projects.
However, in the Friends of Mammoth
decision (Friends of Mammoth v. Mono
County), the State Supreme Court ruled
that environmental impact reports were
necessary for any private construction
projection that requires a permit and
that could, or will have a significant
effect on the environment. This meant
state and local agencies must develop.
if they do not already have, processes
for developing and reviewing environ-
mental impact reports.
The Vermont experience
A different approach to assessing en-
vironmental impact has been taken by
Vermont. In 1970, the state adopted a
land-use law which gives the state the
right to limit any development that
230
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could harm the environment. To en-
force this right, the state requires all but
small-scale developers to file an im-
pact statement in the process of ob-
taining a building permit. It is the re-
sponsibility of the developer to demon-
strate that his development will not
cause undue damage to the air, over-
burden the water supply, or cause un-
reasonable soil erosion.
The state has created eight district
commissions which administer the pro-
gram and are responsible for (1) study-
ing the impact of the proposed project
on the water supply, soil, natural beau-
ty, population, and transportation sys-
tem; (2) asking developers to modify
his plans in order to minimize potential
environmental damages; (3) holding, if
necessary, public hearings in which the
developers, environmental groups, civic
groups, and governmental officials may
discuss the issue, and (4) granting or
denying the building permit. The Com-
mission will be assisted by the state's
Environmental Conservation Agency
which may also study the developer's
application and may make recommen-
dations to the local commission. If an
application including impact statement
are approved by the district commission
a permit is usually granted within 60
days. An appeal can be made to the
Vermont Environmental Board, and if
necessary to the State Supreme Court.
If the law is violated, the State can
fine the developer $500 for each day
of violation or imprisonment for not
more than two years or both. So far,
the effectiveness of the law has been
hampered by (1) a lack of manpower
to enforce the law, resulting in clear-
ing and grading before applying for a
permit, (2) insufficient guidelines for
the developer in assessing potential en-
vironmental damage, and (3) weaken-
ing of the district commission when
threatened with a lawsuit.
However, not all states feel that pro-
visions similar to NEPA would b»
beneficial for them. They see the Fed-
eral process as ineffective and realize
innovations are needed. During 1972,
in the states of New York and Con-
necticut, the state legislatures passed
some form of environmental impact
statement similar to the provisions in
NEPA. But they were vetoed by Gov-
ernor Rockefeller and Governor Thom-
as J. Meskill. Although both governors
were sympathetic to the underlying goal,
their chief objection was to the con-
fusion and to possible delays which
might result from a requirement that
all agencies file environmental impact
statements before action is taken. In
addition, the financial burden would in-
crease since the implementation would
require additional personnel and, in
many cases, duplication of existing re-
views.
City initiatives
With the requirement of impact state-
ments by the federal government and
by many states, cities have implemented
or plan to implement some format of
environmental impact statements, pro-
grams, and projects in their own agen-
cies. Cities see the environmental im-
pact statements as a meaningful way
of incorporating environmental varia-
bles and values into a decisionmaking
process. They feel that environmental
impact statements will increase the
quality of decisions made in that city.
One of the first cities to adopt en-
vironmental legislation was Inglewood,
California, which adopted a policy of
environmental impact studies for proj-
ects over $25,000 or smaller projects
which could be grouped collectively to
$25,000. Adopted on May 23, 1972,
their ordinance recognized that every
project will have some environmental
effect and thus some assessment is re-
quired on every project. However, this
assessment may involve only an initial
review determining that the environ-
mental effects will be insignificant and
that no further study is needed. The
process is as follows: (1) the environ-
mental standards division must estab-
lish guidelines for preparation of state-
ments; (2) the operating agencies and
departments prepare an environmental
impact study according to guidelines
(these statements are prepared after pre-
liminary design but before adoption of
design budget or construction budget);
231
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(3) the environmental impact studies
are then reviewed by the environmental
standards division which will confer
with the operating department when
revisions are necessary; (4) the impact
study is reviewed by the planning divi-
sion; (5) the city administrator reviews
each statement and determines whether
environmental safeguards are included
in the project or if the environmental
impact may be significant enough to
warrant a public hearing. The environ-
mental standards division estimated
that environmental impact studies could
be conducted. It was figured that less
than one percent of the total project
costs would be spent on conducting the
environmental assessment. The environ-
mental standards division also suggested
on large projects, especially where the
city had minimal expertise, that outside
consultants be involved in writing and
conducting the assessment.
Not all city officials or cities, how-
ever, look favorably upon the national
program and its benefits, or see the
necessity of creating their own pro-
cedure for writing environment impact
studies. They have expressed concern
over the efficiency of such a local pro.-
gram and the potential unnecessary
delay it may cause in initiating needed
projects in urban areas. They realize
that at the present time it is hard
enough to plan and develop a program
and get city council approval without
adding another step which would in-
volve looking at how the environment
is effected. Cities are, however, exam-
ining the question of whether they can
develop some form of environmental
imoact statement process and are watch-
ing and analyzing the events both at
the national and state levels.
EIS strengths and weaknesses
At the present time, it is quite ap-
parent that the process of meaningfully
assessing environmental consequences
for projects is more myth than reality.
The present strengths and weakness of
environmental impact statements can be
summarized as follows:
Strengths:
(1) Many public agencies have
modified their planning processes
to include environmental consider-
ations previously neglected.
(2) The decisionmaking process
in government has been opened to
increased public scrutiny through
the involvement of environmental
and other interest groups in the
impact statement process.
(3) As a result of having to
write and review environmental
impact statements many public
agencies are developing their own
technical staffs for dealing with
environmental problems.
(4) Some projects which had
the potential of being environ-
mentally damaging have been
stopped.
Weaknesses:
(1) The implementation of the
environmental impact statement
process has been inconsistent, with
some agencies writing an excessive
number of environmental impact
statements, creating more paper-
work and less assessment.
(2) The cost of environmental
assessment places additional finan-
cial burden on public agencies
since they need some financial aid
to cover the costs of hiring addi-
tional personnel or private consult-
ants.
(3) The quality of environmen-
tal impact statements has been
hampered by a lack of technical
knowledge on such questions as
what is environmental quality?
What should be included in a good
environmental impact statement?
What is the present condition of
the environment?
(4) The time in writing and re-
viewing impact statements has in-
creased the length of time for ap-
plication approval, thus delaying
many projects while others review
and comment upon the environ-
mental impact statement.
(5) Public agencies and environ-
mental groups have emphasized
more the procedural requirements
than the substantive content of the
statements themselves.
232
-------
(6) There has been some lack of
political and administrative support
at the federal level as demonstrated
by the enactment but non-imple-
mentation of the Environmental
Quality Improvement Act of 1970
which would have developed
CEQ's staff for the environmental
impact statement process and the
drive in Congress for exempting
various agencies from having to
comply with Section 102.
The trend toward more public agen-
cies adopting some form of environ-
mental impact statement is likely to
continue. The potentiality of environ-
mental impact statements for integrative
public decisionmaking will be realized
only if the weaknesses are overcome
soon. If not, environmental impact
statements will be even more a program
justification than an environmental as-
sessment.
Notes for
Paper 3
1 A more comprehensive analysis can be
found in the author's doctoral dissertation,
The Politics of Federal Environmental
Impact Statements.
3 Public Law 91-190, 4 U.S.C. §4321 et.
seq., 83, Stat. 852.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
'Executive Order No. 11514, 35 Fed-
eral Register 4247 (March 5, 1970).
8 Calvert Cliffs' Coordinating Committee
v. AEC, 449 F.2d 1109, 1113-4, 2 ERC
1779, 1781-82, 1ELR 20346; 03248 (D.C.
Cir. 1971).
7 Scherr v. Volpe, 336 F. Supp. 88, 888,
3ERC 1586, 1590, 2ELR 20068, 20070
(W.D. Wis. 1971) and Natural Resources
Defense Council v. Grant, 3ERC 1883,
2ELR 20185 (E.D.N.C. 1972).
8 Izaak Walton League v. Schlesinger
(D.D.C. 1971).
"Kalur v. Resor, 335 F. Supp. 1, 3ERC
1458, 1ELR 20637 (D.D.C. 1971).
10 Public Law 92-500.
11 EOF v. Corps of Engineers, LR-70-C-
203, (D. Ark. 1971) and EOF v. Hardin,
CA 2319-70, (D.D.C., 1971).
12 Committee for Nuclear Responsibility
y. Seaborg, 3ERC 1126, 1ELR 20469
(D.C. Cir. 1971).
13 Natural Resources Defense Council
v. Morton, 3ERC 1623, 2ELR 20071
(D.D.C. 1972).
"U.S. Council on Environmental Qual-
ity. Environmental Quality 1972. (Wash-
ington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
1972), pp. 248-249.
15 U.S. General Accounting Office. Ade-
quacy of Selected Environmental Impact
Statements Prepared Under NEPA of
1969. Report to the Subcommittee on
Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation,
House Committee on Merchant Marine
and Fisheries, 1972.
18 Kreith, Frank, "Lack of Impact," En-
vironment XV (January/February 1973),
p. 30.
233
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V.4 Fixed
versus
variable
environmental
standards
Robert Pikul
*
The established nature and enforce-
ment of environmental standards will
have a far reaching impact on future
socio-economic-environmental charac-
teristics of geographical areas, avail-
ability and cost of energy, revitalization
of urban areas, and overall quality of
life.
Environmental standards have been
and are being formulated by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, the
states, and local governments for a
variety of pollutants released into air,
water, and land. The process requires
consideration of items such as effects
(health, economic, ecological), meas-
urement techniques, current environ-
mental levels, pollution sources, and the
technology and economics of control.
A variety of procedures based on legis-
lative authority, technical problems, and
administrative requirements have been
devised and implemented by organiza-
tions responsible for development of
standards.23
This paper provides a frame of refer-
ence for discussions of fixed versus
variable standards and generally ex-
plores some potential social and eco-
nomic consequences of allowing variable
standards. It will be shown that effluent
or emission standards particularly ex-
hibit both fixed as well as variable prop-
erties based on parameters such as time,
*Presented by •Robert Pikul, MITRE
Corporation, at the National Conference
on Managing the Environment.
geographical area, and source category.
variability in standards generally results
from independent analyses of individual
pollutants and individual source cate-
gories. Because of the vital issues related
to the levels and nature of environ-
mental standards, their variability
should result from an explicit consider-
ation of emission control strategies
aimed at achieving well defined envi-
ronmental quality goals.
The implications of variable stand-
ards are discussed within the context of
the air pollution problem as a specific
illustration.
The concept of fixed versus variable
standards may be confusing because of
the large number of parameters which
affect proper interpretation. For exam-
ple, the concept pertains to variability
(or invariability) with respect to time,
space, among source categories and
within source categories.
Time variation
Variation in time could be repre-
sented by the point in time at which
standards are to be achieved or the
ability to vary ambient or emission
standards over a relatively short period
(e.g., seasonally, daily). A short time
period is arbitrarily assumed in this
paper to emphasize short term discre-
tionary changes in standards based upon
risks, suitable control techniques and
profile of available resources compared
to long term schedule of achievement
fixed by law based upon perceived need
for improving environmental quality. A
general relationship between varying
ambient levels and time-lagged con-
trolled emissions is shown in Figure 1.
Space variation
This parameter refers to the possi-
bility of allowing different standards in
different geographical areas, in recog-
nition of social values, geographical and
climatic differences, and population
density. It includes the option of allow-
ing one level of power-plant emissions
in a municipality, a different (e.g., less
stringent) level within a parent county
and still another level on a statewide
234
-------
basis. It also includes the option of
promulgating different standards for dif-
ferent sections of the country.
Variation among sources
Variation among source categories
applies to emissions or discharges al-
lowed for various emitter categories
which emit the same type of pollutant
(e.g., steam electric generating plants,
sulfuric acid plants). The EPA has
prepared effluent guidance documents
for twenty-one industries under the
1972 Federal Water Pollution Control
Act,26 which identifies twenty-seven in-
dustries for which effluent guidelines
must be prepared*.
The EPA believes that guidelines are
required for an additional fifteen areas*.
According to these guidelines, dis-
charges are generally fixed in time and
space. For a specific pollutant, how-
ever, they vary among defined cate-
gories of sources.
Variation within categories
This parameter allows for the possi-
bility of different emission or discharge
levels for specific selected sources with-
* The industrial categories for effluent
guidance according to 1972 Federal Water
Pollution Control Act are the following:
canned fruits and vegetables, canned sea-
food, cement manufacturing, dairy prod-
ucts processing, electroplating, feedlots,
ferroalloy manufacturing, fertilizer, glass
and asbestos, grain mills, inorganic chemi-
cal manufacturing, iron and steel manu-
facturing, leather tanning, meat products
and rendering, nonferrous metals, organic
chemicals manufacturing, paperboard and
builders paper, petroleum refining, phos-
phate manufacturing, plastics and syn-
thetics, pulp and paper mills, rubber
processing, soap and detergents, steam
electric power, sugar processing, textile
mills, and timber products.
* These additional categories for whicb
the EPA feels that effluent guidance is re-
quired are as follows: beverages, cane
sugar, coal mining, fiberglass insulation,
fish hatcheries, metal ores, motor vehicles,
natural gas liquids, paints, pesticides, pe-
troleum drilling, Pharmaceuticals, photo
processing, sand and gravel, and water
supply.
in a category. Limitation of sulfur di-
oxide emissions per unit energy from a
specific power plant, for example, would
be allowed to differ from that of other
power plants in a given locale, based
upon plant characteristics such as age,
boiler type and stack size. An illustra-
tion of this variability applies to the
effluent guidelines mentioned above
since they are meant to apply to the
most significant polluters.
Variation by use
When considering water pollution, a
major element affecting variation of
standards is use of the water receiving
the effluent.
Uses generally conform to the follow-
ing categories: public water supply; in-
dustrial water supply; propagation of
aquatic life; or water contact recreation.
Not ony do standards for a particular
pollutant vary among use levels in dif-
ferent geographic areas, but the use
levels themselves vary from state to
state. For example, Illinois at one ex-
treme has defined only two use cate-
gories, while Missouri has defined
seventeen.1527 Water quality standards
are fixed in time once they are imple-
mented, but vary over geographical
areas and by use. For example, as ap-
plied to the pulp and paper industry, the
fecal coliform tests associated with
pathogens in the effluent are generally
limited to 1000 organisms per 1000
milliliters of water. A reduced con-
centration must be achieved, however,
if receiving waters are used for shell-
fish harvesting or contact recreation
sports.
Ambient and emission standards
Primary ambient standards to safe-
guard the public health and secondary
ambient standards to safeguard public
welfare were promulgated in April,
1971, for six primary air pollutants: sul-
fur dioxide, total suspended particulates,
hydrocarbons, nitrogen dioxide, carbon
monoxide and total oxidants. The effec-
tive date for achievement of primary
standards has been set for 1975, and for
secondary standards a reasonable time
235
-------
FIGURE 1.—ILLUSTRATION OF TIME-VARIABLE EMISSION STANDARDS
AMBIENT LEVELS
TIME-LAGGED CONTROLLED EMISSIONS
10
TIME IN DAYS
15
20
thereafter. Ambient standards are fixed
in time and space. Former EPA Ad-
ministrator William D. Ruckelshaus has
indicated that the Clean Air Act does
not allow for increase of the health risk
upon which the primary standards were
formulated.18 Changes to allow regional
variability must be achieved through
legislative action.
In contrast to the fixed ambient stand-
ards, emission limitations on stationary
sources have been set according to State
Implementation Plans (SIP's) and vary
from state-to-state, among source cate-
gories and, in some instances, in time.
Arkansas, for instance, allows the burn-
ing of any quality fuel as long as ground
level ambient standards are not ex-
ceeded. Hence, emission standards are
implicit. Although any generalization
in this regard is hazardous, one might
interpret this to mean that emissions
could be allowed to vary during dif-
ferent periods of ventilation and assimil-
ative capacity of the atmosphere as long
as ambient standards are not violated.
On the other hand, Alabama has an
Implementation Plan which specifies
.72 percent sulfur content for all coal
burned and 1.08 percent sulfur for
residual fuel oil. New source perform-
ance standards for utilities burning oil
have been set at .72 percent.8
Section 202 of the Clean Air Act
specifies that emission of carbon mon-
oxide and hydrocarbons for light duty
engines and vehicles manufactured in
1975 be reduced to ninety percent of
levels for engines manufactured in
1970. The limitations are the same for
nitrogen oxides emissions for vehicles
manufactured in 1976, based on levels
emitted by engines in 1971. Recently,
the EPA Administrator granted a one-
year extension for implementation of
these standards. These limits, expressed
in grams per vehicle mile, will be
fixed in time for all sections of the
country.
Emission standards for new station-
ary sources have been promulgated for
various pollutants as they apply to
Group 1 industrial categories (see
Table 1). Standards are being de-
veloped for sources in Groups 2 and
3. Other groups may be considered to
include sources such as gas turbines,
lime plants, grain milling, auto assembly
plants and petroleum, refineries. It is
likely that these standards may be fixed
236
-------
TABLE 1.—New source performance
standards
Source
Group 1 Steam Generators >250 Million
BTU/hr.
Incinerators
Portland Cement
Nitric Acid Manufacture
Sulfuric Acid Manufacture
Group 2 Asphalt Batch
Petroleum F.C.C.
Rendering Plants
Brass and Bronze
Basic Oxygen Furnace
Sewage Incinerator
Secondary Lead
Group 3 Non-Ferrous Smelters
Aluminum Reduction
Kraft Mills
Coking Plants
Phosphate Reduction
Phosphorus Reduction
Animal Feed Defluorination
Ferro-alloy Plants
Coal Cleaning Plants
in time, space, and within source cate-
gory (e.g., 0.8 pounds of sulfur dioxide
per million BTU for liquid fossil fuels
and 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per
million BTU for solid fossil fuels
burned in all affected new steam gen-
erating plants), but variable among
categories, for a particular pollutant.
While total emissions from a given
emitter may vary because of size of
the emitter, emission rates are likely to
be fixed.
Hazardous pollutant emission stand-
ards for mercury, asbestos and beryl-
lium have been developed with refer-
ence to specific source categories and
have similar space, time and source
variability characteristics as new source
performance standards. In the future,
standards may be developed for other
selected hazardous pollutants.*
* These selected potential hazardous pol-
lutants are: cadmium, arsenic, poly chlor-
inated biphenyl, nickel, polycylic organic
matter, aeroallergens, reactive organic,
pesticides, radioactive material, vanaduim,
manganese, chromium, selenium, chlorine,
hydrochloric acid, copper, zinc, boron,
barium, tin, phosphorous, and lithium.
Variability characteristics
The preceding discussion emphasizes
that the interpretation of the concept
of fixed versus variable standards is
complex because one must consider the
various types of standards, the environ-
mental medium, and time, space, source
category and use-level parameters. The
pervasiveness of environmental stand-
ards will have a significant impact on all
major industrial sectors of the country
and related economic and social ac-
tivities. The examples of air and water
standards are sufficient to illustrate this
point. A summary of the present situa-
tion based on the preceding illustration
is shown in Table 2. The designation
of fixed (F) or variable (V) represents
major indications rather than clear, un-
ambiguous extremes. This summariza-
tion provides a frame of reference for
discussion in the following sections.
Within this frame of reference, only
the ambient standards and mobile
source emission standards may be char-
acterized as fixed.
Objections to variable standards
Consideration of variable standards
might allow some flexibility in balanc-
ing risk of exposure with potential eco-
nomic, technical and social effects of
implementation of control technology.
In addition, a control strategy which
would permit variable emission stand-
ards (e.g., selective or intermittent con-
trols) within source categories designed
to meet ambient standards might pro-
vide some less stringent requirements
for specific sources, with no deteriora-
tion in environmental quality. The is-
sues are particularly important in cities
with older housing and industries where
implementation of fixed standards on a
uniform basis might create significant
dislocation and inhibit opportunity for
economic and socially viable renewal
and growth.
Reasons offered against adopting var-
iable standards are discussed below.
Inequitable treatment
This is an important concern to the
individual emitter who is controlled
237
-------
to
oo
Medium
WATER
AIR
TABLE 2. — Fixed vs. variable
Standard/ Guideline
WATER QUALITY
EFFLUENT DISCHARGE
AMBIENT
STATIONARY SOURCE EMISSIONS
(SIPs)
MOBILE SOURCE EMISSIONS
NEW SOURCE PERFORMANCE
HAZARDOUS POLLUTANTS
standards and
Time
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
guidelines
Space
V
F
F
V
F
F
F
for air and water media.
Among Space Within Source
Categories Categories
(Unit Rates) (Unit Rates)
— . — .
V V
— —
V F
— —
V F
V F
Use
V
V
—
^_
—
—
—
F = Fixed
V = Variable
— = Not Applicable
-------
more stringently than a neighboring
or distant competitor. His costs, theo-
retically, are higher, and he has a dis-
advantage in the marketplace. This is
a valid concern, but on the other hand,
the concept of equity ought to be
viewed more broadly to include external
costs of environmental damage. If spe-
cific emitted A degrades the environ-
ment more severely than emitted B,
thereby imposing greater social and
economic burdens on society, one can
argue that A ought to pay more than
B to improve the situation (given that
society dictates that the situation must
somehow be improved). It is not clear,
without additional analysis, which alter-
native is preferable from a societal
point of view.
Another aspect of this issue involves
the equitable allocation of allowable
air polution emissions among and with-
in specific emitter categories. One ap-
proach is to set an ambient air quality
goal and to allocate emission rates in
a localized area based upon the ambient
effect of these emissions, so that the de-
sired air quality goal is achieved, or
surpassed. The similarity in the struc-
ture of the problem confronting eco-
nomic decision makers in setting fiscal
policy to environmental decision mark-
ing is illustrated in Table 3."
Allocation of emissions, implied by
TABLE 3.—Similarity in the structures of environmental and fiscal parameters.
Structural Element Environmental
Fiscal
Goals
Achieve ambient standards Balance Budget, maintain high in-
come and employment
Flexible and graduated tax rates
Debt retirement
Mechanism Flexible emission rates
Safeguards Non-degradation
External Influences Variation in assimilative Variation in GNP
capacity of environment
allowing variable emission standards, is
in some ways analogous to allocation
of block grants for public assistance.
Questions concerning how to set the
maximum emissions (aggregate amount
of assistance) and how to distribute the
emissions (grants) are similar in each
case. James A. Maxwell" suggested in
1955 that the distribution of the na-
tional aggregate in the form of block
grants be set on the basis of minimum
per capita expenditure. A standard ef-
fort for each state would be defined as
a percentage of the income payment
raised and spent by the state. Poor
states would not reach the per capita
standard and would receive federal
grants to meet the minimum goal. Some
wealthier states may receive no sup-
plementary federal grants. In this ex-
ample, the question of equity is based
not on differences in amounts of federal
grants received by different states but
on a minimum national per capita ex-
penditure for public assistance for all
citizens.
The problems of environmental pol-
icy and standards are relatively recent
national issues compared to the prob-
lems of fiscal and economic policy. En-
vironmental problems require an under-
standing of the natural sciences and
technology, utilizing fundamental prin-
ciples of chemistry, physics and biology.
The preceding discussion suggests that
they also include allocation considera-
tions which economic and fiscal policy-
makers have been confronting over a
longer period of time. Personnel from
these disciplines could provide a fresh
239
-------
perspective for the scientifically ori-
ented environmentalists in the formula-
tion of environmental standards.
Complexity and costs
Some people argue that variable
standards are more complex to ad-
minster and enforce than fixed stand-
ards. Yet, one should consider whether
the benefits of variable standards (e.g.,
in regard to degree of environmental
quality achieved, greater availability of
low-sulfur fuels, overall operating costs,
economic dislocations) are greater than
for fixed standards and if these benefits
outweigh potentially higher administra-
tive costs. Our federal tax structure is
inequitable, in an absolute sense, and
highly complex; yet, according to fig-
ures from the Internal Revenue Service,
administrative costs amount to only 0.5
cents on each dollar collected.21 This
is not to say that they could not be
lower if a less complex tax structure
were adopted. Administrative costs do
not appear to be the overriding issue
associated with overhauling the tax
structure. Voluntary compliance is an
important reason for low administra-
tive costs of the tax collection. This
technique could also be employed in
enforcement of emission standards. It
has yet to be demonstrated from a
cost-benefit point of view that adminis-
trative costs would eliminate considera-
tion of variable environmental stand-
ards.
National economy
American compaines have manufac-
turing facilities in many parts of the
country and sell their products in na-
tional and worldwide markets. If motor
vehicle emission standards varied from
state to state, this would require that
the manufacturers adopt a variety of
control devices to meet the different
standards. Assuming these devices were
developed and performed effectively, it
would probably not strain the industry's
ingenuity to include another option in
the assembly process. The combination
of options already offered are in the
thousands^ and multfplying these by a
factor of four or five should pose no
serious problems. But, relocation by in-
dividuals from one section of the coun-
try to another would constitute sig-
nificant problems in insuring that their
vehicles met local standards. The mone-
tary cost of retrofit to the motorist
could be significant, in addition to the
inconveniences likely to be encountered.
Impact of variable standards
What are some of the impacts of
fixed versus variable standards? The
national ambient standards for six pri-
mary air pollutants are designed to pro-
tect the public health and welfare.
Questions have been raised concerning
the values of the standard with respect
to health risk. They may be changed as
more health effects data become avail-
able, but variation on a geographic
basis would require a change in the
law.
A specific example of the drastic
measures proposed to achieve the fixed
ambient standard of oxidants * applies
to the South Coast Air Basin which
covers a major portion of South Cali-
fornia, including most of Los Angeles
County.4 In 1970, this standard was ex-
ceeded in some locations on 250 days.
Ten percent of the readings taken in
the basin were .40 parts per million.
There is a serious problem in achieving
the ambient standard. Uncontrolled
emissions of reactive hydrocarbons, a
major precursor of oxidant formation,
is forecast by the EPA to be 691 tons
per day in 1977. In order to meet the
oxidant standard, EPA estimates that
emissions must be reduced to 160 tons
per day. A variety of controls have been
proposed to meet this goal, the most
dramatic of which involve a reduction
of over eighty percent in vehicle miles
traveled during critical periods from
May to October. A mechanism to
achieve this reduction would rely on ra-
tioning of gasoline by as much as
eighty-two percent. Other actions would
involve: (a) installation of retrofit de
*160 jug/m3 or .08 part per million for
a one hour period not to be exceeded more
than once per year.
240
-------
vices on all 1955 and newer vehicles
(in 1972, there were about six million
such vehicles in the area), (b) annual
inspections, and (c) conversion of all
1971-1974 light and heavy duty vehicles
in fleets of over ten cars to use gaseous
fuels.
The economic impact and social im-
pact of the proposals would include: in-
creased cost to vehicle owners ($200-
$400 capital and $5-$ 15 annual main-
tenance) with particularly severe im-
pact on low income groups; increased
reliance on car-pooling and public
transit; reduced mobility; potential loss
of income due to decreased mobility;
economic curtailment of automotive
service and supply facilities; changes in
property values; reduced taxes; and po-
tential development of effective rapid
transit.
The total extent of these impacts are
yet to be analyzed. Under the present
provisions of the Clean Air Act, the
ten million people in this section of
the country face a severe change in
their current life style, as well as a
drastic reduction in the economic via-
bility of the area.
Weighing impacts
One can speculate on the potential
impact that variable ambient standards
might have on this kind of a situation.
A higher limit might be less restrictive,
but it is not clear by what amount.
Figure 2 shows two hypothetical rela-
tionships between hydrocarbon emission
limits and oxidant concentrations. The
EPA has estimated that at .08 parts per
million, the emissions must be at most
160 tons per day (point P, Figure 2).
Beyond this point, curve B indicates a
more favorable emission allowance than
curve A. If one were contemplating
raising the oxidant standard from .08
to 0.15 parts per million, then the
emission limit would be 200 tons per
day if curve A described the situation
(point P'), and would be 425 tons per
day if curve B did (point P"). One
might conclude that the increased risk
represented by increasing the standard
buys little relief under curve A, but pro-
vides significant relief under curve B.
It would be desirable to quantify the
risk as a function of the concentration
to arrive at a proper balance of risk and
impact and cost of limiting emissions.
Let us examine that curve B prevails
and that at 0.15 parts per million oxi-
dant concentration there is little more
noticeable effect than increased eye ir-
ritation. It is conceivable that the cit-
izens in the area may opt for the
greater risk associated with the higher
standard in order to suffer a less severe
curtailment on limitation of emissions.
While a detailed analysis is required
for obtaining precise quantitative esti-
mates, it is safe to say that most ad-
verse impacts (related to emission con-
trols) listed above would be reduced.
Suppose the limit of 0.15 parts per mil-
lion might be achieved by increasing
car pooling by fifty percent; this might
represent a far more attractive option
than living with the consequences of
achieving a .08 parts per million stand-
ard. As long as great uncertainty exists
concerning precise health effects of
various concentration levels, considera-
tion of variable ambient standards on
a geographical basis has some merit. No
one would argue that the Los Angeles
area has had acceptably clean air over
the last thirty years. On the other hand,
the general area has attracted ten mil-
lion people and offered some form of
satisfaction of human needs.
People have long accepted risks as-
sociated with the automobile. Former
Administrator Ruckelshaus has reported
that eighty-five percent of the people
surveyed in an opinion poll indicated
that the consequences and risks related
to the automobile — displacement of
homes and business by highways, air
pollution, noise, congestion, two million
deaths and tens of millions injured in
this country—was worth the freedom of
mobility. Perhaps the people in southern
California may feel that they would
prefer to preserve a significant portion
of that freedom at the expense of re-
laxing the air quality standard.18 Any
such choice made by people in this
241
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FIGURE 2.—ILLUSTRATIVE RELATIONSHIPS—HYDROCARBON EMISSIONS VS.
AMBIENT OXIDANT CONCENTRATION
600-
500-
§ 425-] Tfp,,
c/) 400-
m>
go 300-
8° 200-
60-
100
51
0
~7\ P"
p1
0.08 0.10 0.15 0.2
OXIDANT CONCENTRATION—ppm
t t
LIFESTYLE IMPACT DECREASING SEVERITY
—I
0.4
RATIONING
CAR-POOLING
RETROFIT
FLEET CONVERSION
IMPACTS
JOBS
TAXES
SERVICES
CAR-POOLING
area has to consider its impact on the
people outside this area.
Allowing a choice
Acceptance of variable standards in
different geographic areas might allow
people to make a choice regarding
where they may want to live, based on
a consideration of risk associated with
air quality and other economic and so-
cial factors. Apparently, however, en-
virnnmental awareness does not yet
play that prominent a role when people
choose their residence. Financial con-
straints and economic opportunities
probably are more significant factors.
As pointed out in a recent report of
the Arvisory Committee on the Biolog-
ical Effects of Ionizing Radiation,21
. . . the annual difference in natural
radiation between a location in Louisi-
ana and one in Colorado might be 100
mrem or more. Even a person who
knows this probably does not take this
difference into account in deciding to
change his residence.
An adverse impact of allowing var-
iable ambient standards might be to
drive industry into geographic areas al-
lowing higher (numerical) standards.
242
-------
These areas are likely to be dirty and
heavily populated. This would occur
particularly if standards in a given area
were set to allow degradation of the
current ambient levels. To prevent areas
with severe air pollution problems from
getting worse, and to discourage indus-
tries from seeking air pollution control
havens, a non-degradation limit with re-
spect to current ambient air quality
might be imposed.
In new town development areas,
more stringent ambient standards might
be promulgated on the basis of utili-
zation of feasible new technology (e.g.,
emission controls, waste heat utiliza-
tion, reclcying) which might be planned,
designed, and applied at the beginning
to achieve a high level of environment-
al quality.
Stationary sources
Stationary source emission standards
tend to be variable among source cate-
gories, but fixed among emitters within
a specific category (Table 2). Emission
standards and regulations should be set
on the basis of achieving an ambient
level goal. Emission regulations pre-
pared by the states attempt to achieve
ambient standards throughout an Air
Quality Control Region, based on the
monitoring site having the highest am-
bient value in the Region. All emitters
within a combustion source category,
for example, must burn fuel in order
not to emit more than a maximum
amount of sulfur per million BTU.
This tactic often results in severe re-
strictions on some emitters who con-
tribute relatively little degradtion to air
quality levels. In older urban areas,
this may arbitrarily impose severe eco-
nomic control costs on some plants.
This may result in the abandoning of
industries and residential apartment
areas, creating hardship among the
lower and middle income groups. Sec-
ondary effects may include intensifying
social unrest in the form of increased
delinquency, crime, and dereliction. A
combination of allowing flexible am-
bient standards with more selective ap-
plication of controls may allow these
areas to be economically and socially
maintained.
The implementation of variable
emission standards is interrelated with
strategies for emission controls that em-
ploy two types of strategies—fixed and
intermittent.
Fixed strategies
Fixed strategies in pollution control
consist of techniques such as process
modification, time variance in imple-
mentation of regulations, and selective
control of sources whose emissions con-
stitute the greatest degradation to am-
bient air quality.
The results of several studies tend to
support greater flexibility in emission
standards and application of control
strategies. Plotkin and Lewis have com-
pared the application of uniform emis-
sion standards to source categories with
a least-cost selective control strategy
for the St. Louis Airshed." The least-
cost approach achieves a minimum cost
of control by applying the most strin-
gent controls to sources which con-
tribute most to air quality degradation
or whose marginal control costs are low,
or both. The uniform emission control
strategy, according to the analysis,
would cost $10.4 million annually while
the least-cost strategy would cost $6
million. The ground level concentra-
tions for trn least-cost strategy were
higher than for the uniform emissions
strategy. The additional benefits of uni-
form controls were not computed to
relate them to the additional $4.4 mil-
lion annual cost. Additional analysis
performed by the EPA recently for the
St. Louis area indicates a cost reduction
factor of 3 to 6 for selective control
(with respect to fixed emission stand-
ards) depending on the emission level.11
Results of a study for three Air Quality
Control Regions conducted by Krajeski
and Yeager," show that seventy-five per-
cent effective control applied to a rela-
tively small number of emitters on a
selective basis would result in achieve-
ment of the primary sulfur dioxide
standard (Table 4). For example, con-
trol of 300 emitters at seventy-five per-
243
-------
TABLE 4.—Summary of selective control strategy applied to three AQCR's
AQCR
Percent of
No. of No. of emitters emissions
emission controlled at requiring
sources 75% effectiveness control
New York
Philadelphia
Niagra Frontier
1,285
700
541
300
53
17
64
19
27
cent effectiveness in the New York
area reduces overall emissions by sixty-
four percent and achieves the ambient
level at all receptors (Table 5). All
emissions requiring control are combus-
tive in origin. Since the New York
area may be using five million tons of
coal and 215 million barrels of residual
fuel oil annually, less stringent emission
controls on thirty-six percent of the
fuels would provide a substantial con-
tribution in reducing projected clean
fuel deficits. These savings in clean fuel
might be extended on a national basis.
Moreover, allowing variability of extent
of controls within and among source
categories might allow even further
economies.
Another alternative to allow more
flexibility in emissions has been a pro-
posed emissions tax. Many investigators
have examined the implication of an
emission tax which, if set at a proper
rate, would provide an incentive to
minimize operating costs and reduce
emissions. Tax revenues could be ap-
plied toward developing better control
technology and alleviating damage
costs.
7 12 19 22 23
Increased flexibility might allow most
areas in the country to achieve clean
air standards with minimal imposition
of economic and social dislocation.
Intermittent strategies
Air quality is generally a function
of emissions, assimilative capacity of
the environment, control strategies and
background levels. The dynamic inter-
play of these parameters constitutes an
intermittent control strategy. Examples
of these include,25 load switching (e.g.,
drawing power from outside an area
which is experiencing low assimilative
capacity); work pattern modification
(e.g., staggering of work schedules);
and fuel switching (by sulfur quality
or by type, i.e., coal to oil).
Criteria for evaluating intermittent
control systems, based on meteorolog-
ical conditions have been developed by
EPA.15 Fuel and load switching strate-
gies (seasonally, daily) to minimize use
of low-sulfur fuels while still achieving
ambient standards have been described
in several studies.1 °73 The Tennessee
Valley Authority has had experience in
investigating applications of fuel and
TABLE 5.—Selective reduction of SO* emission to achieve ng/ in3 New York AQCR
Uncontrolled
emissions from
Emitter category
Industrial Combustion ....
Industrial Process
Utility Power
Area Sources
Total
C=.25B+(A— B)
244
Present
sources
.... 106
42
31
1 106
.. 1,285
Emissions
tons/day
(A)
238
79
1,389
2,020
3,726
sources
control
Sources
14
0
21
265
300
requiring
at 75%
Tons /day
(B)
111
0
1,039
1,248
2,398
Total
controled
Sources
106
42
31
1,106
1,285
emissions
Tons/day
(C)
155
79
610
1,084
1,928
-------
load switching techniques based upon
meteorological conditions at the Para-
dise Steam Plant. Development costs
were estimated at $262 thousands and
annual operating costs were estimated
at $103 thousand.1020
E. A. Ward has made a gross esti-
mate of the national impact of applying
a fuel quality switching strategy * (i.e.,
switching from low-sulfur to high-sul-
fur content coal or low-sulfur to high-
sulfur oil during days of good ventila-
tion or high assimilative capacity). An
analysis of Air Pollution Potential Ad-
visories issued by the National Weather
Service indicates that eighty percent of
time it would be possible to burn high-
sulfur content fuel because the assimila-
tive capacity of the atmosphere is high.
In 1970, steam electric plants consumed
328 million tons of coal and 287 mil-
lion barrels of oil. About two-thirds of
the total power generated from plants
which burned coal (either exclusively or
in combination with gas or oil), was
generated by plants which burned coal
exclusively. It may be possible, there-
fore, for power plants to burn as much
as
(328 x 10°)(%)(.8) = 176 million tons
of high-sulfur coal based on 1970 con-
sumption. Because of concentration of
plants in populated areas, low-sulfur
coal must probably be burned even on
some days with good ventilation in
order to achieve ambient standards.
Even if twent-five percent of this esti-
mate is realizable, it would save about
forty-four million tons of low-sulfur
coal out of a projected deficit ranging
from under 100 million up to 250 mil-
lion tons. Assuming a price differential
of $5 per ton between low-sulfur and
high-sulfur coal, this represents a fuel
cost savings to the utilities and to con-
sumers of about $220 million annually.
Saving low-sulfur oil
About thirty percent of the total gen-
erating capacity of plants which burn
oil is generated to some extent by plants
which burn oil exclusively. A similar
analysis as the one described for coal,
above, indicates a maximum potential
of burning seventy-million barrels of
high-sulfur oil on good ventilation days.
Assuming that twenty-five percent is
actually attainable, a potential switch
from low to high-sulfur oil by utilities
might produce savings amounting to
about eighteen-million barrels per year.
Assuming an average of $1.25 differ-
ence between low and high-sulfur oil,
an annual fuel cost savings of $22.5
million might be realized. The low-sul-
fur fuel would be available for use by
area sources whise emissions generally
have a relatively high impact on am-
bient air quality.
The price for the fuel savings is
paid by the utilities in that they must
install and operate the necessary fore-
casting and monitoring systems to allow
implementation of the strategy. About
1000 plants burn coal or oil exclusively.
If as many as a half of these installed
and operated the necessary intermittent
control system monitoring equipment
and processing facilities, the total de-
velopment cost would be about $131
million and the total operating cost
would be $51.5 million annually, ac-
cording to the TVA Experience.20 The
development cost would be recovered
within one year by the savings in fuel
costs, with an additional potential an-
nual savings amounting to $190 million.
The data suggest that these options may
offer promising possibilities if they are
confirmed by a more detailed study.
Conclusions
This paper has illustrated some types
of potential impacts associated with im-
plementation of environmental stand-
ards characterized by varying degrees
of flexibility. Variable standards should
not be interpreted as frequently allow-
ing spurious and arbitrary changes.
This would be unacceptable to the gen-
eral public and would create uncer-
tainty and distrust of the standard-set-
ting and enforcement process by private
industry. There are many opportunities
to allow for implementation of more
flexible standards in order to achieve en-
vironmental quality goals on an eco-
245
-------
nomical basis, particularly for emissions
and effluent discharges. These opportu-
nities must be explored and selected
through systems analysis of inter-rela-
tionships among control technology and
environmental, social, and economic im-
pacts. Related issues are forming
around apparent conflicts between ob-
taining an improved environment and
abundant energy production and con-
sumption. Both abundant energy and a
clean environment are related to the
overall quality of life. The question of
fixed versus variable standards should
be examined in the hope of minimizing
or eliminating the apparent conflicts.
Notes for
Paper 4
1 "Application of Implementation Plan-
ning Program (IPP) Modeling Analysis
New Jersey-New York-Connecticut Inter-
state AQCR," Air Quality Management
Branch, Applied Technology Division of
SSPCP, Office of Air Programs, Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (February,
1972).
= Earth, C. C., et al., "Environmental
Standards," Proceedings of the Interagency
Conference on the Environment, Environ-
mental Protection Agency, CONF721002
(October, 1972).
'• Barth, D. S., Romanovsky, J. C., Mor-
gan, G. B., "USA Approach to the De-
velopment of Air Pollution Emission
Standards for Stationary Sources," Envi-
ronmental Aspects of Nuclear Power Sta-
tions, International Atomic Energy Agen-
cy, Vienna (1971).
' "California Air Quality Standards,"
Federal Register, Vol. 38, No. 14, Part II,
Washington, D.C. (January 22, 1973).
r' "Criteria for Evaluating an Intermit-
tent Control System (ICS)," Prepared by
Air Quality Management Branch, Division
of Applied Technology, Stationary Source
Pollution Control Programs, Office of
Air Programs, Environmental Protection
Agency (October, 1971).
"de Nevers, N., Wehe, A. H., "An Air
Quality Approach to Natural Gas Cur-
tailment," (a paper presented at) the 74th
Annual Meeting of the American Chemi-
cal Engineers, New Orleans (March 11-15,
1973).
7 Freeman, A. M., Ill, Haveman, R. H.,
"Residuals Charges for Pollution Con-
trol: A Policy Evaluation," Science, Vol.
177 (July, 1972).
8 Keitz, E. L., "Approximate Low Sul-
fur Regulations for Air Quality Control
Regions for 1975," The MITRE Corpora-
tion, WP-10015.
" Krajeski, E. P., Yeager, K. E., A Case
for Selective Controls to Achieve Ambient
Air Quality Standards, M72-84, The
MITRE Corporation (November, 1972).
10 Leavitt, J. M., et al., "Meteorological
Program for Limiting Power Plant Stack
Emissions," Journal of the Air Pollution
Control Association, Vol. 21, No. 7 (July,
1971).
11 Lewis, D., Environmental Protection
Agency, Implementation Research Divi-
sion, Office of Research, Telephone con-
versation (March 8, 1973).
V2Lumb, H. C., "Fallacies of a Pollu-
tion Tax," Industrial Water Engineering
(April, 1971).
" Mahoney, J. R., Gaut, N. E., New-
man, E., "Impact of Fuel and Load
Switching on Air Quality," Presented at
the 72nd National Meeting of the Ameri-
can Institute of Chemical Engineers, St.
Louis (May, 1972).
14 Maxwell, J. A., Fiscal Policy, Henry
Holt and Company, New York (1955).
13 Missouri Water Quality Standards
Summary, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Missouri Clean Water Commis-
sion (May, 1972).
M "National Primary and Secondary
Ambient Air Quality Standards," Federal
Register, Vol. 36, No. 84, pp. 8186-8201
(April 30, 1971).
17 Plotkin, S. E., Lewis, D. H., "Control
Strategy Evaluation Using Models,"
AICHE 72nd National Meeting, St. Louis
(May, 1972).
18 Ruckelshaus, W. D., "Transportation
Controls—A Way to Air Quality," Con-
gressional Record—Senate, Vol. 119, No.
41 (March 15, 1973).
"Talsky, L. C., "Dollars in the Air:
An Approach to Pollution Abatement
Through Effluent Taxes," Journal of En-
vironmental Sciences, Vol. 14, No. 5
(September/October, 1971).
20 Tennessee Valley Authority, "Cost
Analysis for Development and Implemen-
tation of a Meterologically Scheduled Sul-
fur Dioxide Emission Limitation Program
for Use by Power Plants in Meeting Am-
bient Air Quality Sulfur Dioxide Stand-
ards."
246
-------
M The Effects on Populations of Ex- diations, Division of Medical Sciences,
posure lo Low Levels of Ionizing Radio- National Academy of Sciences, National
tion, Report of the Advisory Committee Research Council, Washington, D.C. (No-
on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Ra- vember, 1972).
247
-------
V.5 Emerging
level
strategies:
judicial
intervention
Joseph L. Sax *
Environmental problems are not a
novelty in American courtrooms. Courts
have traditionally abated pollution as a
nuisance, and it is quite common for
public agencies to obtain judicial en-
forcement of their orders regulating
the use of land, water, and air. In the
last few years, however, a new kind
of litigation has developed which por-
tends a dramatically different role for
the judiciary: The plaintiffs are usually
private citizens rather than government
agencies; and they sue to enforce rights
which they assert as members of the
general public, not as property-owners
seeking to protect conventional econom-
ic interests. Moreover, the governmental
agencies which are supposed to be pro-
tecting the public interest are often
themselves cited as defendants.
Such citizen-initiated litigation is typi-
fied by suits against highway depart-
ments challenging the necessity or lo-
cation of a proposed road;1 actions by
local citizens against the United States
Forest Service challenging its manage-
ment of public lands;2 and suits to
enjoin offshore oil-drilling* or a pro-
posed airport extension * which, it is
alleged, will adversely affect scenic or
wildlife resources.
"•Joseph L. Sax is Professor of Law, The
University of Michigan.
Reprinted with permission from The
Annals, Vol. 389 (May 1970), pp. 71-76,
© 1970, The American Academy of Politi-
cal and Social Science.
In the past, such cases were routinely
dismissed at the outset, both because
the government was immune from suit
and because it was said that private
citizens had no "standing" to represent
the public interest.6 The so-called sov-
ereign-immunity doctrine—based large-
ly on the ancient notion that "the king
can do no wrong"—has long been dis-
credited as a viable legal theory, and
has gradually (though not yet fully)
dissipated as an effective defense.
Citizens gain 'standing'
The "standing" doctrine has only re-
cently come under full-scale attack, but
it, too, is rapidly losing ground. Courts
used to accept unquestioningly the as-
sertion that if citizens were allowed to
sue simply as members of the public,
the way would be open to a plethora
of crank suits. And such suits were
thought unnecessary because public of-
ficials stood ready to vindicate the pub-
lic interest. Judicial attitudes toward
standing have changed markedly in the
last few years. In a recent case, in which
local citizens intervened to challenge a
radio license renewal by the Federal
Communications Commission, the court
said: *
The theory that the Commission
can always effectively represent the
listener interests . . . without the
aid and particition of legitimate
listener representatives fulfilling
the role of private attorneys gen-
eral is one of those assumptions
we collectively try to work with
so long as they are reasonably
adequate. When it becomes clear
. . . that it is no longer a valid
assumption which stands up under
the realities of actual experience,
neither we nor the Commission
can continue to rely on it. ...
We cannot fail to note that the
long history of complaints . . . had
left the Commission virtually un-
moved. . . . [T]he renewal appli-
cation might well have been rou-
tinely granted except for the de-
termined and sustained efforts of
248
-------
[the complainng citizens] at no
small expense to themselves.
The withdrawal of technical barriers
to suit is an important step, but it only
sets the stage for the inquiry which
courts must undertake once the curtain
is drawn back from the process of ad-
ministrative decision-making. For if it
is true that private initiatives are needed
to provoke, and at times to displace,
administrative agencies charged with
protecting the public interest, grave
questions are raised about the whole
structure of governmental regulation in
which we have invested so much of our
trust.
Withdrawal of the public trust
If courts were only being asked to
correct legal missteps by the agencies
in such cases, or to intervene in those
rare cases where "arbitrary and ca-
pricious action" were said to be in-
volved, the implications would not be
so far-reaching. But it is clear that this
is not at all the import of most citizen-
initiated litigation. Rather, judges are
being asked to look behind the exercise
of administrative discretion. The charge,
bluntly put, is that agencies are not to
ba trusted to effectuate the public in-
terest; and not simply that they may
have misread their statutory mandate
in a given case.
It is the agencies' perspective and
point of view which is under attack.
Judicial uneasiness about this question
has become overt in recent decisions. In
the radio-licensing case, for example,
the court noted that the Commission
evinced a "curious neutrality in favor
of the licensee," an attitude which put
their handling of the matter "beyond
repaid" by the usual judicial technique
of a remand to the Commission for
further proceedings according to prop-
er legal standards. The court took the
unusual step of revoking the license
itself.
Similarly, in recent Massachusetts
cases,7 in which citizens challenged the
highway department's decision to take
park land for its own use, the court
noted a disturbing insensitivity on the
part of the highway agency to the state's
concern for the maintenance of public
parks. The department claimed it had
ample authority under a broad statute
which authorized it to "improve" the
lands of the commonwealth; thus, it
said, it could take park land at will,
and its decision to do so must be re-
spected by the judiciary. This was too
much for the Supreme Judicial Court
of Massachusetts. Plainly annoyed by
such arrogance, the court responded:
The improvement of public lands
contemplated by this section does
not include the widening of a State
highway. It seems rather that the
improvement of public lands which
the legislature provided for ... is
to preserve such lands so that they
may be enjoyed by the people for
recreational purposes.
The court held that before the high-
way department could take park land,
it had to go to the legislature and ob-
tain specific authorization.
Judicial disenchantment with the ad-
ministrative process is by no means new,
but contemporary concerns about the
environment have cast the problem in
a new light; for they have brought home
to courts the insufficiency of traditional
institutions for dealing with the multi-
perspective, or ecological, approach
which intelligent environmental man-
agement implies. Although it was never
true that construction of a highway
involved only problems of highway en-
gineering, for a long time we seemed
satisfied if highway-building agencies
acted honestly and according to ac-
cepted engineering principles. We asked
no more of them, and judicial review
of their conduct could thus be limited
to the questions whether they were vio-
lating statutory standards, or acting
arbitrarily.
Narrow standards expand
Those narrow standards no longer
suffice. We have come to recognize that
a highway project goes beyond the prob-
lem of facilitating traffic, and may in-
volve issues of housing, water-pollution,
demographic patterns, and a host of
249
-------
other questions. Our perspective has
broadened, and a number of statutes
now require, for example, that project-
building agencies take account of local
problems and of all reasonable alter-
natives to the disruption of parks, wild-
life and waterfowl refuges, historic
sites, and scenic attractions. Even such
prosaic matters as dredge-and-fill per-
mit applications filed with the Corps
of Engineers must be referred to state
and federal fish and wildlife agencies
for consideration of their effects on
such resources.
The new breadth of vision is com-
mendable; but there is a wide gap be-
tween legislative statements of purpose
and fulfillment on the part of deeply
entrenched bureaucracies. A traditional
single-purpose agency—long committed
to getting roads built or rivers dredged
—does not become an environmental
ombudsman by legislative fiat. An agen-
cy staffed principally with highway en-
gineers, long accustomed to dealing with
certain limited groups in the com-
muniity, and with a well-established
sense of mission and priorities, is not
easily transformed. Recent congression-
al hearings," for example, revealed that
long after the enactment of the Fish and
Wildlife Coordination Act, imposing
upon the Corps of Engineers responsi-
bility for the aquatic environment, even
its formal public notices continued to
say:
The decision of the Department
of the Army must be based on the
effect the proposed work would
have upon navigation, and not on
its effect on property values or
other considerations having noth-
ing to do with navigation.
Congressional pressure brought about
a formal restatement of function, but
one need only visit a local Corps office
for a brief chat to wonder how much
—in outlook, in perspective, and in
fact—that agency has modified its tra-
ditional stance as a single-minded, nav-
igation-oriented enterprise.
It is this dilemma which has been
brought so forcefully to the attention
of the courts in the last few years. And
judges, who used to say confidently that
they ought not to substitute their judg-
ment for the "expertise" of adminis-
trators, have begun to ponder whether
and to what extent the expertise of the
highway department is to be deferred
to when the question is highways versus
parks.
The problem is not merely that a
traditional agency may lack the range
of technical expertise needed to evalu-
ate the diverse issues being presented,
or that they may have a sense of mis-
sion about their function which tends to
make them less than disinterested; or
even that they have a history of close
dealings with certain interests and in-
dustries which represent only one of the
perspectives to which they are supposed
to be attuned. The new ecological per-
spective to which they have been asked
to respond implements a fundamental
modification in the nature of the ques-
tions before them. To ask an agency
to accommodate the demand for roads
with the demand for parks and low-cost
housing is to thrust upon them far-
reaching public policy choices.
Administrative myopia
To make such choices, traditional ad-
ministrative agencies are peculiarly sit-
uated. Their perspective, their nar-
rowness of outlook, their considerable
insulation from substantial segments of
the public—the very things which make
them attractive as a source of technical,
managerial decisions—become serious
detriments in an agency charged with
the resolution of large policy issues. It is
this problem which judges in the cases
cited above intuitively sensed as they
rejected the agency's demands for con-
ventional deferential treatment.
The citizen-initiated lawsuit is thus
principally an effort to open the de-
cision-making process to a wider con-
tituency and to force decision-making
into a more open and responsive forum.
The aid of courts is not sought so that
judges will substitute their judgment for
that of administrators either on en-
gineering questions or on broad policy
issues. Rather, the courts are sought
250
-------
out as an instrumentality whereby com-
plaining citizens can obtain access to a
more appropriate form for decision-
making.
This phenomenon is more easily de-
scribed than explained. In the Massa-
chusetts highway-park disputes, the goal
was to deprive the highway agency of
ultimate authority over the policy ques-
tion involved and to force the legisla-
ture openly to consider and resolve the
issue presented by the cases. Technical-
ly, the court ruled that the highway de-
partment lacked adequate authority to
seize park land at will. Essentially, how-
ever, the goal of the lawsuit was to put
the issue before the legislature, where
it would have to be confronted and re-
solved in the full light of public atten-
tion. The court thus ruled in the
Robblns case:
It is essential to the expression of
plain and explicit authority to di-
vert parklands ... to new and
inconsistent uses that there appear
in the legislation not only a state-
ment of the new use but a state-
ment or recital showing in some
way legislative awareness of the
existing public use. In short, the
legislation should express not
merely the public will for the new
use but its willingness to surrender
or forego the existing use.
Expanding democracy
It is with holdings such as this
that courts respond to citizen pressures
to democratize the decision-making
process as it affects issues of environ-
mental quality. The effect of such hold-
ings is suggested by a letter which the
plaintiff's attorney wrote, describing the
events which followed the court's de-
cision:
The Legislature of Massachu-
setts had more discussion over the
Fowl Meadow [the parkland in-
volved in the case] than almost
anything else ... in 1969. . . .
After a Herculean effort, the
House of Representatives in Mas-
sachusetts voted 134-90 to author-
ize a feasibility study of a westerly
route, such as we have been work-
ing for. However, our local [high-
way] Department brought out its
troops in the form of at least six
men who spent most of the week
in the State House and, after re-
consideration, obtained a bill for
an opposite route by the narrow
score of 109-105. The Senate con-
curred after removing some
amendments and the Governor
signed the bill. However, the whole
subject of super-highway construc-
tion . . . has been put into the
hands of a seven-man commission
which is to report whether any
new highways are needed. ... In
the meantime, the Governor has
stated in public and written us
that he will not permit the trans-
fer of the requisite parkland.
To be sure, such litigation does not
assure that the advocates of any given
position will triumph, or that the legis-
lature will necessarily produce a wise
resolution. It does, however, help to
move questionable environmental de-
cision-making into a forum where issues
of policy must be made and articulated
openly, and where legislators must as-
sess the political consequences of taking
one position or another. Measured
against a system which has been char-
acterized by its responsiveness to par-
ticular and limited interest groups, by
its single-mindedness and limited per-
specetive, and by its penchant for quiet
resolution of potential conflict (often
revealed in the attitude that the less
the public knows, the less trouble there
will be), judicial intervention of the
type described above is a significant
step forward.
Moving the public agencies
In an area such as environmental
quality, where we struggle so much to
determine what our goals should be, it
is instructive to recall, from time to
time, the enormous difficulties en-
countered in getting public agencies to
respond to those situations in which
there is a substantial consensus about
goals; and in which narrow-interest
251
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groups have learned to manipulate the
governmental process to their own ad-
vantage, to the dismay and detriment of
the dominant community. All too often
the public is simply presented with a
fait accompli.
It has been traditional to tell com-
plaining citizens to take their problems
to the legislature, or to assume that,
ultimately, resort to the ballot box will
assure effectuation of the public will.
The electoral process, as those who have
suddenly awakened to see the bulldozers
at work well know, is a very blunt in-
strument. In the swirling multitude of
issues that intervene between periodic
elections, it is not easy to cast a ballot
which clearly says, "I disapprove your
highway policy, approve your stance on
foreign aid, and abhor your farm pol-
icy." Nor is it very realistic to tell a
troubled community to go to Congress
and get a law enacted to stop a project
which is to go forward within a matter
of days or weeks.
We have a great deal of rethinking
to do about our laissez faire attitudes
and assumptions about the process of
government. Among the very significant
matters being raised by environmental
litigation is whether, and to what ex-
tent, institutions like the judiciary can,
and should, intervene to help make that
process work more effectively. The tech-
nique described above—essentially a
judicial remand to the legislature—is
one device that is now being tested.
In essence, it says, "Yes, the citizens
should go to the legislature, but a court
order may be needed to assure that
they can get there in time, arid under
circumstances which help to assure that
their voices will be heard." It may
seem ironic that courts are needed to
help make the legislative process work
effectively; that citizens must come to
the least democratic of the branches of
government to make democracy work.
But that is one of the intriguing ques-
tions now being explored under the
label of environmental litigation.
Notes for
Paper 5
1 Citizens' Committee for the Hudson
Valley v. Volpe, 302 F. Supp. 1083 (S.D.
N.Y. 1969); Road Review League v. Boyd,
270 F. Supp. 650 (S.D.N.Y. 1967).
2 Parker v. United States, Civil No.
C-1368 (D. Colo., ffled Jan. 7, 1969);
Sierra Club v. Hickel et al., Civil No.
51,464 (N.D. Cal., filed June 5, 1969).
3Weigand v. Hickel, No. 69-1317-EC
(S.D. Cal., filed July 10, 1969).
4 Abbot v. Osborn, No. 1465 (Super.
Ct., Dukes County, Mass., filed March,
1969).
5 National Parks Ass'n. v. Udall, Civil
No. 3904-62 (D.D.C. 1962).
° Office of Communication, United
Church of Christ v. Federal Communica-
tions Comm'n., 359 F.2d 994 (D.C. Cir.
1966).
7 Sacco v. Department of Public Works,
352 Mass. 670,227 N.E. 2nd 478 (1967);
Robbins v. Department of Public Works,
214 N.E. 2d 577 (1969).
8 Estuarine Areas, Hearings Before a
Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife
Conservation, Committee on Merchant
Marine and Fisheries, House of Repre-
sentatives, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., Serial No.
90-3 (1967).
252
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V.6 Enforcing
environmental
law in the city
Norman Redlich *
Several broad concepts are important
in organizing municipal government to
play its role in environmental control.
First, government at the municipal level
must organize and structure itself en-
vironmentally. Prior to Mayor John
Lindsay's administration in January,
1966, in New York City the traditional
municipal departments handled environ-
mental programs: the Sanitation Depart-
ment, the Department of Air Pollution
Control, the Department of Water Re-
sources, etc. These separate depart-
ments were not unified in an environ-
mental context. Since that time, these
entities have been combined into one
so-called "super-agency," the Envi-
ronmental Protection Administration,
which has the capacity to plan, select
priorities, and to budget in environ-
mental terms. For example, if an air
pollution control measure would prevent
burning garbage in incinerators, the im-
pact of that action on solid waste col-
lection and disposal should also be
considered before the decision is made.
In a single agency, such coordination is
facilitated.
Interdepartmental decisions
Local governments as well as state
governments have to organize to make
the hard priority choices, for example,
the selection of power plants. In New
York, we have created an interdepart-
mental committee on public utilities.
We recognize that to deal with such
*Presented by Norman Redlich, Corpo-
ration Counsel for the City of New York,
at the National Conference on Managing
the Environment:
questions as ratemaking, we must first
decide whether we want to curb the use
of electric air conditioners and electric
heating and where we plan to locate
a particular plant. To make these
decisions we needed a combined inter-
governmental roof consisting of our
city planners, our Consumer Affairs
Commissioner, our Environmental Pro-
tection Administrator, and the Admin-
istrator of Municipal Services (who is
responsible for providing power for the
city). It is important that local gov-
ernments create a structure which can
deal with the complexities of the envi-
ronmental conflict.
There are two aspects of the legal
framework that appear obvious, but are
often overlooked—the method by which
we identify and regulate pollution prob-
lems, and the enforcement mechanism.
Traditionally, local governments con-
trolled the environment through a hap-
hazard and nonscientific approach—
chasing smoke, trying to keep people
from making loud noises, etc. Enforce-
ment consisted of issuing summonses to
people who were making loud noises, or
who wers causing dark smoke to come
out of chimneys. People often ignore
these summonses. It is an improper use
of valuable police resources for the
police to spend time following up these
violations.
Nuisance abatement
Another traditional method of law
enforcement is the abatement of nui-
sances. When somebody complained
enough, the city's lawyers went to
court in order to "abate a nuisance."
This is basically an injunctive remedy
which is totally ill-suited to the urban
environment. There simply are not
enough policemen to issue summonses,
nor enough city lawyers to handle in-
junctions, nor enough courts who are
willing to spend their resources in con-
contempt citations. The urban scene is
different from a rural scene, where the
injunctive remedy against a major pol-
luting factory has some significance.
The urban scene requires different tech-
253
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niques, some of which we have tried in
our city.
The basic technique is to deal with
the cause of pollution by imposing
standards on the actual device which
is the polluting instrument. Such devices
include incinerators, noise generators,
and fuel-burning equipment. Another
enforcement technique is requiring per-
mits to operate certain types of devices
—this enables the enforcing agency to
set certain standards in order to obtain
such a permit. We also set standards
for fuels. The permissible sulfur con-
tent in our fuels is a standard which
has been set by local law in our city.
Compliance need not be measured by
the old cumbersome method of deter-
mining whether there was too much
sulfur dioxide or particulate matter in
the air. The New York City Air Pollu-
tion Code and the Noise Pollution Code
are scientific documents setting certain
very precise standards with regard to the
amount of contaminants in the air, the
amount of sulfur in our fuel, and the
decibel level of various types of noise
devices.
Moreover, the Administrator has the
power and authority to test various
devices to determine whether they are
meeting these standards. Setting very
precise standards is a two-fold weapon.
First, they enable a fairly scientific
method of testing, so that even without
a complaint we can test a particular
device to see whether it is exceeding
a decibel level or whether it is exceed-
ing a given air pollution level. Second,
by setting specific measurable standards,
violators can be prosecuted. Through
the use of standards-setting and permit
requirements, a range of enforcement
techniques become available. It becomes
possible to prosecute someone for fail-
Ing to renew an operating permit or
an operating certificate. A cease and
desist order can be issued to prevent a
person from operating without a given
type of approved certificate. An order
can be issued compelling various types
of improvements in the particular pol-
luting device in order to eliminate the
offending characteristics.
An environmental tribunal
It is terribly important to remove
these cases, as much as possible, from
the courts and into an administrative
agency. The City of New York has
created an environmental control board
which acts as an administrative tribunal,
consisting of five city officials and four
qualified persons from outside the gov-
ernment. Their job is to enforce the
aforementioned environmental provi-
sions. It has the power to issue cease
and desist orders; it has the power to
revoke permits and operating certifi-
cates; and it has the power to impose
civil penalties which can be as much
as $100 per day for every day of viola-
tion. These civil penalties can be en-
forced in court. Thus far, under our law
they must be reduced to a judgment.
We are hoping to secure state legisla-
tion which would enable us to enforce
these penalties without the necessity of
reducing them to judgment, subject only
to judicial review (under the doctrine
of preventing arbitrary, illegal and ca-
pricious penalties). One of the great
unsettled questions in this area is the
extent to which the courts will respect
the decisions of an administrative tri-
bunal. If they do not give weight to
the decisions of the administrative tri-
bunal, the proceedings will be repeated
in the courts and the entire administra-
tive process will have been largely a
waste of time. On this the returns are
not yet in.
Finally, we have adopted a citizen
complaint technique, which is particu-
larly useful at the local level. A citizen
can file a complaint with the environ-
mental control board alleging a viola-
tion of the various standards set forth
in our code. It is the option of the
administrative agency to prosecute that
complaint. If it decides not to, the
citizen can prosecute it himself in his
own course. If there is a fine imposed,
there is a sliding bounty system, where-
by the citizen will get a percentage of
whatever is recovered, and will get a
higher percentage if it turns out that he
was right and the government agency
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was wrong in refusing to prosecute the enforcement method.
citizen's case. This system has evoked The use of these major legal weapons
widespread crticism that we are creating and institutions by local governments
a city of bounty-seeking informers, but can enable them effectively to play their
we think it is possibly a very useful role in controlling the environment.
255
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V.7 Strategies
for
environmental
management
Allen V. Kneese *
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect
of the present situation regarding nat-
ural resources and environment is the
deep and widespread public concern
about it. To a large extent, we owe
this concern and even alarm to the
ecologists. As an economist, I am inter-
ested to see that there is now a market
developing for forecasts of disaster, and
some competition is growing up among
the practitioners of this art to see who
can come up with the most ingeniously
worked-out vision of the apocalypse.
An interesting example of inconsist-
ent and even countervailing visions is
with respect to the weather. We have
been told that the discharge of COs and
heat to the atmosphere will cause the
polar ice caps to melt and drown our
cities. Now it turns out that in recent
years the earth's temperature has been
falling. Aha!—we are told—that is be-
cause the discharge of particulates into
the atmosphere from human activities is
reflecting the sun's rays. No, says an-
other expert, not at all; volcanic action
has been strong in recent years and by
comparison the discharge of particulates
from human activities is minimal.
Ignorance of man's impact
I present this example not to try to
generate confidence that our environ-
mental problems are not so bad after
all, but to point out that we know
* Allen V. Kneese is Director, Quality of
the Environment Program, Resources for
the Future, Washington, D.C. Reprinted
with permission from Public Policy XIX,
(Winter 1971), pp. 37-52.
very little for sure about the impact of
modern man's activities on the geophys-
ical world, not to mention the biological
world. In a way I would feel more com-
fortable if we knew for certain that we
would raise the world's temperature by
a degree or two over the next century,
rather than to be so aware of the depths
of uncertainty in which we operate. The
same is clearly true, and could easily be
documented, with respect to a host of
more limited impacts than the global
weather one just discussed.
Clearly, then, one highly important
task before us is to strengthen and
consolidate our geophysical and biologi-
cal research efforts so that we can better
understand these systems and the im-
pacts on them of various events.
But of equal importance, and much
neglected in the recent and often rather
frantic discussions of the environment,
is understanding why the social and
economic systems produce the results
they do and how we can use under-
standing of them to produce more de-
sirable ones—call it social engineering,
if you will. Illustrations of the poverty
of understanding in this area are the
frequent calls for morality with respect
to the environment (morality is clearly
needed, but the problem is not primarily
a matter of failing morals), wondering
why ths problem does not go away
when federal subsidies are provided
(federal subsidies may be needed to
help catch up, but they do not do any-
thing positive to change perverse in-
centive structures), and a search for
technological fixes (technology can help
as well as hurt, but it cannot, alas, re-
lieve us of our task to design an
economic and political system which
produces desirable results).
Common and private property
It has often been said that what we
need is a new morality or a new ethic
if we are to avoid despoiling the earth.
This is really a call for a new set of
values which lays more emphasis on the
natural, the tranquil, the beautiful, and
the very long run. These are values
very appealingrto mer but holding them
256
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really says nothing about the social
mechanisms through which they might
be realized to a higher degree. Even
"good" people need rules to live by,
especially where the impact of a single
person's behavior on the total problem
is extremely small. Moreover, it has
long been realized that a system which
does not rely heavily on the fulfillment
of the self-interest of the individual or
the family must soon become undemo-
cratic or unworkable.
A definition of environment or envi-
ronmental quality which would suit
everyone seems to be impossible. But
I think that most social scientists have
something like the economist's concept
of "common property resources" in
mind when they speak of the environ-
ment. The concept of a common prop-
erty resource (which should not be
confused with a similar legal terminolo-
gy) encompasses those valuable attrib-
utes of the natural world which cannot
be, or can be only imperfectly, reduced
to individual ownership and therefore
do not enter into the processes of mar-
ket exchange and tht. price system. It
should be noted that this concept is
inherently a social rather than a natural
science one, but that the resources to
which it relates are normally attributes
of the natural world rather than the
direct services of human beings. Notable
among such resources are the air man-
tle, watercourses, complex ecological
systems, and at least certain attributes
of space. The last include the visual
properties of landscape and the radio
spectrum, among others.
The main feature which all these
common property (or, in our context,
environmental) resources have in com-
mon is that they are subject to conges-
tion. At some low level of use, an
additional user of the resource may im-
pose virtually no cost on others. A
point is reached, however, where an
additional user will cause others to have
to incur additional costs or suffer dis-
utilities associated with congestion.
When this stage is reached, what econo-
mists call an externality or spill-over
effect occurs. In other words, a particu-
lar user does not take account of the
cost he imposes on others when he
decides to use the common property
resource. Many instances of this sur-
round us—environmental pollution, mu-
tual interference of radio signals, con-
gestion on public roadways and in
public recreation areas, jet pjane noise,
and scarred landscapes, among many
others
Limits to the market system
Our usual mechanism for limiting the
use of resources and leading them into
their highest productivity employments
is the prices which are established in
markets through exchanges between
buyers and sellers. For common prop-
erty resources this mechanism does not
function, and they must become the
focus for collective action on public
management, unless they are to be se-
verely overused and misused. This idea
has been well developed in the econom-
ics literature with respect to particular
resources like ocean fisheries. How per-
vasive common property problems have
become has not been widely appreciated
by economists, at least not until re-
cently.1
Water quality management
Let us turn to an area where I believe
that research has already laid a reason-
ably satisfactory groundwork for imple-
menting the type of strategy outlined
above. This is the area of water pol-
lution control. In my opinion our pres-
ent strategy in this area does not have
an orientation which will lead toward
effective, efficient, and continuing man-
agement of the problem.2
What I take to be the present strategy
of the federal government for achieving
water pollution control in the United
States is based on two main elements.
The first is financial support for the
construction of municipal waste treat-
ment plants. Such support started with
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act of 1956 and has continued at higher
levels of authorization since then. The
1966 Act authorized $3.4 billion for
257
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municipal sewage plant construction
grants over the period 1968-71. Under
the Act it is possible for municipalities
to cover up to 55 percent of the con-
struction costs of waste treatment plants
from federal grants.
The second element in our pollution
control strategy was instituted by the
Water Pollution Control Act of 1965,
which required that all states set water
quality standards on their interstate and
boundary waters. These standards were
to be completed and reviewed by the
Secretary of the Interior by mid-1967.
Understandably enough, there were
some delays, but the required standards
are now for the most part in existence.
The standards were to be accompanied
by a proposed program for achieving
them, which could then be used as a
benchmark against which to judge the
need for federal enforcement actions.
Actually, while the federal government
has had authority to bring enforcement
proceedings against interstate polluters
in the past, this power has been used
only to a very limited extent.
Limited success
Without in any way denigrating the
great and sustained efforts made by
Senator Muskie and others to provide
us with effective pollution control legis-
lation, I think it is fair to say that the
results of our pollution control strategy
up to this point have been disappoint-
ing to many. The construction of muni-
cipal treatment plants has been lagging
partly because federal appropriations
have fallen far behind authorizations
(the authorization for 1970 is $1-billion
and Congress has appropriated $800-
million), and many people assert that
municipalities are holding up construc-
tion until federal funds become available.
It is hard to say why federal enforce-
ment powers have not been more effec-
tive, but possibly it is because of the
difficulty and cost of mounting effective
enforcement proceedings, as well as
the political power of the larger indus-
tries. Our record of trying to impose
direct federal regulations on large indus-
tries has been dismal.3
Another government report by the
General Accounting Office has provided
a rather devastating critique of the
present strategy, based primarily on the
scatter-shot way in which support has
been provided to municipal treatment
plants, the poor operation of existing
plants, and the overwhelming growth
of industrial discharges.4 In every major
river system studied by the GAO, the
conclusion was the same: We have
failed to ' mount a significant attack
against the major contributors to pollu-
tion. Relying exclusively on the tool of
enforcement to remedy this situation
would, I am sure, be awkward, unpleas-
ant, expensive, and effective at best only
in a static and short-run sense.
The industry problem
As part of our subsidy-enforcement
strategy, many bills have been intro-
duced in Congress to provide federal
subsidies for the construction of indus-
trial waste treatment plants. These pro-
posals have for the most part so far not
been successful. From the point of view
of trying to achieve an efficient as well
as an effective pollution control policy,
this may be regarded as fortunate. For
reasons that I will discuss further later,
subsidies for industrial waste treatment
would tend to be less efficient than
incentives to adopt other waste reduc-
tion procedures, such as recycling and
by-product recovery. Moreover, they
would have the unfortunate effect of di-
minishing the extent to which costs of
using the common property resource
are reflected in the goods which con-
sumers buy, thus leading to too much
consumption of them relative to their
social cost of production. In addition to
considerations of efficiency, many peo-
ple also regard it as just or equitable
that those industries and consumers who
use common property resources to the
detriment of others bear the cost of
doing so.
Unfortunately, a certain amount of
subsidy has already crept into the sys-
tem. Some industrial plants are con-
nected to municipal systems and can
258
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benefit from the subsidies to municipal
treatment plant construction. Further-
more, the tax reform bill recently
passed by Congress would provide for
five-year tax amortization of pollution
control facilities and would, according
to the testimony of Stanley Surrey be-
fore the Joint Economic Committee,
cost the government $400 million a year
in foregone revenue.6 In addition to the
points already made about the ineffi-
ciencies of subsidies, a weakness of
rapid tax amortization is that it cannot
help those marginal firms which often
serve as the excuse for subsidy arrange-
ments. Tax writeoffs would seem to be
a particularly perverse way to try to
deal wtih the situation. They have the
effect of providing most assistance
where it is not particularly needed and,
unless counteracted by other provisions,
letting die the industrial plant where
assistance might be justified. Subsidies,
of course, do have the politically attrac-
tive features of spreading burdens so
widely that no individual has an incen-
tive to compain very loudly. If they can
be hidden behind the complexities of the
tax system it is even better. When
Charles Schultze was Director of the
Bureau of the Budget, he had a sign
hanging in his office which said, "If you
can't solve the problem, subsidize it."
There is an unfortunate amount of truth
in this slogan.
Several years ago, I proposed an
alternative strategy for dealing with our
national water pollution problems.' This
proposed strategy was also based on two
main elements. The first rests on the
concept that the waste discharger should
insofar as possible bear the damages his
waste disposal activities impose on the
common property resources of society,
and the second recognizes that in many
of our highly developed basins, where
pollution problems are concentrated,
great savings in costs can be obtained
by the implementation of a systematic
and well-integrated plan for water quali-
ty management on a regional basis. The
latter would contain elements other than
just the treatment of waste waters at
particular outfalls.
Pollution as bad business
With respect to the first element, I
think we must devise ways of reflecting
the costs of using resources that are
the common property of everyone, like
our watercourses, directly in the deci-
sion-making of industries, local govern-
ment, and consumers. The capacity of
our rivers for assimilating waste is a
valuable asset, and these rivers have
alternative uses which conflict directly
with waste disposal. Because our prop-
erty institutions cannot adequately be
applied to resources like watercourses,
they are essentially unpriced and treated
as free goods, even though they are in
fact resources of great and increasing
value in the contemporary world. This
unhappy situation cannot be remedied
unless we move toward the implementa-
tion of publicly administered prices
for waste discharge to watercourses and
for the use of other common property
resources.
Effluent charges
Accordingly, one element for water
quality management is a system of what
I have termed "effluent charges." The
proceeds from such charges would yield
a rent on a scarce resource to society
which would be used in various ways,
including further measures to improve
water quality, as discussed below. Also,
and even more importantly, the effluent
charge would provide an incentive to-
ward conservation in the use of the
watercourses for waste discharge. Care-
ful industry studies have shown that
industries can often reduce waste dis-
charges enormously, usually at low cost,
if they are given a proper incentive to
do so.7 In many instances, the most
effective means for reducing waste dis-
charges are changes in internal processes
and recovery and recycling of materials
that would otherwise be lost.
Similarly, under our present property
institutions, municipalities are paying
only part of the social costs of dis-
posing waste to streams, and what they
pay is rather capriciously distributed,
depending on how much waste treat-
ment they have implemented. A system
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of effluent charges would give these
municipalities an incentive to proceed
expeditiously in the treatment of waste.
Another point of some importance is
that our present policies put heavy em-
phasis on the construction of plants
with little or no follow-through on op-
erations. Experts have pointed out that
most treatment plants are operated far
below their capabilities. Effluent charges
focus on what is put in the stream and
thereby offer an incentive for the effec-
tive operation of existing facilities. A
number of persons have seen fit to dub
the effluent charge "a license to pollute,"
in the hope, no doubt, that this cliche,
because of its emotive power, would
be regarded as conclusive argument.
This mindless cliche has certainly not
contributed to the cause of effective
water quality management. It is also
sometimes said that effluent charges
cannot be implemented because indus-
tries do not know what they discharge
to watercourses. The latter part of this
statement is, unfortunately, frequently
true. But is it not high time to remedy
the situation?
It should be clearly recognized that
the present and proposed subsidy ar-
rangements are quite different and, most
economists would feel, less desirable in
their impacts than effluent charges.
First, the system of effluent charges
is based on the concept that efficiency
and equity require payment for the use
of valuable resources whether they hap-
pen to be privately or collectively
owned. These prices will be reflected in
the industrial producers' decision to in-
stall treatment equipment and otherwise
reduce the generations of residuals.
They will also be reflected in the price
of intermediate and final goods, so that
a broader incentive will be provided
to shift to goods with a lesser environ-
mental cost.
Second, subsidies for the construction
of treatment plants do not, by them-
selves, provide an incentive to take
action to control waste discharges. Even
if an industry is paid a major propor-
tion of the construction cost of a waste
treatment plant, it is still cheaper, from
the point of view of the industry, to
dump untreated waste into the river.
Thus the subsidy arrangement cannot
work unless accompanied by enforce-
ment or other pressures on the waste
discharger.
Third, to the extent that the subsidy
system works it tends to bias the choice
of techniques in an inefficient direction.
It would provide an incentive to con-
struct treatment plants with federal sub-
sidies even where internal controls
would be cheaper.
Finally, the system of effluent charges
yields revenue, rather than further
straining and eroding an already seri-
ously over-extended tax system. This
revenue can be put to useful public
purposes, including improvements in the
quality of our environment. From an
economic point of view perhaps the
best imaginable tax base is an activity
that causes external diseconomies. Not
only does a tax on such a base yield
revenue, but it tends to improve the
over-all allocation of resources.
Implementing effluent charges
Most economists who have studied
the matter concluded that there are
compelling reasons for favoring effluent
charges as one of the cornerstones of
effective and efficient regional water
quality management. But it may be diffi-
cult for particular states and regions to
pioneer such a substantial departure
from previous practice. The federal gov-
ernment's greater insulation from pow-
erful local interests provides an oppor-
tunity for leadership. One approach
would be for the federal government to
levy a national effluent charge on all
waste dischargers above some minimum
amount. The charge could be based on
a formula similar to those that are used
in the Ruhr area of West Germany or
one of those used by certain U.S.
municipalities in levying sewer service
charges upon industry. This charge
could be considered a minimum which
could at discretion be exceeded by a
state or regional agency having respon-
sibility for water quality. Revenues ob-
tained by the federal government could
260
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be made available for purposes of
financing the federal program, with the
excess turned over to other governments
of general jurisdiction, or, and I think
preferably, the revenues could be used
to establish regional agencies for the
management of water quality, which
are the other element in my proposed
strategy.
Regional view of water quality
Research on the management of
water quality over the past several years
has clearly shown that major efficien-
cies can be obtained by the implemen-
tation of systems on a regional basis.
In addition to the standard treatment of
waste waters, such management systems
could include a number of other alterna-
tives closely articulated in planning and
operation. These could include riverflow
regulation, putting air directly into
streams, brief periods of high-level
chemical treatment during adverse con-
tions, and others. Studies of the
Potomac, the Miami of Ohio, the Dela-
ware, the San Francisco Bay region,
and of other areas have shown beyond
question the economies to be realized by
this kind of regional approach. It ap-
pears that such an approach can only
be effectively implemented by a regional
river basin agency having the authority
to plan, construct, and operate the
necessary facilities. Again, there is a
role for federal leadership in the estab-
lishment of such agencies. So far, tend-
encies to support such an approach at
the federal level have been minimal.
An environmental TVA
The federal government could, of
course, take direct action. It could set
up regional agencies for the manage-
ment of water quality or water re-
sources. These could be separate enti-
ties, like TVA, or regional units of
federal agencies, as proposed by the
first Hoover CommisF n. There has
been so much oppo.c jn to arrange-
ments of this nature that it is question-
able whether the federal government
should or would be willing to move in
this fashion. An alternative would be
for the federal government to establish
incentives and guidelines for the or-
ganization and operation of regional
management agencies, either under state
law or through interstate compacts. An
agency with adequate authority to plan
and implement a regional management
system would be eligible for a grant
of funds to support a portion of its
budget—to help staff the agency and to
make the first data collections, analyses,
and formulation of specific measures
for water quality management. If the
federal government were satisfied that
the proposed program and the plan for
its implementation satisfied criteria for
its efficient operation, the agency might
be eligible for a grant to assist it with
actual construction and operating ex-
penses. Such a system might appropri-
ately be limited to the early implemen-
tation—say, five years. During this
period, it would be necessary to work
out longer-term arrangements for fi-
nancing the agency. Clearly, the pro-
posed system of effluent charges could
play a major role. Presumably, admin-
istration of the effluent charges would
be turned over to the regional agencies,
with the federal level of charges con-
tinuing to be regarded as a baseline.
In this manner, regional scale measures
would be financed while at the same
time providing appropriate incentives to
waste dischargers to cut back on their
emissions. The federal law might in-
clude special provisions for marginal
industrial plants which might otherwise
go under and where this protection is
in the broader social interest. It should
be noted that where serious efforts to
implement regional management of
water quality have been undertaken (as
in the Delaware and the Miami river
basins), one of the most serious prob-
lems has been in setting up adequate
financing arrangements.
I have no doubt that federal leader-
ship toward implementation of a system
of effluent charges and the creation of
regional management agencies can put
us on the path to continuing, effective,
and efficient management of the quality
of our waters. I believe that this ap-
261
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proach merits serious considerations as
a strategy for dealing with our serious
national water pollution problem.
Notes for
Paper 7
1 In this connection, see Allen V. Kneese
and Ralph C. d'Arge, "Persuasive External
Costs and the Response of Society," in
The Analysis and Evaluation of Public
Expenditures: The PPB System, a com-
pendium of papers submitted to the Sub-
committee on Economy in Government of
the Joint Economic Committee (91st Con-
gress, 1st Session, 1969).
2 Most of the points in this section are
discussed in more detail in Allen V.
Kneese and Blair T. Bower, Managing
Water Quality: Economics, Technology,
Institutions (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
Press, 1968).
3 For a recent discussion of this point,
see "Economic Analysis and the Efficiency
of Government," Report on Economy in
Government of the Joint Committee (Joint
Committee Print, 91st Congress, 2nd Ses-
sion, February 9, 1970), p. 35.
* See "Examination Into the Effective-
ness of the Construction Grant Program
for Abating, Controlling and Preventing
Water Pollution" (Report to the Congress
by the Comptroller General of the United
States, November 3, 1969).
" "Economic Analysis and the Efficiency
of Government," op. cit., p. 91.
'' Allen V. Kneese, The Economics of
Regional Water Quality Management
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1964).
7 See, for example, George O. G. Lof
and Allen V. Kneese, The Economics of
Water Utilization in the Beet Sugar In-
dustry (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press,
1968).
262
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VI: Environmental Management
Information Systems
Because of the complexity of environmental relationships and the
subtlety of their changes over time, most environmental decisions are
made on the basis of political proclivities and expediency rather than on
a detailed analysis of the relevant data. Assuring that the needed information
is available at the proper place and time to influence environmental
decisions is a difficult responsibility. In the past, this task has generally
been left up to private interest groups — each group encouraging its own
perceived aspect of the situation. Such a fragmented approach to information
gathering is gradually being challenged by more formal, more disciplined
methods. The papers contained in this chapter address different aspects
of this environmental information/decision-making construct.
Some basic considerations that go into the design of an Environmental
Management Information System (EMIS) are aired by Stanley Wolfson,
Director of the Urban Data Services of ICMA. After defining the
socio-economic objectives and desired output of an EMIS system, the next
step is to explicitly determine the precise topical areas to be covered
and their concommitant data requirements. "The goal in the data
collection process is to create standard definitions, identifications and
classifications of data so that the manager receives timely reliable
data that is useful for intra-regional comparisons," Wolfson notes.
Wolfson sees the computer as playing a key role in recording, storing
and processing data into useful information. He discusses the various
types of models and simulations that can be developed and differentiates
among them. The end goal of all these efforts is, of course, to provide
managers more planning time, relieve their burden of research, help
evaluate alternative policies and anticipate environmentally induced
changes.
CHANNEL ONE: NEW YORK'S ENVIRONMENTAL TV
One unique effort at improving the communication of environmental
information is described by Rodman T. Davis, Director of Planning with
the Metropolitan Regional Council of New York City. In the tri-state
New York metropolitan area, the local Metropolitan Regional Council has
inaugurated a small closed-circuit television network. Via this network,
environmental administrators, mayors, department heads, etc. will be able
to establish an instant conference on environmental issues. An initial
demonstration project will connect ten major counties and cities.
263
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Davis explains the motivations behind the system:
"Local governments are bombarded with all kinds of either contradictory
or non-conclusive information related to environmental management
. . . We have incredible amounts of information in our administrative
system, but it is not presently comprehensive, cohesive or
communicated so that systematic decisions may be made. The
New York region has begun to address this problem by utilizing
innovative communication technology."
Another approach to improving the communication of environment-
related information is being implemented by the Oklahoma Environmental
Information and Media Center. Dr. Robert V. Garner, Director of the
Center, notes that "a state-wide environmental action plan indicated that
one of the most pressing environmental needs concerned environmental
information and data." After gathering information in various formats
(books, microfiche, films, slides, etc.) from several sources, the Center
began conducting problem-oriented searches, field services, public
education displays, publication of fact sheets and news releases. At some
future date, the information retrieval system may be automated.
To attempt to systhesize existing data into a measurement system for
analyzing environmental quality, the Arizona Trade-Off Model (ATOM)
employs complex modeling techniques. The model uses 66 measurable
variables (river sediment load, game animals, ecosystem productivity
rate, air pollution particulate matter, etc.) to construct a weighted
numeric output. This output can then be used in the analysis of various
public policy trade-off solutions.
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT THREATENED BY COMPLEXITY
"When environmental and ecological sensitivities and responsibilities
of the (modern governmental and industrial management) organiza-
tion must be considered, the complexity of management and of the
information needed to support management is increased well
beyond the capabilities of present management procedures and their
associated automated information systems."
This is how the Gulf Universities Research Consortium defines the problem
addressed by their EDMPAS (Environment-Dependent Management
Process Automation and Simulation) system. Since August of 1971 the
multi-university team has simulated many of the functions in the management
information feedback loop process. The preliminary analysis of their
progress to date is presented in paper VI.5.
Another sophisticated modeling project—the Integrated Regional
Environmental Management (IREM) project—is being conducted by the
San Diego County Comprehensive Planning Organization. Designed to
aid in developing and implementing a comprehensive regional plan, the
IREM project utilizes planning models to evaluate alternative policies for
land use and transportation patterns.
For policy analysis, the IREM system can be used to test: regional
growth policies, alternative development policies, alternative transportation
systems, air quality standards and regional goals and evaluation criteria.
Among the model's outputs will be regional population and employment
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forecasts, alternative regional development patterns and future travel
patterns by mode. Forecasts are made for five-year intervals. Despite its
rather gross assumptions and data requirements, the model does integrate
environmental considerations into the policy-making process, is flexible
enough to meet the region's needs and is technically viable.
On a more generalized basis, the General Environmental Model (GEM)
is a developing urban policy model. GEM will be useful in the year-to-year
projection of urban developments under differing governmental, social
and economic policy assumptions. Using specific policy criteria as input,
GEM will produce spatial and temporal distributions. Indicies are produced
for air and water pollution, housing quality and costs, quality of public
services and public preferences for goods and services. When completed,
GEM will consist of various subsections to meet the needs of a variety of
users. One of the more advanced attributes that GEM will have is the
ability to simulate the differing environmental relationships in several
types of urban areas.
EAS: ERA'S LONG-RANGE FORECASTING SYSTEM
Finally, this chapter ends with a discussion of the Strategic Environmental
Assessment System (SEAS) by EPA Assistant Administrator for Research
and Development Dr. Stanley M. Greenfield. SEAS is an advanced research
project designed to help provide the means to forecast long-range
effects of societal actions so as to avoid deleterious environmental impacts.
Through a combination of proven computerized models, accurate data
and expert analysis, the SEAS system will be able to forecast, a decade
or more ahead, potential environmental problems and opportunities.
Dealing explicitly with pollution generators, possible controls and
known residuals effects, SEAS will be a national-level model system for
use by EPA headquarters and regional policy-makers. SEAS will be
a complex model system, attempting to tie together the interrelated
areas of environmental and socio-economic trends.
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VI.1 Design
for an
environmental
management
information
system
Stanley Wolfson *
As the complexity of environmental
problems increases, the decision mak-
er's need for comprehensive informa-
tion increases. In most regions, the
environmental manager must under-
stand the technical and legal issues re-
lated to industrial pollution, resource
management, interpretation of pollution
levels, transportation systems, and pop-
ulation growth. The development of
effective programs and policies of envi-
ronmental management requires an ade-
quate means of obtaining, processing,
and applying information or data to
these types of problems.
In designing an environmental man-
agement information system (EMIS),
managers are increasingly turning to
computer technology and quantitative
analysis. The first step in devising an
EMIS is to define the economic and
social objectives or desired output of the
system.
Clarify your goals
The data collating and processing
phases are based on the manager's de-
termination of the type of information
system required. Setting a broad goal
such as "improving the region's envi-
ronment" will complicate the task of
implementing an EMIS. While such a
broad goal may be a long-term decision,
the manager must define goals and ob-
jectives more specificaly. The manager
must determine what information is
needed to guide and strengthen his
decisions. Information needs, for exam-
ple, should be expressed as examining
pollutant levels or air quality standards;
evaluating the transportation system in
relation to its pollutants, capacity, and
future needs; or examining land use for
the region.
Managers must be cognizant of those
parameters that will be included in
order to achieve an adequate final sys-
tem design. The final determination for
the system's operation should be made
by the manager rather than research
and computer analysts.
Specific objectives of the information
system should be carefully conceived
and explicitly stated. What types of pol-
lutants should be considered? What
typzs of land uses should be exam-
ined: recreational, residential, indus-
trial? What alternatives to tarnsporta-
tion systems should be examined: buses,
rapid transit, banning automobiles, gas
rationing? What economic characteris-
tics should be examined: population,
income, employment, prices, produc-
tion? The objectives should be carefully
detailed without, at this stage, detailing
how results should be achieved.
Determine the system's limits
Subsequent to detailing specific ob-
jectives, it is necessary to establish the
constraints that ought to be built into
the system. Constraints are limitations
placed on the achievement of an ob-
jective. For example, cost, time, and
personal constraints may be placed on
achieving the overall objective of an
EMIS. Limitations will probably have
to be established for the variables in
relation to those controllable by man-
agement and those that are not. Non-
controlled variables involve levels of
detail and resource assignment too
costly and time consuming for most
information systems.
* Stanley Wolfson is the director of the
Urban Data Service Center, ICMA.
266
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What appears to be a good pollution
information system at a reasonable cost
may turn out to be inadequate when
new viewpoints and alternatives are
examined, especialy for the variables
included and overall system design. An
additional expenditure of five percent
for better data collection may be all
that is needed to transform a fair system
into an excellent system.
Definite criteria should be established
for evaluating each alternative. These
criteria may involve simply a written
report indicating pros and cons of each
alternative to a specific analytical proc-
ess for evaluation. Each alternative
should be evaluated in relation to the
original objectives and constraints. The
manager must keep an open mind to
alternatives and be ready to modify
unrealistic objectives, goals, constraints
or the alternatives, if a viable system is
to be established.
Keep variables relevant
The manager must define the specific
economic, demographic, and environ-
mental variables relevant for policy-
making, based on present knowledge
and problems and future expectations.
A variable is an element (pollution,
land use) or attribute (amount, size,
age) which is under empirical investi-
gation. Variables may be qualitative or
quantitative, and the concern of the
environmental manager is to understand
the relationship among variables in
order to assist in the evaluation of
competing policy alternatives.
The next phase involves determining
whether the necessary data is available
and can be maintained and collected
on a continuing basis, at a reasonable
cost, and with an acceptable level
of statistical validity and reliability.
For example, in order to evaluate eco-
nomic growth, data must be available
on population, income, employment,
housing. Comprehensive analysis may
be limited if the data is not collected on
a continuing basis or if there are dis-
tortions in the data due to variations
in methods of collection.
The goal in the data-collection proc-
ess is to create standard definitions,
identifications, and classifications of data
so thai the managers receive timely,
reliable data that is useful for inter-
and intra-regional comparisons. Ulti-
mately, the information system, more
than a simple inventory of data proc-
esses, must transform data into useable
information for purposes of decision
making. An unrealistic database design
is the major reason for an information
system's failure (i.e. one that is overly
detailed, or fragmented). The failure
is a result of poor design, unused and
unuseable data, and excessive cost
burdens to maintain current data. Data
elements common to more than one
component of the system should be
identified and evaluated with a view
towards multiple purposes (i.e. an inte-
grated database).
A necessary tool for recording, stor-
ing, and processing data is the computer.
It combines speed with accuracy and
economy; it can sort, store, calculate,
merge, correlate, and otherwise manipu-
late data at high speeds. They rarely
make mistakes and reduce data collec-
tion and processing costs. Most mis-
takes that do occur are caused by
humans; the computer performs only
those functions programmed for them.
Three important characteristics explain
the extraordinary utility of computers:
storage capacity—which permits the
adaptation of a central or common data
file and allows for the inclusion of all
data input for each process; direct in-
terrogation of the system via remote
inquiry devices; and legibility of com-
puter output—which may take the form
of tabular listings, mappings, graphical
display, and printed text.
Computers require good people
An accurate, worthwhile computer-
based EMIS cannot be built overnight.
The manager should ascertain, with
expert assistance, the computer hard-
ware and software (e.g. computer pro-
gramming) needed for the application
of a system. Many presently operating
regional systems may be modified, ex-
panded or combined, thereby reducing
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the time needed to establish a working
data base and EMIS. However, the
capabilities of any computer system are
limited by the ability and techniques of
the computer analyst or programmer. It
is the analysts who conceptualize a
problem and make decisions about how
a problem will be solved. Analysts inte-
grate data with statistical and overall
design and guidance of the system. In
thinking about alterantive designs for a
total EMIS, the manager should con-
sider in-house capabilities, as well as
assistance from universities and consult-
ing firms.
A properly instituted EMIS will give
managers more planning time without
the need for extensive research, provide
for the evaluation of alternative actions,
and anticipate environmentally induced
changes that will effectively centralize
the control of the information and anal-
ysis process.
Implementation of an EMIS requires
a close working relationship between
managers and research and computer
analysts. Analysts translate technical
methods and concepts into a practical
language to meet the needs of the
manager. However, the manager must
have sufficient knowledge of the disci-
plines available for analysts, have a
rudimentary understanding of their
techniques and language, and be able to
grasp the importance of quantitative
analysis.
Models and simulation
In order to respond to a request for
information on an environmental prob-
lem from the manager, the research and
computer analyst's first step is to de-
velop a model or simulation.
Models present an abstraction of
reality. A model simplifies reality by
using a small number of variables to
describe, explain and predict a phenom-
enon (e.g. using population increases
to predict additional employment).
There are three basic types of
models: iconic or physical; analogue or
abstract; and symbolic. The iconic or
physical models look like what they
represent, that is, a "model" airplane
or ship, or maps and drawings. The
analogue or abstract model uses sym-
bols to represent a set of properties of
reality. For example, using words to
describe reality, for an object or lines
on a photograph to represent contours.
The symbolic model uses symbols (let-
ters, numbers) to represent a relation-
ship of reality. This type of model is
usually specified by a mathematical re-
lationship.
Models are simplifications of reality
that supply alternatives for solving a
problem. While it is possible to make
extremely complex models, they are
usually incapable of being used directly
for decision purposes without additional
analysis.
Models may be simplified in four
ways. The first way is by omitting some
variables. Only those variables offering
a specified level of significance should
be maintained in a model. For example,
transportation variables that may be in-
cluded are buses, cars and trucks. How-
ever, detailing makes and models of
each would add little additional signifi-
cance to the outcome. Variables may
also be aggregated to reduce their
number. Income groups may be classi-
fied as high, middle, and low rather
than broken down into more refined
categories.
Second, the manner in which varia-
bles are used may be changed. Rather
than using explicit distributions of a
variable, an average value may be used
so that the variable may be considered
a constant, for example, the average
number of new housing starts per
month.
Third, relationships between variables
may be changed. The most common
type of relationship change is substi-
tuting a linear relationship for a non-
linear one. For example, pollution may
increase at an increasing rate as auto-
mobile weight increases, until some
limiting weight is reached whereby pol-
lutants increase at a decreasing rate no
matter how much more an automobile
weighs (an exponential function). This
type of situation may be simplified with
a straight linear relationship explaining
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that pollutants increase as automobile
weight increases.
The fourth possibility is to modify
the constraints of the model. Constraints
can be added, subtracted, or changed
to simplify a model. Requiring industry
to add pollution abatement may cause
a shortage of production to occur to
some maiximum limit. The model would
obviously need an estimate of these
shortages, although such an estimate
would probably be extremely difficult to
obtain. However, as the shortage in-
creases, the costs and difficulty in reduc-
ing polution may become higher. A
constraint may then be built in so that
lost production does not exceed this
upper amount.
Two levels of models
Environmental models are time-con-
suming to construct and extremely com-
plex. It is therefore necessary to con-
struct a model in parts so that the final
result is a multiple model (or a large
model with many sub-models). The
output of one model may become the
input to other models. Determining air
quality standards would require, at a
minimum, the input from an economic
characteristics model to determine pop-
ulation and industrial growth. Input
would also be required from a trans-
portation model to determine traffic
congestion and patterns, which in turn
requires input from the economic
growth model. Multiple models may
function completely independently, with
each model providing a set of solutions,
or sequentially, with all the models
working together to provide a set of
solutions.
Simulation is an imitation of reality.
Simulation of a system involves the
manipulation of a model (a representa-
tion of reality) to yield as true a
picture of reality as possible. Model
manipulation allows alternative policies
and decisions to be tested to eliminate
expensive trial-and-error methods.
A simulation requires data on how
various operations are interrelated, as
well as a time frame for the different
conditions and objectives to be exam-
ined. By using multiple iterations of a
designed model, a simulation allows
examination of the different phases of a
system.
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VI.2 Commu-
nications in
environmental
management
Rodman T. Davis *
In the New York metropolitan area
we are working on a project which
involves both technology transfer and
environmental management, primarily
as it pertains to the techniques of tele-
communications. Specifically it is a tele-
vision system that was built by the
Metropolitan Regional Council in the
last several years.
Extremely fragmented jurisdiction
The metropolitan regional council is
a small voluntary council of govern-
ments serving essentially a tri-state,
twenty-two county metropolitan area,
8,000 square miles in size, with a popu-
lation base of 18 million people. We
have 50 general purpose governments,
and another 800 special districts. This
is an extreme example of jurisdictional
and administrative fragmentation. It is
a type of fragmentation similar to other
large metropolitan areas, particularly in
eastern parts of the United States.
The Council of Government concept
is fairly well known. Essentially, it is
an attempt to fill the vacuum which has
developed in relation to intergovern-
mental relations and Constitutional defi-
nition of what states, local governments,
and the federal government do. With
the exception of the Metropolitan Coun-
cil of the Twin Cities, Council of
Governments are still tentative, admin-
istrative mechanisms designed to im-
prove coordination between jurisdictions
in the metropolitan area.
A few years ago our organization
visited with a county in New Jersey.
They were deliberating about putting
in closed circuit television in a court
system. Anyone who has served on jury
duty in the last two or three years in a
court system in a large city probably
appreciates the problems faced in these
systems. There is an incredibly ineffi-
cient and counterproductive use of
peoples' time and energies. Since closed
circuit television between buildings and
between court systems is feasible, the
possibility exists that communications
technology may be used for improving
the flow of information between juris-
dictions, between administrative agen-
cies or between administrators in a large
metropolitan area.
In 1969 we prepared a brief feasi-
bility study of the present state of the
art in closed circuit television tech-
nologies. It was not sponsored by the
central research and development ori-
ented federal agencies or foundations
which have stated interest in communi-
cations. Rather, the sponsor was a re-
gional office of a federal agency which
was aware of the lack of coordination
between and among jurisdictions in the
area of, among other things, the envi-
ronmental management problem.
Wireless closed circuit TV
The results of the study indicated that
there was a technology, known as
IFTS (Instructional Television Fixed
Service). This is a technology of micro-
wave television, whereby the signal goes
through a converter, into a dish antenna
kind of configuration, and then through
the air by line of sight ten, twenty, or
thirty miles, depending upon topogra-
phy, and is reecived by a dish and
converted back to a television set.
The Federal Communications Com-
mission (FCC) opened about thirty-one
channels in the 2500 megaHertz fre-
quency about 1963. Construction of the
first systems began in the mid-1960's.
For instance, in 1964 there was one that
started in Mineola with six schools tied
* Presented by Rodman T. Davis, Di-
rector of Planning, Metropolitan Regional
Council of New York City, at the National
Conference on Managing the Environment.
270
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together. Then universities instituted a
system in, for example, extension
courses for engineering students, where-
by they could stay in their factory
or their firm and take courses during
the working day or in the late after-
noon, with some kind of audio talk-
back capability.
Then it spread into the hospital
world. Massachusetts General Hospital
has a system linking the teaching hos-
pital, the veteran's hospital, and Logan
Airfield. Some of the medical schools
have also used this technique and a
police system has initiated a microwave
system.
Our role in relation to environmental
management is to try to improve the
collective decisions and improve the
flow of information between a large host
of federal, state, and local agencies
which have specific missions in the
environmental protection, environmen-
tal planning, and the administration of
environmental control programs.
After selecting the system, we con-
tacted the FCC. Basically, we proposed
to build a closed circuit TV system
which would link the administrative
headquarters of the major counties and
some of the major cities in the metro-
politan area. That was the concept. It
included two-way communication. This
had not been done through the tra-
ditional use of ITFS closed circuit
television which was primarily class-
room instruction. Initially, we had a
problem in soliciting participation from
a builder and a system designer. Prior
to that, we had to contact the FCC
and explain that we were not a school
district, but rather a Council of Gov-
ernments, and that we were interested
in governmental management and in
improving the programming of govern-
mental programs. This did not neces-
sarily fit into their traditional categories
of licensing.
Test system work begins
However, since the school systems
had not used up all the channels in our
metropolitan region, the timing was in
our favor, and the FCC said, "Sure,
try it out. It might work." We were
able to get the authorization to go
ahead with seventeen points in the
metropolitan area in September of 1970.
At that point, we started to prepare
fairly detailed path surveys. If you
intend to use the microave-type closed
circuit system, you need either a moun-
tain or a tall building to provide
unobstructed paths between points. It
is meant to be a fairly cost-effective
technique as opposed to cable, which
may be a very expensive way of getting
television, either one-way or two-way,
between points. We selected the 110-
story World Trade Center and moved
in during September 1971.
At this point we were surprised to
receive only three fairly good bids on
this system. Two of them were general
contractors and would farm out differ-
ent pieces of the system. We found few
people who could design, package, and
deliver a bi-directional or interactive
closed circuit television system oriented
towards governmental management.
The firm which had the most ex-
perience in total systems was selected
and construction began in June of 1972.
A construction strike in New York City
slowed us down, but we were success-
ful in obtaining nine closed circuit
facilities built into governmental office
buildings, primarily county headquar-
ters, during the summer and fall. The
dishes and the antennas on the roof of
the Trade Center were placed in the
winter. Presently, the system is about
ninety-nine percent complete.
We are scheduling initial test trans-
missions in June of 1973 when we will
be able to call a meeting of the air
pollution administrators at the county,
state, and federal level. They can col-
lect around the various points in the
region—White Plains, Mineola, Newark
and New Brunswick, for example—-and
have a live, two-way, bi-directional dis-
cussion.
System offers vast potential
There are several related potential
uses for the system. First, each of these
trunk systems could feed out in an
271
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omnidirectional pattern to branch offi-
ces, like borough halls or village halls,
fire stations, police stations, hospitals,
and neighborhood community centers.
It has a networking capability, but it is
not broadcasting. Unlike the entertain-
ment industry, large numbers of people
are not involved. Secondly, there is the
microwave system to a cable television
potential for relating material from the
system.
Related to this technique is the po-
tential for facsimile transmission, as
well as for data transmission. Our strat-
egy, though, was not to get involved
with data transmission systems at pres-
ent but to concentrate on a manage-
ment teleconferencing technique, which
would bring the decision makers at the
state and the local government to-
gether on a periodic, real-time kind of
basis where we could have them con-
tinue monitoring specific progress and
specific projects within their adminis-
trative purview.
Local government wants control
We learned several things. One is that
local governments will respond to the
offer of communications technology
only when they believe that they can
have some control over it. Local gov-
ernments, particularly smaller local gov-
ernments, are very reluctant to buy a
system which "comes from above."
Secondly, we learned that bi-direc-
tional television is probably profoundly
different than what we usually think of
as television. We are used to being only
the receiver of a television image. This
is a problem when you start putting
people in rooms connected by di-rec-
tional television. The predisposition of
many people to perceive these systems
as entertainment must be overcome.
Thirdly, although you may offer the
most beautiful system on paper, most
people will not buy into a system, on
the basis of the description. Govern-
ment officials want to see how the com-
munications system works, and see what
the mayor of the other town got out
of it, before committing their own re-
sources.
There are four general kinds of bar-
riers that we experienced in the three
years from conception to actual con-
struction. First, the potential users and
the local administrative agencies often
lack an understanding of how to effec-
tively utilize a new communications sys-
tem. They need time and assistance to
discover how to make the system re-
sponsive to their needs.
Second is the inadequate financing
techniques for aggregating markets. We
are basically running a user-oriented,
user-paid system. Each local govern-
ment will contribute $14,000 per year.
We are not billing per hour nor per
minute. Beware of "off-the-shelf tech-
nology." Although it may be available,
it also may be left over from a pre-
vious era of application. In our par-
ticular case, much of the hardware we
are working with is instructionally ori-
ented, that is, teacher-pupil oriented.
This is logical, because it was organ-
ized initially for use by school systems.
However, when fifteen mayors, for ex-
ample, are talking about recent sulfur
dioxide regulations of the state environ-
mental protection agency, they are going
to make different demands on the sys-
tem than students and teachers.
Avoid overambitious design
Another barrier is that communica-
tion system designers and manufactur-
ers have a propensity to work with large
systems. The users, particularly man-
agers and administrative users at the
state and local level, think in terms
of small increments of investment and
small steps toward progress rather than
in terms of systems. In addition, im-
plementing a large system extends the
time lag between system design and
system utilization. We might have ap-
proached the problem by exploring the
possibility of obtaining a two-way TV
set in front of every one of the 550
local governments. This would be a
total system concept. Instead, however,
our approach was to install the system
in ten major counties and cities, and
demonstrate its operation to area may-
ors and managers.
Finally, in terms of television as a
technology, we found a need for more
272
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transparent kinds of systems. In other
words, if the hardware in any way
impedes or gives the impression that
it is limiting the dialogue or the bar-
gaining or the debate, it becomes less
useful and less flexible for the admin-
istrator.
Ours is a time-shared system which
means that we are going to be opening
up different kinds of relations between
jurisdictions and departments of one
kind or another. This creates some diffi-
culties. For instance, law enforcement
agencies sometimes fear sharing the sys-
tem with other departments.
Finally, we attempted to build a flexi-
ble system that could tie into other
communication systems, such as cable,
and could adapt to new systems as they
may be developed.
Digging out of the data pile
In conclusion, we found that local
governments are bombarded with all
kinds of either contradictory or non-
cohesive information related to environ-
mental management. If you ask a mayor
of a city or a county official, it is fair
to say that we have incredible amounts
of information in our administrative
system, but it is not presently com-
prehensive, cohesive, nor communicated
so that systematic decisions may be
made. Our region has begun to ad-
dress this problem by utilizing innova-
tive communication technology.
273
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VI.3 A proto-
type state
environmental
information
center
Dr. Robert V. Garner *
The Oklahoma Environmental Infor-
mation and Media Center (OEIMC) was
established by action of the Oklahoma
Legislature and the Oklahoma Regents
for Higher Education. Its purpose is to
provide an environmental knowledge
base for all interests in the state, in-
cluding business and industry, educa-
tion, government, and the public.
Action establishing the center was
taken after a state-wide environmental
action plan study indicated that one of
the most pressing environmental needs
concerned environmental information
and data. There was no central au-
thority or source upon whom the po-
tential information user could depend
for current, factual environmental in-
formation. Locating and acquiring much
needed information was beyond the op-
erational and financial capability of a
majority of Oklahoma users.
The original state funding for the
first year of operation was supplement-
ed during the second year by grant
funds from the Environmental Studies
Division of EPA. The federal funds al-
lowed continued development >f the
center.
Identification of needs
Needs were defined by target groups
within two broad categories. The cate-
gories were (1) short range, i.e., prob-
lem solving, enforcement, training, etc.;
and (2) long range, i.e., educational,
continuing research, public informa-
tion, etc. The first category, short
range needs, includes the following
areas: (a) environmental management
information for small industry and local
government; (b) environmental infor-
mation required by local and state gov-
ernment agencies for enforcement mea-
sures; (c) environmental training ma-
terials required for industry and govern-
mental training programs; (d) environ-
mental information necessary for the
research activities of industry, academia,
and government; and (e) general en-
vironmental information solicited by the
public on significant environmental
issues.
The second category, that of long
range needs, includes the following
areas: (a) environmental information
for curriculum building—an urgent
need in both public and higher edu-
cation; (b) general environmental in-
formation sought by special interest
groups and others engaged in support
of environmental quality efforts; and
(c) environmental information for the
planning activities of those govern-
mental and industrial representatives
charged with creating future environ-
mental quality programs.
Building the base
Once the needs were defined, an ef-
fort was made to identify information/
data bases containing environmentally
related materials, and to find ways to
tap those bases. Caution was taken to
avoid duplication of effort. The follow-
ing steps were taken: (1) Arrangements
were made to allow direct access of
OEIMC information personnel to the
Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research
Lab Library, the East Central State
College Library, and other libraries with
appropriate holdings; (2) Acquisition of
selected environmental documents and
materials was begun. Formats included
hard-copy documents, microfiche, abs-
tract listings, films, film clips, slides.
etc.; (3) Contract and liaison arrange-
*Presented by Dr. Robert V. Garner,
Director, Oklahoma Environmental Infor-
mation and Media Center, East Central
State College, at the National Conference
on Managing the Environment.
274
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ments were made with other informa-
tion centers to receive selected environ-
mental materials in microfiche format
on a monthly basis; (4) Subscriptions to
a number of document abstract sources
were initiated; (5) Subscriptions to pe-
riodicals, newsletters, journals, etc. were
initiated; and (6) A referral list of en-
vironmental expertise was begun.
Search and delivery
Though computer searches are avail-
able under some of the contract ar-
rangements, the cost factor with cur-
rent budget level is virtually prohibitive.
Therefore, virtually all information
searches are performed manually by en-
vironmental science students.
Delivery techniques vary consider-
ably. The key word is service, and the
center tries to provide a service in an-
swer to all requests for information
while also using media methods to dis-
seminate environmental information.
Briefly, there are five kinds of services:
(1) Problem or question-oriented
requests. Such requests may be
handled by phone, mail, or in per-
son. They vary in depth from ques-
tions which can be answered im-
mediately from reference materials
to some which may require search
of thousands of document titles
and abstracts.
(2) Field Service. The field serv-
ice is designed to provide a direct
interface with the local government
and small industry. The field rep-
resentative is available to inform
potential users of the center's serv-
ices, assist in obtaining access to
the center's resources, and on oc-
casion, advise the user on applying
the information.
(3) Public information education
displays. Directed at informing the
general public, this method is em-
ployed by setting up displays at
environmental, scientific, educa-
tional, and industrial meetings
around the State.
(4) Publication of periodicals
and fact sheets. OEIMC pub-
lishes "ECO SYSTEMS", an en-
vironmental periodical, eight times
per year, and produces fact sheets
on environmental subjetcs for
mailing and for handout at meet-
ings.
(5) Use of news media. With an
experienced newswoman on the
staff, OEIMC makes frequent use
of newspapers. The TV and radio
media have also been used on a
number of occasions.
Future directions
Even though manual search tech-
niques have been proven more relevant
and effective than computer searches,
the increasing volume of requests ne-
cessitates the use of some automation.*
Since the advantage of the manual
search results from the individual's abil-
ity to scan the text of an abstract or
article, OEIMC studied several auto-
mated systems advertising free text-
search capability. All but one of the
systems studied require a large com-
puter and considerable software. The
one system which did not require a
large computer showed the most prom-
ise. Based on a special purpose ma-
chine employing a hardwired associa-
tive logic, the system will search on
word combinations or whole phrases.
Limited software is required for storage,
none for retrieval of free text. It is ac-
cessed by keyboard, it is compatible
with most computer systems, and it can
accommodate remote terminals. Cost
per query is lowest of all systems stud-
ied. Of four units in the world, only
two are now in the U.S. One is cur-
rently on loan to OEIMC. Plans are
under way to purchase a complete sys-
tem with peripheral equipment to al-
low service to the entire state.
*NASA Report NASW-2085—A Study
of NASA Literature Search Strategies, and
NASA Report NSR 37-004-008—Tech-
nology Utilization in a Non-Urban Region.
275
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VI.4 Arizona
trade-off
model: a tool
for state
growth and
land-use
policy*
The Arizona Trade-Off Model (AT-
OM) is an operational environmental
management tool that analyzes eco-
nomic growth versus natural environ-
ment policy issues. The model is de-
signed to assess the impact of specific
policy or program alternatives on the
economy and environment of Arizona.
To measure trade-off, the model uses
employment as a rough indicator for
economic change and a composite in-
dex for measuring environmental qual-
ity units. The environmental compo-
site index is derived using weighted
scores for sixty-six variables represent-
ing environmental quality. The sum
of the highest values for the sixty-six
variables, or a perfect score of 1000,
represents zero pollution. This method
allows for a crude quantitative measure-
ment of environmental quality as well
as integrating policy issues into the
weighing scheme.
Splitting the Atom
The Atom has two distinct stages—
an exogenous or external stage and an
endogenous or internal stage. The ex-
ogenous stage allows for variables that
are outside the model's determination
to have a value assigned. The endoge-
nous stage is the working Atom model
and uses the external factors to calcu-
late a solution. The final evaluation
phase of the Atom model uses the
technique of simulation. Since internal
variables may change and affect the
final solutions, the ATOM is consid-
ered a dynamic simulation model.
Two of the more important aspects
of the ATOM are land use and re-
sources analysis. Land use is analyzed
for each six-by-ten-mile grid cell for the
state. Each grid receives a general classi-
fication of its surface resources, a dis-
tribution for the major types of activi-
ties, and a description of the grid's
attributes.
The major surface resources are de-
scribed by using the classifications of:
surface water; riparian; urban land;
cultivated and pasture; coniferous for-
est; grassland; woodland; chaparral and
mountain brush; northern desert shrub;
non-urban highways and airports; and
southern desert shrub.
Human activity is also described.
Items such as urban settlements, rec-
reational facilities and activities, agri-
cultural activities, and mineral extrac-
tions are used to relate human ac-
tivities to land attributes. The land a-
tributes that are considered include:
land ownership, mineral deposits, game
birds, and recreational demands. Items
such as recreational demand, that
change over time, have detailed com-
putations made on the activity in each
cell.
The analysis focuses on environmen-
tal quality and calculations are made
for changes that would occur because of
industrial emissions or increased popu-
lation. Water and air effects are traced
from cell to cell until they are dis-
sipated.
The Arizona Trade-Off Model is ex-
tremely complex. There are various in-
*Based on a paper by C. W. "Jick"
Myers. Arizona Department of Economics
Planning and Development, and Progress
Reports submitted by Battelle Columbus
Laboratories. The Arizona model is being
developed for the Department of Economic
Planning and Development, State of Ari-
zona, by Battelle. The Arizona program is
being sponsored in part by the Four Corn-
ers Regional Commission and the U.S. De-
partment of Commerce.
276
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ternal effects and interactions that are
impossible to trace in a summary type
paper. However, the model is providing
environmental managers with informa-
tion needed to establish policies and
directions.
The model does have many limita-
tions in its built-in assumptions, exoge-
nous needs and simplistic causalties.
But the model is a beginning for ra-
tional environmental decision-making.
Why Arizona?
Arizona faces several somewhat
unique circumstances with regard to
development. First, much of the recent
growth threatens the very resources that
have stimulated economic and demo-
graphic expansion. Second, the State
contains a dual economic structure.
The urban areas of the State are rapidly
expanding both economically and in
population while rural parts of the State
contain severely depressed areas and are
often characterized by outmigration
The implication of this fact is that Ari-
zona must continue to actively pursue
economic development programs. Total
disregard or even discouragement of
economic growth must not be allowed
to occur as long as the depressed areas
exist and economic prosperity is desired
for these areas. On the other hand,
Arizona, which must remain aware of
the impact of development programs
on the State's economy, must not lose
sight of the fact that the nature and
quality of its environment is one of its
greatest assets and must be preserved.
When the issues of economic growth
and environmental quality are consid-
ered jointly, it becomes apparent that
possible conflicts exist between pro-
grams for environmental improvement
and policies aimed at stimulating real
economic growth. Compromises must
be made as policies are adopted and
programs implemented. It is also clear
that we lack adequate information to
assure that policy and program conflicts
are resolved in a manner that will maxi-
mize the total well-being of the popu-
lation. The trade-off model approach
provides a method for both determin-
ing data needs and for providing de-
cision makers with the information re-
quired to formulate rational compro-
mise.
Why was Atom developed?
The major objective of the model is
to serve as a tool for use by decision
makers in evaluating the trade-offs and
relationships between potential eco-
nomic development, environmental
quality programs, and trends in the
State of Arizona. It was recognized that
not all questions concerning these re-
lationships could be completely an-
swered during the initial development
of the model. Therefore, the model is
constructed in a modular framework so
that critical elements can be modified
and updated as the state of the art
improves. Emphasis also has been
placed on developing a model that can
be easily manipulated and utilized, thus
increasing its potential usefulness by
decision makers.
Although the development of the
model relating economic growth to
environmental quality is the prime ob-
jective of this project, other benefits
include:
• An examination of how develop-
ment policies and objectives are re-
lated to economic growth and en-
vironmental quality.
• The specification of means for im-
plementing objectives.
• An analysis of environmental im-
pact of specific industries and
households.
• An analysis of the economic im-
pact derived from public invest-
ment.
Underlying concepts of Atom
The model focuses on economic
growth, demographic growth, and en-
vironmental quality. Economic growth
is measured in terms of changes in em-
ployment by industry, changes in the
size of the labor force, and unemploy-
ment rates. Demographic growth is
measured by both migration and natural
increase. Evaluation of environmental
quality is generated through applica-
tion of quantifiable as well as subjective
277
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measures of ecology, pollution, aesthet-
ics, and human interest. The trade-
offs between economic growth and en-
vironmental quality are measured in
terms of economic opportunity costs.
In doing so, the intangible benefits of
an improved environment can be bal-
anced against problems caused by eco-
nomic growth.
Before describing how the Arizona
Trade-Off Model operates, it is appro-
priate to note briefly several of the
general economic and environmental
concepts on which the model is based.
(1) The economic evaluations or in-
dicators used in this model are based
on the concept of changing levels of
employment. In other words, the eco-
nomic evaluation of a particular deci-
sion or change in local conditions will
be based on the concept of changes
in total employment associated with
changes in certain selected growth in-
dustries which are of most importance
to the state's economy.
(2) The economic elements and in-
teractions of the model will be based
in part on selected macro- and micro-
economic level concepts. Macro-eco-
nomic factors include such phenomena
as matching industry requirements with
regional resources and regional develop-
ment programs. When more precise
information is required, micro-eco-
nomic factors utilized include site se-
lection factors, production functions,
excess capacity, and firm investment
decisions.
(3) Development policies and pro-
grams evaluated in the Arizona Trade-
off Model are assumed to successfully
stimulate the economy to the desired
level. The model assumes that once an
investment is made, a resulting increase
in jobs will not be analyzed in this
model. Established mechanisms for
stimulating growth will be specified,
and the results assumed to follow di-
rectly from these programs will then
be factored into runs of the model.
The model also assumes that, in most
cases, some type of new economic de-
velopment is possible no matter how
stringent the environmental standards
that are being maintained. Therefore,
the model attempts to initiate new ac-
tivity in sequential order from the most
economically feasible to the least.
(4) The concept of environmental
quality means something different to
each member of society. Therefore, to
determine any change in environmental
quality and the significance of the
chanfie, the environment is defined in
a broad context. The impacts of var-
ious economic development and en-
vironmental policies will be measured
in four major categories:
A. Physical - Chemical Pollution —
Quantifiable
B. Ecology
C. Aesthetics
D. Human Interest
These categories are incorporated into
Atom as environmental constraints on
the type and extent of economic devel-
opment in Arizona. The constraints
can be used to modify the growth that
is desired in the state, county, or city,
or be used to set environmental poli-
cies such as improvement of environ-
ment quality in the state, county, or
city.
(5) Two types of constraints will
be used in the Atom to assess the
feasibility and desirability of economic
development. These include physical-
chemical constraints and land-use con-
straints.
(A) Physical-Chemical Constraints.
The waste released by an industry or
population has impacts on the air,
water, and land of Arizona. These
impacts are traditionally measured by
changes in physical-chemical parame-
ters such as BOD, SO2, SS, etc. which
may be allowed to enter the environ-
ment and by changing these allowable
levels, various environmental policies
can be introduced into the model.
(B) Land-Use Factors. The location
of an industry or population centers,
its design, and the amount of waste
released at a site have impacts on the
aesthetics, ecology, and human en-
vironment. A detailed-site specific en-
vironmental analysis can measure the
direct impact of these components. Be-
278
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cause site-specific, geographic detail is
not practical at the present level of
model development and these cate-
gories cannot be related directly to de-
velopment, as is achieved in the physi-
cal-chemical category, a macro-en-
vironmental approach is used. This ap-
proach incorporates these semi-quanti-
fiable components into Atom through
special land-use factors. The other three
categories of the environment, aesthet-
ics, ecology, and human interest, will
be transformed into "land-use" fac-
tors. Therefore, a constraint on aes-
thetics, ecology, or human interest will
be implemented in the model by con-
straining the type of and extent of land
use allowed in a particular location
in Arizona.
(6) It is important to remember that
the model, per se, is oriented toward
generating trade-offs as output. There-
fore, the central focus of the model
is trade-offs, but in the form of output
rather than an integral part of the
model. Atom should be viewed as a
tool for use by decision makers rather
than a definitive, optimizing model.
In no way is the model being con-
structed to yield an optimal solution.
An optimizing model implies that the
relationship between environmental
quality and economic change is known.
The focus of Atom implies that this
relationship is not known and that re-
lationship is not necessarily a constant.
(7) Causality is addressed in those
areas critical to evaluating trade-offs
between environmental quality and
economic change. In particular causal-
ity will be stressed in issues relating
economic change to levels of physical-
chemical pollution; changes in land use
to changes in ecological, human in-
terest and esthetic environmental is-
sues; and environmental constraints
and standards to acceptable levels of
economic activity.
How does Atom work?
In general terms, the Arizona Trade-
off Model is a system of related sub-
models. Evaluations of economic and
environmental change and impact are
performed either by means of a dy-
namic situation procedure or by evalu-
ating the impacts of projects and pol-
icies at a given point in time. Within
the overall system framework, some of
the model elements are internal and
some external to the actual trade-off
evaluation. This is most easily explained
by references to the flow diagram of
the model presented in Figure 1. The
three external submodels are concerned
with the generation and specification
of data, instructions, and parameters
of the computer-based trade-off model.*
The trade-off section of the Arizona
model (elements 5-14 in Figure 1)
consists of a set of functionally linked
submodels which interact during a par-
ticular run or simulation to describe
the economic and environmental im-
pacts of a particular policy decision.
External components
The external components of the sys-
tem range from a complex economic
model to a substantive data bank.
STEP 1. Public policy
The first step, shown in Figure 1, is
called a public policy submodel. The
first task in the use of the model is
to delineate specific policy alternatives
or methods of implementing them. Nu-
merous state, Federal, and private or-
ganizations are promoting economic
development while certain of these same
agencies and many others are advocat-
ing environmental constraints, pro-
grams, and objectives. Atom will iden-
tify these Arizona agencies, clarify
their missions, and identify the various
comprehensive economic and environ-
mental policies of relevance in Arizona.
Given the comprehensive economic
or environmental policies and applied
objectives, potential programs for im-
plementation to achieve these objec-
tives must be identified. Then, the cost
of implementation can be estimated,
* Unlike the elements of the trade-off
portion of Atom, the external submodels
are not operationally linked to each other
or other elements.
279
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FIGURE 1.—FLOW DIAGRAM OF THE ARIZONA MODEL
1 2
Public
Policy
Submodel
Regional/Industrial
Allocation Model
(RIAL)
Economic and
Environmental
Conditions and
Constraints
I I
External Components
Data and Policy
Inputs
Trade-off Evaluation
Evaluate Total
Environment
Total Environmental
Constraints Satisfied
A Yes
13
Yes
Are Modifications \No No/ |s simulation
Within an Industry ——'
Feasible
/ \ Period Completed
Economic Results
Environmental Development
FINAL OUTPUT
14
Environmental
Results
Determine Changes
from Development
and, if desirable, placed within a frame-
work of the total budget available. The
output of this submodel includes the
type of programs to be implemented,
and the location and the timing of the
results associated with them.
280
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STEP 2. Regional/Industrial
Allocation model (RIAL)
The identification of the industries
best suited for various locations is a
two-sided process in the Arizona model.
The initial step involves the use of
RIAL to identify industries which are
feasible for individual Arizona coun-
ties. The Regional Industry Allocation
model relates industry needs to regional
resources. Use is made in this model
of input-output linkages and the iden-
tification of both industry location re-
quirements and the resources of a spe-
cific area. Factors used in this analysis
include the following industry and
county characteristics:
Industry characteristics: Raw
material supply orientation, inter-
mediate supply orientation, other
supply orientation, intermediate
market orientation, and consumer
market orientation.
County characteristics^ Raw ma-
terial availability, intermediate ma-
terial availability, other material
availability, intermediate market
potential, and consumer market
potential.
A ranked list of the most feasible
new industries for each location is
provided.
The industry feasibility list is only
that and no probability measure of
likelihood of actual location is attempt-
ed. The model makes no attempt to
compare the desirability of competing
locations for any industry. Proposed
development programs must be assumed
successful in testing possible impacts
because regional science has not yet
provided us prescient capacities in the
field of industrial location.
The second phase of the industry lo-
cation process, Step 9 "Select New In-
dustries," examines the likelihood for
attracting one of these industries to the
county and identifies desirable and suit-
able locations for a suitable industry
(as identified by RIAL).
STEP 3: Economic and
environmental constraints
The third major external unit is a
data base of existing economic, demo-
graphic, and environmental character-
istics. These data are used both for op-
eration of the analytical procedure and
as a base against which to gauge chang-
es resulting from the implementation of
policies and programs.
Two types of data will be developed:
characteristics of economic activity
and regional characteristics. For each
possible category of economic activity,
data describing its locational and oper-
ational characteristics will be entered.
This would include, for example, num-
ber of production workers, skill level,
dependance on rail for shipping, and
the like.
Existing environmental quality is
measured in Atom by a composite
index value derived from the evaluation
of sixty-six variables (see Table 1).
Each parameter is weighted based upon
its importance to total environmental
quality. The method begins with 1,000
TABLE 1
I. ECOLOGY
A. Species and Populations (144 units)
1. Rare and endangered plant and
animal species (16)
2. Productive plant species (16)
3. Game animals (16)
4. Other animals (16)
5. Resident and migratory birds (16)
6. Sport fisheries (16)
7. Commercial fisheries (16)
8. Pestilent plant and animal species
(16)
9. Parasites (16)
(315 units)
B. Habitats and Communities (96 units)
10. Species diversity (48)
11. Food chains (24)
12. Land use for habitats and com-
munities (24)
C. Ecosystems (75 units)
13. Productivity rate (25)
14. Hydrologic budget (25)
15. Nutrient budget (25)
281
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II. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (321 units)
D. Water Pollution (160 units) E. Air Pollution (40 units)
16. Algal blooms (5) 30. Carbon monoxide (8)
17. Dissolved oxygen (20) 31. Hydrocarbons (8)
18. Evaporation (6) 32. Paniculate matter (8)
19. Fecal coliforms (5) 33. Photochemical oxidants (8)
20. Nutrients (12) 34. Sulfur oxides (8)
21. Pesticides, herbicides, defoliants
(8) F. Land, Pollution (93 units)
22. pH (8) 35. Land use and misuse (31)
23. Physical river characteristics (6) 36. Soil erosion (31)
24. Sediment load (15) 37. Soil pollution (31)
25. Stream flow (20)
26. Temperature (20) G. Noise Pollution (28 units)
27. Total dissolved solids (20) 38. Noise (28)
28. Toxic substances (5)
29. Turbidity (10)
III. AESTHETICS (159 units)
H. Land (25 units) K. Biota (28 units)
39. Land forms (15) 44. Vegetation (18)
40. Geologic surface material (10) 45. Fauna (10)
I. Air (11 units) L. Man-made Objects (21 units)
41. Pleasantness of sounds 46. Visual
47. Conditions
J. Water (29 units) 48. Consonance with environment
42. Surface characteristics (25) (8)
43. Water-land interface character-
istics (14) M. Composition (35 units)
49. Interaction of land, air, water,
and manmade objects (25)
50. Color (10)
IV. HUMAN INTEREST (205 units)
N. Educational-Scientific Significance (64 P. Cultural Significance (54 units)
units) 60. Related to Indians (18)
51. Geological significance (18) 61. Related to religious groups (18)
52. Ecological significance (18) 62. Related to other ethnic groups
53. Archeological significance (18) (18)
54. Unusual water phenomenon (10)
Q. Mood-Atmosphere Significance (32
O. Historical Significance (55 units) units)
55. Related to persons (11) 63. Isolation-solitude (8)
56. Related to events (11) 64. Awe-inspiration (8)
57. Related to religions and cul- 65. "Oneness" with nature (8)
tures (11) 66. Mystery (8)
58. Related to architectures and
styles (11)
59. Related to western frontier (11)
Source: Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus Laboratories:
environmental quality units as repre- evaluate environmental quality by quan-
sentative of a perfect score, although titative standards. Also, the weighting
no area would obtain this. Data are of different qualities is implicitly a
then gathered and evaluated for each policy of variable, i.e., the user may
area of the state. This method is to propose alternative weighting arrange-
282
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ments and test the impact of each.
Data describing regional or spatial
factors is also prepared, some by county
and some by "cell." Information will be
entered in the form of State mayors
partitioned into about 2,700 rectangular
grid cells by six-by-ten miles in size.
Both economic and environmental fac-
tors are entered in the grid matrix.
Land-use component
Because of the difficulty of analyzing
environmental quality, an environmen-
tal evaluation system was developed
based primarily on land-use descrip-
tions.
Three descriptions of the land-use
area within each six-by-ten mile cell
are used in Atom. The first is a gen-
eral classification of surface resources.
The second is the distribution of major
types of activity or use and the third
is a detailed description of attributes of
particular sites.
A map of the state of Arizona is
overlaid with six-by-ten mile grids.
Then, each sixty-square-mile area is
described in terms of its major surface
features. There are eleven classifications
used in this description. These include
surface water, riprarian, urban, culti-
vated land, coniferous forest, grass land,
chapparal and mountain brush. A given
sixty-square-mile area might be com-
prised of thirty-four square miles of
urban development, twenty square miles
in cultivated land, five square miles of
grassland and one square mile of high-
ways. Thus, this method represents a
macro assessment of multiple land-use
features or land resources within a par-
ticular cell. The total of these surface
resources must be 100 percent for every
cell.
The second feature, overlain in map
form, is human activities representing
either current or future demands upon
the use of a given land area. Human
activities include such things as urban
settlements and their interactions, rec-
reational activity, agriculture or grazing,
or perhaps a mineral extractive use.
Overlaid to relate to both the surface
features and human activities are micro-
level attributes of land areas. These in-
clude such things as land ownership,
mineral deposits, the existence of par-
ticular game birds or designated habi-
tats, hiking trails, and recreational de-
mand and supply. Many of these micro-
level attributes are constant within the
model; e.g., a site of archeological sig-
nificance or of particular historical or
cultural interest. Other attributes such
as recreational demand are calculated
within the model and change over time.
The calculation of recreational demand
is done with a separate model com-
ponent which provides detailed informa-
tion on activity days per cell for such
things as horseback riding, hiking, pic-
nicking, boating, camping, swimming
and fishing.
As activity levels vary within the
model, calculations are made of changes
in environmental quality. These include
the emissions produced by a new indus-
try of a given size or of new concentra-
tions of population, as well as addi-
tional use of a recreational area. Envir-
onmental quality factors which may be
produced in one cell, yet affect quality
of the environment in another cell are
traced to the point of dissipation. This
would be particularly true in terms of
water or air pollutants. Ambient air
concentrations in a particular cell will
change with the introduction of a new
manufacturing plant. This change prob-
ably will result in the flow of pollutants
into adjacent cells. To the extent possi-
ble, given existing meteorological in-
formation for Arizona, the changes in
ambient air quality for adjoining cells
or through a chain of cells is followed
within the model and new calculations
of air quality are made for each of
these cells, resulting from the additional
activity in the first.
STEP 4: Data and policy inputs
The data input step, listed in the flow
diagram as number 4, is not actually a
separate model component. It merely
illustrates that a selection process is
necessary for input into the actual anal-
ysis procedure. Those data input will
almost always include public policy or
program definitions and the most com-
283
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plete description available of both eco-
nomic and environmental characteris-
tics of a particular area.
Land resource and use data are input
in map form, making use of the six-by-
ten mile grid cells. The grid size is ar-
bitrary and can be changed if desired.
A major difficulty with data used in this
type of analysis is that much of the
economic information is available only
at a county level, whereas environmen-
tal characteristics are mostly site-sps-
cific. The economic data, therefore, are
distributive algorithms where necessary.
For the most part, reasonable distribu-
tions have been possible on the basis of
known concentrations of population or
activities.
Trade-off evaluation
The actual evaluaion of trade-offs;
i.e., the economic and environmental
consequences of policy actions, is con-
ducted through the use of an overall
framework comprised of several linked
submodels. These are in figure 1 as
steps 5 through 14.
STEPS 5 and 6: Evaluate
constraints
The first step of the actual compu-
terized trade-off model is to determine
if the total economic and demographic
development meets specified standards
set for environmental quality (see fig-
ure 2). A detailed picture of the total
environment is derived from the sum
of all economic and demographic de-
velopment in a specific cell. Interloca-
tional impacts are also included, e.g.,
if an upstream plant of some type is
causing air pollution, it must be con-
sidered in describing the environment
of a downwind community.
The simulated success of new eco-
nomic growth is also tested against a
given set of environmental constraints.
It is possible to simulate the aggregate
impact of a new level of economic
activity, and its associated waste gen-
eration against both land use and pollu-
tion constraints. If these constraints are
violated, several options are available.
One is to select different industries
which would be more compatible with
the environment. A second is to modify
the existing level of industrial pollution
through the imposition of specific con-
trols which can be met by industry, and
a third might be to revise certain of
the environmental constraints.
One of the important features of the
model is an ability to evaluate the effi-
cacy of industrial dispersion as a means
of environmental improvement. The
Regional Industry Allocation Model
(RIAL) furnished a list of industries
most feasible for a given area coupled
with the ability to evaluate the environ-
mental impact of different structures.
However, it must be emphasized that
the model does not address the ques-
tion of economic efficiency in RIAL,
nor does it pretent to suggest that a
different locational organization is prac-
tical.
STEP 7: Modify industry structures
The purpose of this submodel is to
make the changes necessary to indus-
tries when the evaluation of the total
environment indicates that certain en-
vironmental parameters are being ex-
ceeded and identifies the types and lo-
cation of the violation. The question to
be answered is how to modify the exist-
ing structure so the environmental con-
straints are satisfied. The first step is
to determine if pollution abatement
equipment will alleviate the problem.
If abatement equipment will not work,
the industry will be forced to reduce
production and therefore reduce em-
ployment. If abatement equipment will
work, the cost and the method of fi-
nancing are analyzed.
STEP 8: Simulation periods
The simulation is geared to a ten-
year future result; however, it allows
the user to select a time period and to
trace the impacts of policy changes an-
nually or even quarterly in some cases
by successive iterations of the model.
As illustrated in the schematic flow dia-
gram in figure 1, the model always re-
peats the step 5 evaluation of the total
environment after a policy induced
284
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FIGURE 2.—PROGRAM "EVALUATE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT"
For Each Location
Obtain the Total Industrial
Development and Total Population
No
Violation
Compute Total Untreated Physical/
Chemical Effluents from Industrial
Development and Population
Apply Treatment to
Total Wastes Generated
Transform Total Residual
Effluents into Total Concentrations
in Ground Water, Air, Etc.
Compare Total Concentrations
With Water, Air, Standards
List Locations Where
Industries and Populations
Violate Constraints
i
For Each Location Compute Land
Use Factor For Total Development of
Industry and Population
Violation
No
Violation
/ Compare Total Land Use \
( Factor with Land Use j
\ Standards /
List Problem Locations-
Violation of Standards
_J
•i
Violation
Yes
Is Any Change Necessary
• Pollution (Physical/Chemical)
• Land Use
No
Goto
Modify
Existing Industry
Structure
285
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change, Steps six, seven and eight are
then repeated before the final output
is produced.
After one complete cycle (steps 5
through 12) of ATOM, a feedback loop
results in the execution of the Evaluate
Total Environment submodel. Follow-
ing this step, the question is asked "Is
the simulated period completed?" If the
6th year of simulation of a 10-year test
has been completed, the model con-
tinues to simulate four more annual
evaluations. If, on the other hand, the
10th year of a 10-year simulation has
been completed, ATOM prints out final
output in the form of environmental
and economic impacts.
STEP 9: Selection of new
industries
Once the existing economic and
demographic structure has been evalu-
ated in terms of environmental con-
straints, changes in structure made, or
the need for new industries specified,
the model begins the process of select-
ing new industries and activities re-
quired to meet the economic develop-
ment objectives.
The selection of new industries en-
compasses several tasks. The first is to
determine the overall level of new activ-
ity required to meet economic growth
objectives. The natural growth which
will probably occur is determined ear-
lier in providing a set of baseline pro-
jections. A difference between this and
a target rate of growth results in the
need to select new industries from the
ranked list previously determined by
the Regional Industry Allocation Mod-
el. Although this model does not con-
sider comparative advantage, it is a
valuable tool in allowing the user to
examine feasible alternatives for indus-
trial structure.
A key component of the selection
process is determining the best location
(by cell) for an industry. Among the
factors considered are: labor force;
transportation; industrial sites; educa-
tional facilities; institutional factors
(e.g. taxes; government policies); agri-
cultural potential; and recreational po-
tential. Once the best location is chosen,
it is examined to see if that activity
violates any environmental constraints,
such as land use or air pollution con-
straints. If any environmental con-
straints are exceeded, the model at-
tempts to relocate the activity.
STEP 10: Development constraints
The objective of this ATOM Sub-
model is to test for the environmental
feasibility of an industrial development
suggested by the economic part of the
model (Figure 1). It is assumed that,
if a development is unfeasible either by
its violation of the physical-chemical
constraints or land-use constraints,
when summed with other developments,
it remains unfeasible.
For each industry used in the Ari-
zona model, a profile is developed of
the waste that it generates. These raw
wastes are then subjected to "treat-
ment" to determine the effluent or re-
sidual that would enter the environ-
ment. The residuals are then converted
into a concentration in the receiving
environment—stream, ground water,
air, etc. The resulting concentrations
are compared to environmental quality
standards parameter by parameter to
determine if any violations exist. Viola-
tions are stored for the next economic
evaluation.
Each industry is associated with a
land-use factor. This land use is then
compared to the desired land use at
the particular location. If a violation
occurs, it is recorded for the next eco-
nomic evaluation. Because these land
uses are a function of ecology, aesthet-
ics, and human interest, a violation of
the land use implies an unallowable
impact in these categories of the envi-
ronment.
STEP 11: Projection submodel
This component projects internally
consistent sets of demographic and eco-
nomic forecasts. This latter point is
especially important because it pro-
duces accurate estimates not only of
demographic impacts resulting from
some changes in economic structure,
286
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but also computes certain secondary
impacts and multipliers such as needed
for increased employment in trade and
services. Output is in terms of popula-
tion, households, demographic charac-
teristics, and employment by industry.
STEP 12: Determine changes
from development
In this part of ATOM economic and
regional data is updated in such a way
that what occurred in one simulation
or run of the model may be entered
in the next cycle. A final analysis of
each simulation can bs made by return-
ing to step 5 and again evaluating the
total environment. The model then
passes through steps 6 and 8 to the fina]
output section where the results are
recorded.
FINAL RESULTS: Economic
and environmental
The consequences which result from
a particular test situation will be printed
out by the model in two basic forms.
First, economic changes which result
from an alternative policy will be de-
scribed. This will provide a detailed
picture not only of changes in employ-
ment but also population and the mul-
tiplier impacts which may accompany a
given program.
The consequences which result from
a test situation in the environmental
sector will be described through the use
of a special environmental evaluation
system that has been tailored for use
in Arizona. The impacts of a particular
policy will be described in four main
dimensions: ecological, aesthetic, social,
and physical-chemical. A fifth com-
munity may be related to the above
which relates environmental conse-
quences to various types of urban and
rural situations and social climates. Ex-
amples of ecological topics to be ex-
amined are small game, and upland
birds; examples of aethestics categories
to be examined are relief, vegetation
types, and scenic areas. The physical
and chemical considerations include sul-
fur oxides and hydrocarbons as well as
other factors which are generally quan-
tifiable. In the social and community
areas, cultural, historic, and urban set-
tlement patterns will be examined.
There is no attempt within the Ari-
zona model to arrive at some optimal
solution by combining the economic
and environmental results. It is antici-
pated by producing an objective and de-
tailed picture of the consequences of
a policy decision, described in these
two major dimensions, that the decision
makers in Arizona will have the type
of information demanded and required
to evaluate economic and environment-
al trade-offs.
Conclusion
This presentation on the Arizona
Trade-Off Model is admittedly sketchy
and necessarily brief. The model is op-
erational and provides useful informa-
tion to policy makers in establishing di-
rections. Refinements are necessary, but
this would be expected in any new
approach to the solution of a complex
problem. Success is claimed in terms of
devising a rational process for analyz-
ing policy alternatives and providing
decision makers with relevant informa-
tion. The inter-relationships are ame-
nable to a comprehensive analytical
process. Causality is structured into
the framework where applicable and it
is believed that the Arizona Trade-Off
Model, despite its initial limitations,
represents a significant breakthrough in
fulfilling the planning function. That
is, it will give the policy makers useful
information about the trade-offs be-
tween economic growth and environ-
mental impacts which can be weighted
against political and social realities in
a rational decision-making process.
287
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VI.5 EDMPS:
environment-
dependent
management
process
automation
and simulation
Gulf Universities
Research Consortium *
This paper presents the ENVIRON-
MENT - DEPENDENT MANAGE-
MENT PROCESS AUTOMATION
AND SIMULATION (EDMPAS) sys-
tem in sufficient detail to permit its pre-
liminary evaluation. EDMPAS and its
major components are described in
terms of those characteristics and cap-
abilities which appear to offer unusual
or improved support to operational
and management elements of environ-
ment-dependent organizations.
While emphasis is placed on descrip-
tion of the total EDMPAS system, it
is important to recognize that certain
of its major software components can
be put to effective use immediately as
stand-alone subsystems to improve in-
formation and data management ap-
propriate to needs ranging from purely
scientific to diverse management appli-
cations.
The application of EDMPAS
Through several decades of practice,
modern management has developed
procedures for the acquisition of data;
its conversion into management-per-
tinent information; and the compression
of the synthesized/interpreted product
into a form which facilitates rapid
management appraisal and decision-
making. These procedures and the as-
sociated organizational structures and
functions are designed to:
—Monitor the basic agency, indus-
try, company, etc. operation—in-
volving, for example, demand fore-
cast, design, construction, produc-
tion, distribution, etc. — and the
primary external inputs—such as
financial sensitivities and controls,
pertinent technological develop-
ment, and institutional or regula-
tory controls; and
—Implement a management level-to-
data collection level closed loop in-
formation feedback system that,
after a sufficient number of itera-
tions or "practice cycles", provides
management with a continuum of
compressed information developed
specifically for effective organiza-
tional operation and informed de-
cision-making.
Modern governmental and industrial
management has rapidly integrated the
use of computers into its strategy/pol-
icy/decision-making process. Essential-
ly all agencies and companies of rea-
sonable size and complexity are using
computers in direct support of opera-
tion requirements and to provide in-
formation for management decision.
HOWEVER, WHEN ENVIRON-
MENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL SEN-
SITIVITIES AND RESPONSIBIL-
ITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION
MUST BE CONSIDERED, THE
COMPLEXITY OF MANAGEMENT
AND OF THE INFORMATION
NEEDED TO SUPPORT MANAGE-
MENT IS INCREASED WELL BE-
YOND THE CAPABILITIES OF
PRESENT MANAGEMENT PRO-
*Gulf Universities Research Consortium
is a joint research-educational association
composed of universities, research asso-
ciates, and affiliated companies. Excerpted
from "EDMPAS," a Data/Information
System for Environment-Dependent Man-
agement Process Automation and Simula-
tion. Copyright 1972 Gulf Universities
Research Consortium.
288
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CEDURES AND THEIR ASSOCI-
ATED AUTOMATED INFORMA-
TION SYSTEMS. The capability to
couple the effects of dynamic natural
processes (e.g., the effects of environ-
mental mass and energy exchange on
pollutant concentration, or rates of liv-
ing resources production as a function
of natural and human processes) and
related economic, social and legal con-
siderations into the management proc-
ess is currently very inadequate be-
cause: complete sets of environmental
and related data are lacking; computer
software capable of integrating en-
vironmental and related human process
information into the data and informa-
tion management systems currently sup-
porting management procedures has
not been made generally available; and
the knowledge required for synthesiz-
ing, interpreting and compressing inter-
disciplinary management-pertinent in-
formation as necessary to support in-
formed decision-making has not been
developed.
A more subtle, but very important,
inadequacy of general information man-
agement systems AS APPLIED to EN-
VIRONMENT - DEPENDENT DECI-
SIONS appears to result from their de-
pendence on statistics as inputs and the
use of established probabilities to pro-
duce a "most probable" answer to man-
agement query. Unfortunately, environ-
mental (and, therefore, environment-
dependent social) data is not established
with several-decimal-point accuracy;
and decisions relative to the environ-
ment are made only once (or, possibly,
2-3 times with long intermediate delays)
such that probabilities do not apply—
being "right 51 percent Of the time"
now becomes being "51 percent right",
and that is inadequate for environment-
al decisions.
These deficiencies should not be at-
tacked independently. On the contrary,
they are best attacked as a single co-
ordinated effort. Since August, 1971,
a multi-university Gulf Universities Re-
search Consortium (GURC) team has
been working to overcome these de-
ficiencies. This effort has been directed
specifically to the development of soft-
ware which constitutes the means for
effectively coupling environmental and
ecological factors into management proc-
esses. However, it has been integrated
with other GURC programs so that it
could be conducted as a coordinated
effort involving the acquisition of com-
plete data sets (to the extent that en-
vironmental/economic/ legal expertise
can now define such sets); statistical
and functional processing of these data;
the expansion and conversion of real
data to continuous-process-derived syn-
thetic data for each type of disciplinary
information and according to query-
determined spatial and temporal coor-
dinates such that interdisciplinary sub-
set-by-subset analysis and correlation is
possible; development of a completely
flexible interdisciplinary data compiler
system permitting immediate access to
individual bits, selected subsets or com-
plete files; synthesis and interpretation
of data for application to specific real
world problems; compression and dis-
play of pertinent data subsets; and use
of compressed information for the de-
sign of improved data acquisition.
Therefore, the development effort
has simulated many of the functions
in the management information feed-
back loop process. The GURC team
is continuing the development, integra-
tion and testing of EDMPAS. Also, in
the test phases, it is involving personnel
directly involved in environment-de-
pendent problem solution.
The EDMPAS system as described
herein is "14 months and $450,000
old"; hence, it by no means provides
all of the software for environment-de-
pendent management support. Indeed,
except for purely environmental science
applications, its full application depends
upon its integration with existing ar-
chives, general information manage-
ment systems, socio - environmental
models, etc. HOWEVER, IT DOES
PROVIDE THE ONLY MEANS thus
far revealed to the GURC team in its
survey of available data/information
management systems for handling the
complete spectrum of environmental
289
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and environment-dependent disciplines;
merging and compressing such data as
obtained from disparate data banks; in-
tegrating this capability with existing
information management systems and
their components; and continuously up-
dating and expanding the system with-
out limit and without obsolescence.
Therefore, EDMPAS in its current
state of development both (1) a sig-
nificant step forward as evidenced by
a stand-alone on-line interdisciplinary
information system with real-time cap-
ability and (2) an exceptionally effective
and flexible base for continuing expan-
sion and improvement.
Basic simulation requirements
The management of any organization
of significant size involves (1) data and
information flow from both internal
and external sources and (2) conversion
of "raw" data into information which
has been synthesized, interpreted, and
compressed through successive organi-
zational levels for operational and
management use. Procedures are grad-
ually established whereby the needed
data are either generated or accessed
from existing sources and fed through
the organization's information flow
channels. Such procedures are estab-
lished through successive iterations, or
"trials", wherein both the management
query, or information demand, and the
information system response to that
effectiveness are established. This man-
agement level-to-data base feedback
system must operate continuously and
must undergo some continuous modifi-
cation to adapt to new requirements
for managerial strategy and decision-
making.
THE GOAL OF ANY "INFORMA-
TION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM,"
THEREFORE, MUST BE THE (1)
AUTOMATION OF THE INFORMA-
TION FLOW NETWORK WITHIN
THE ORGANIZATION AND (2)
SIMULATION OF THOSE OPERA-
TIONS WHEREBY DATA IS SYN-
THESIZED, INTERPRETED AND
COMPRESSED—I.E., CONVERSION
INTO "MANAGEMENT" INFOR-
MATION. As long as one deals with
"hard data" only—i.e., compiled sta-
tistics as contrasted with dynamic proc-
esses such as those controlling environ-
mental parameters in the management
system—it is probable that many in-
formation management systems can ac-
complish the first of these functions
with varying degrees of effectiveness.
However, to provide the capability for
either management or scientific query
of both active and stored data sources
of interdisciplinary data (1) on a func-
tional relationship basis and (2) allow-
ing time and space display according
to selected grid systems, an EDMPAS
type of capability is required. THE
COMPLETELY FALSE PREMISE
UPON WHICH MANY INFORMA-
TION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
APPROACH ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS IS THAT (1) A COM-
PLETE "DATA BASE" EXISTS, (2)
THE KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY
FOR ITS APPLICATION TO MAN-
AGEMENT PROBLEMS EXISTS,
AND (3) ITS COMBINATION INTO
A "MANAGEMENT MODEL" CAN
BE HANDLED WITH ONE-WAY
STATISTICS—in a manner similar to
the computation of a "hit" probability
in a baseball game based on the pitch-
er's ERA, the batter's hitting percent-
age, right-and-left-hand comparisons,
etc. In environment-dependent manage-
ment, neither the data nor the knowl-
edge has been developed. Not only
have there been no accurately recorded
statistics taken during hundreds of
thousands of games, but almost each
game is different so that statistics in the
normal sense cannot be generated—
much less the functional relationships
required to convert statistics into a
valid strategy. Further, the time lags
involved in natural and human proc-
esses prevent immediate assessment of
the strategy. Determining, in even ap-
proximate quantitative terms, the effec-
tiveness of pollution control regulation
in reestablishing water quality, for ex-
ample, requires many months or several
years. On the other hand, the results
of putting in a left-handed pinch hitter
290
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are immediately observable, and the
average results of such decision are
established to three decimal places.
Hence, in environment-dependent man-
agement, a two-way and nearly real-
time information flow automation is re-
quired such that the feedback system
is affected and SUCH THAT ENVI-
RONMENTAL AND MANAGE-
MENT EXPERTISE CAN BE
BROUGHT TO BEAR ON THE
GENERATION OF AN ACCURATE
SIMULATION (AND THEREFORE
PREDICTION) CAPABILITY. Un-
like bassball-type problems, one is not
making decisions on the basis of un-
changing rules and procedures and
three-decimal-place statistics. When
management decisions are made fre-
quently, and rapid recovery or revision
following a "bad" decision is possible,
being "right" a majority of the time is
usually adequate. In visible environ-
mental problems, the manager may get
only one chance—and so may the
environment.
It is obvious that automation and
simulation of the environment-depsnd-
ent management system does not imply
the ultimate elimination of people from
the system. On the contrary, only
skilled individuals can direct the auto-
mation process to achieve management-
to-data base compatibility, perform the
interpretive function such that data-to-
information conversion and compres-
sion is possible, and keep the manage-
ment information feedback loop in ad-
justment. The most accurate analog, or
model, of a system is the system itself;
hence, computerized automation and
simulation in environment-dependent
management must be viewed as a tool
which enhances the development of
knowledge regarding the interplay be-
tween environmental processes and or-
ganizational management such that an
effective management skill is developed,
long-range strategy acquires greater
validity, and dacision-making becomes
more accurate.
At this point in time, it is ap-
parent that the FOCUS REQUIRED
FOR ENVIRONMENT-DEPENDENT
PROBLEM SOLUTION IS AT THE
STAFF LEVEL in the organization.
It is at this level that instructions for
data acquisition are formulated and
data synthesis and interpretation are
performed to accomplish the needed
data - to - information conversion and
compression in response to management
query. EDMPAS HAS BEEN DEVEL-
OPED BY ENVIRONMENTAL SCI-
ENCE SPECIALISTS who are repre-
sentative of those who must accom-
plish these functions as they pertain
to environmental influences on organi-
zational management strategy and de-
cision-making. In carrying out this de-
velopment, however, test cases were
used wherein these specialists were di-
recting a data acquistion effort fol-
lowed by synthesis, interpretation and
compression of information for evalu-
ation and decision concerning specific
"real world" environment-dependent
problems—such as the ecological effects
of deep water compatibility of the en-
vironmental information system with
thoss systems already developed and
in use for that part of organizational
information feedback systems not in-
volving environmental dependence such
that subsequent integration with such
systems was both possible and easily
accomplished.
Similarly clear objectives pertainec
to the development of an information
management system which could auto-
matically (1) access data from estab-
lished—and disparate—archives or data
banks, and (2) provide input/output
interface with dynamic environmental
or socio-environmental computerized
models. Because the "executive com-
mand" software module of EDMPAS—
Environmental Information Retrieval
(ENVIR) subsystem — accomplishes
these objectives, INTEGRATION OF
EDMPAS WITH EXISTING MAN-
AGEMENT SYSTEMS SHOULD RE-
SULT IN MINIMUM TIME AND
COST AND LITTLE, IF ANY, OB-
SOLESCENCE OF THE EXISTING
SYSTEM.
The logic employed
It is pertinent to discuss the logic
291
-------
employed in EDMPAS development in
this regard. In the interest of brevity,
however, AN EXCEEDINGLY SIM-
PLIFIED portrayal of "normal" man-
agement structure and functions is used.
Also, it is useful to project this man-
agement procedure in terms of a sim-
plified and generalized management
model; however, the model is discussed
only to demonstrate the nature of en-
vironment-dependent management sim-
ulation requirements rather than to im-
ply that such a model is either the
immediate objective of EDMPAS or
that it is in any way essential to
EDMPAS application. On the other
hand, an interplay between manage-
ment models and a "living atlas" type
of model input such as EDMPAS
would be mutually advantageous—par-
ticularly during their development
phases.
Figure 1 presents a simplified man-
agement structure which emphasizes
data flow and data-to-information con-
version. The lines in the diagram rep-
lesent that data and information flow
within the organizational structure re-
sulting from a single query at the man-
ager level; i.e., they indicate the usual
"in-line" flow of queries from the top
down and return flow of response data
and information from the bottom up.
The blocks in the diagram represent
functions accomplished within the
structure whereby data are validated
and organized and then, by successive
stages, synthesized, interpreted and
compressed for the next level of man-
agement. The dependence on both in-
ternal and external sources of data and
information is included to emphasize
dependence on the acquisition of data
from disparate sources.
It is pertinent to note that data
"processing," "storage and retrieval,"
"display," etc. do not appear in Fig-
ure 1 as functional blocks. Such pro-
cedures are the means for automation
of the data and information flow proc-
ess at all levels; hence, the lines are
"circled" in Figure 1 and "connected"
to a Data Information Flow Automa-
tion "circle" to indicate either actual
or potential automation wherever lines
appear on the diagram.
The AUTOMATION of the data and
information flow process by data "proc-
essing," "storage and retrieval," "dis-
play," etc. refers, then, to "computeriz-
ing" the lines in the diagram. The
SIMULATION of the management
process requires computerization of the
functions performed by the blocks in
the diagram. In general, this means the
generation of "table functions," "con-
trol functions," "correlation instruc-
tions," etc. for correlation, synthesis,
display, etc. which simulate the infor-
mation conversion and compression
functions in the system. Such simula-
tion is now generally limited to enhanc-
ing the human management system in
terms of synthesis and display for
human interpretation and guidance.
That is, it should facilitate the expert
appraisal of large, complex and inter-
related quantities of data and informa-
tion. This permits, then, a series of
queries and responses of increasing
complexity and sophistication which
lead to valid interpretation followed by
meaningful compression. In this regard,
the current status of environmental
know-how is such that even scientific
query of a bank of environmental data
is generally either inaccurate or inade-
quate until a series of queries inter-
spersed with quick graphic answers has
led the inquirer to "ask the right ques-
tion." This problem is multiplied many-
told when the query attempts to relate
environmental to corresponding man-
agement elements of the problem.
Organizational structures as shown in
Figure 1 are sufficiently standard and
familiar that only certain specific points
are noted: Data is fed into the system
at all levels of the structure; Data com-
pression and conversion to information
occur formally at all levels below top
management—and the conversion proc-
ess occurs, at least mentally, at the top
management level also; Data and in-
formation become progressively less de-
tailed and specialized as they proceed
from the bottom level to the top; Staff
specialist level synthesis and interpreta-
292
-------
FIGURE 1.—MANAGEMENT PROCESS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
Management
Strategy & Decision
Interdisciplinary
Synthesis,
Interpretation &
Supercompression
EXECUTIVE STAFF
Disciplinary
Synthesis,
Interpretation &
\ Compression
STAFF SPECIALISTS
ENVIRONMENTAL
DATA ARCHIVES
TECHNOLOGICAL
DEVELOPMENTS
I DATA & IN FORM ATI Ol \
V FLOW AUTOMATION /
REGULATION &
CONTROLS
ECONOMIC DATA
& INFORMATION
Operational
Decision
OPERATING DIVISIONS
• ••••••!••• •• c s T mfm •••••••••••••••••••••••••••
*«^ / /
First-Level
Synthesis,
Interpretation &
Compression
STAFF SPECIALISTS
WORKING LEVEL
Internal Data
Generation &
Acquisition
tion is generally aligned with specialized
expertis3—i.e., single discipline as to
range—with the degree of specializa-
tion varying inversely with the level in
the hierarchy; and The key to data/
information conversion is the ability to
combine specialized (disciplinary) sum-
mations into management informa-
tion—i.e., perform interdisciplinary in-
terpretation and compression into man-
agement display—which function is
concentrated in the hypothetical struc-
293
-------
ture of Figure 1 at the executive staff
level.
The last of these functions is the
principal bottleneck in realizing effec-
tive environment-dependent manage-
ment today. THIS IS NOT BECAUSE
OF AN INHERENT INABILITY OF
THE SPECIALISTS INVOLVED,
BUT BECAUSE OF (1) THE LACK
OF COMPLETE SETS OF VALID
DYNAMICALLY CORRELATABLE
DATA AND (2) THE UNAVAIL-
ABILITY OF A COMPUTERIZED
INFORMATION SYSTEM WHICH
PERMITS INTERDISCIPLINARY
SYNTHESIS, FUNCTIONAL ANAL-
YSIS AND DISPLAY. The second of
these essential capabilities permits the
English-language-query/quick response-
in-rapid-refer;nce-form iterative pro-
cedure which develops the required
knowledge of functional relationships
between operational and environmental
variables. Without this kind of assist-
ance and complete sets of pertinent
data, the development of knoledge as
to the environmental dependence of the
managed system and the quantitative
definition of trade-offs between eco-
nomic, legal, social, operational and
environmental factors will continue to
be extremely slow and ineffective.
From the point of view of INFOR-
MATION FLOW AUTOMATION,
Figure 1 is indicative only of the func-
tional chain. A single query at the top
can easily generate 10 to 100 queries
at the executive and specialist staff lev-
els and subsequently generate a need
for 10,000,000 items of pertinent data.
As these data flow back into response
channels, the rate of compression must
be almost as great as the rate of ex-
pansion in the query channel. For ex-
ample, consider only the types of man-
agement questions most often asked to-
day—"What is the environmental im-
pact of construction project A?" and
"What is the economic impact of pro-
posed environmental quality regulation
B?". Such questions, which are of great
importance in today's society, generate
huge "impact statements" based on
even larger collections of data, opinion,
publications, etc.—and even then the
statements are largely unsatisfactory
because the necessary complete sets of
pertinent data are not available and
the means to reduce these data to a
quantitative definition of economic
trade-off for environmental gain or vice
versa have not been available.
In further clarification of the SIMU-
LATION function, it is useful to refer
to th; highly simplified diagram in Fig-
ure 2 representing a "concept verifica-
tion test" (CVT) model for an extrac-
tive industry. Figure 2 shows a greatly
reduced "basic business cycle" and in-
dicates only representative functional
inputs from financial, technological, en-
vironmental and regulatory controls. In
real applications, such models become
highly complicated "spaghetti dia-
grams" wherein all significant func-
tions of the business cycle are repre-
sented and cross-connected as required
for complete simulation. Also, the fi-
nancial, environmental, technological,
regulatory, etc. cycles are broken down
into numerous components intercon-
nected within themselves and to all of
the other cycles, again simulating ac-
tual management procedures, external
controls, internal options, etc.
Figure 2 is presented only to indicate
the nature of the interaction between
environmental factors (the shaded por-
tion of the model) and the managed
system. Specifically, environmental fac-
tors adjust the transfer rate and time
lag between various basic business cycle
components while, conversely, the basic
business cycle provides outputs which
modify the environment in terms of
rate of change and time lag. "Environ-
mental quality index" is, of course, a
fictitious quantity which, at this point
in time, represents a "summation" of
various quality indices generally based
on the best available definition of al-
lowable concentration of pollutants,
best estimates of average rates of ex-
change, etc.
One point of emphasis regarding the
CVT model is that it demonstrates the
importance of the "table" or "control"
functions generated through both dis-
294
-------
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1- e 1- §• i ^1 S
•y synthe- influence rate and time lag which ai
ression of shown schematically in Figure 2.
able func- In the management process, tab
ntially all functions are generated on the basis c
existence real data which is dynamically corn
:d or not, latable/i.e., data which permit the vali
c business determination of functional relatior
es" which ships. Verification testing of the ad«
29
ENVIRONMENT-DEPENC
TABLE FUNCTIONS
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AWARENESS
PUBLIC
AWARENESS i
RAW
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EXPLORATION
REGULATORY-DEPENDENT
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FINANCE-DEPENDENT FUNCTIONS
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-------
quacy and accuracy of table functions
in an actual management system or in
a CVT model must be based on such
data and must involve its use for man-
agement purposes followed by analysis
of system or model performance. The
combination of (1) a "living atlas" of
environmental and environment-de-
pendent social process data and in-
formation provided by EDMPAS, (2)
accurate table functions for a specific
or representative organization, and (3)
the availability of a CVT model for
that organization advances the devel-
opment of all phases of automation and
simulation of the management process
by reducing the time required to ob-
serve results of strategy and decision
and indicating at least the direction of
change resulting from trade-off deci-
sions. Even in embryonic and highly
approximate form, CVT models can
provide a useful guide to accurate syn-
thesis and compression functions in the
information management system. Re-
ferring to Figure 2, EDMPAS was de-
signed to handle all data and informa-
tion relevant to the shaded area and
permit the development and testing of
the relevant "environment-dependent
table functions." It can then provide
these as inputs to existing models sim-
ulating the basic business cycle and
other (technological, financial, etc.) in-
teractions pertinent to management or
THESE CAN BE INCORPORATED
INTO EDMPAS.
A second point of emphasis is that
the CVT modeler usually designs the
model to receive a "biological index,"
a "wat;r quality index" on some other
quantity which is assumed to have a
known relationship to the rest of the
CVT model wherein the relationship
has been established with sufficient
accuracy for model operation. Unfor-
tunately, neither the "index" nor its in-
fluence on the basic business cycle is
now known. Those functions and real-
data-derived table functions represented
in the shaded area of Figure 2 are
essentially unknown. Environmental
properties and processes are not ade-
quately described by constants (e.g.,
climatological averages), periodic func-
tions, or other simple mathematical
functions. If "verification testing" is to
be an integral part of the CVT model,
the output from the shaded area of the
CVT model in Figure 2 should con-
sist of table functions generated by
dynamic models, or their human equiva-
lent, on the basis of near-real-time data
plus historical data (e.g., a "living at-
las"). Equally apparent is that environ-
mental properties and processes vary
from ecosystem to ecosystem; hence
the variable drives (table functions)
and related "indices" would differ from
one area to another (e.g., from Tampa
Bay to Galveston Bay).
General information management
systems are already commonly used
(e.g., by banks and investment houses)
to simulate the unshaded functions
shown schematically in Figure 2. De-
tailed ten-year business projections are
fully automated by these systems based
on a few critical market and operating
management forecasts. For those opera-
tions which are environment-dependent,
however, table functions are not estab-
lished and verification testing is not
possible. In such cases, then, the CVT
model is a $100,000 model with million
dollar gaps in its structure.
Basic automation/simulation
system requirements
The structure and functions of an
information flow automation and man-
agement process simulation system must
obviously parallel and be compatible
with the structure and functions of the
managed system. From paragraphs A
and B, it follows that the "query chan-
nel" consists of
—A management level—or decision
requirement—query which is di-
rected to
—A categorical knowledge /evel con-
sisting of a combination of disci-
plinary and interdisciplinary ex-
pertise where the subqueries es-
sential to response are generated
for that information not in hand
which are directed to
—An information level where data
296
-------
has been statistically and/or func-
tionally compressed according to a
formalized procedure known to be
responsive to management needs
and, after analysis of the adequacy
of on-hand information, directs re-
quests to
—Internal and external sources for
those data needed to complete the
set from which an informed re-
sponse can be generated.
The flow of responses in the opposite
direction obviously follows the reverse
procedure from data to organized and
statistically correlated information to
the knowledge level where synthesis,
interpretation and final compression
functions are performed, thence to the
management level where compressed
knowledge is converted into strategy
and decision.
Equally obvious, and equally trite,
is the fact that all information and
knowledge is not generated in response
to specific management query. Data
are generated for many reasons; these
are collated and organized into various
forms of information as a result of
curiosity, or a search for better under-
standing; knowledge is generated when
expertise is directed to the interpreta-
tion of such information as a result of
general interest or continuing respon-
sibility; and, when apprised of such
knowledge, decision and new strategies
are then formulated.
Automation and simulation of envi-
ronment-dependent systems must, then,
take into account both top-down and
bottom-up strategy and decision-mak-
ing. To stipulate such an apparent re-
quirement risks the accusation of nai-
vete. However, it is a definite basic
requirement and does influence infor-
mation management system design.
Further, numerous examples exist
where
—The top-down designed system re-
sults in the acquisition of useless
or less-than-effective data and un-
necessarily cumbersome and ex-
pensive formatting, processing, etc.
on the part of the data taker and
information system personnel; or
conversely,
—The bottom-up designed system all
too often provides an abundance
of data and statistics which are
frequently irrelevant or constitute
more data than can be effectively
used by management—with at-
tendant increases in the cost of
storage, retrieval and processing.
The need to close the feedback loop
in such a way that these generally
opposing viewpoints are effectively
merged is an obvious goal. As stated
in paragraphs A and B, the approach
taken in EDMPAS development was
that of starting in the middle and work-
ing in both directions—i.e., developing
the system by disciplinary and inter-
disciplinary specialists who were also
engaged in the active acquisition of
"live" data, its correlation and analysis
in combination with archived data, and
interpretation of the composite for the
formulation of a recommended strategy
or decision. While admittedly "loaded"
on the environmental side in terms of
development team expertise, considera-
tions such as those described in para-
graphs A and B were actively incorpo-
rated by the GURC development team.
Good information management sys-
tem design, therefore, must consider an
integrated set of modular software
packages whereby the four "levels" of
data, information, knowledge and deci-
sion in the management system are
automated and simulated to that degree
which is technically feasible and also
consistent with management require-
ments. Figure 3 is a schematic presen-
tation of the interrelation between the
management "information triangle" and
its equivalent supportive automation/
simulation component, Figure 3 is ex-
ceedingly simplified. Nonetheless, it
categorizes the types of automation and
simulation functions required in pro-
ceeding either way in the management
feedback loop. Also, it is descriptive of
the characteristics of generalized func-
tions of the system of integrated soft-
ware packages required for automation
and simulation.
297
-------
FIGURE 3-
— — - Essential Query
• — • - Optional Query
Essential Response
Optional Response
LEVEL IV
Strategy & Decision
LEVEL III
Knowledge
LEVEL II
Information
MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION TRIANGLE
AS THEY RELATE TO THE MANAGE-
AUTOMATION/
SIMULATION
TRIANGLE
LEVEL I
Data
LEVEL IV
C.V.T. & Socio-
environmental Models
LEVEL III
Dynamic Correlations
& Models
LEVEL II
Extrapolation,
Interpolation &
Statistical Cor-
relative Processing
LEVEL I
Merging of dis-
parate banks &
Compilation
-------
The triangular shape and progres-
sively smaller area of its segments from
bottom to top infer, of course, the pro-
gressive conversion from massive quan-
tities of data to highly compressed in-
formation. Solid query/response con-
nectors indicate the general situation
as it exists in environment-dependent
systems—emphasizing, particularly, the
necessity for automation at Levels I
and II and the optional nature of simu-
lation and further compression via
dynamic correlations and modeling be-
yond that point.
Recognizing both the optional nature
of dynamic and CVT models and the
questionable value of general models
(i.e., models not developed for a spe-
cific organization or type of manage-
ment problem), EDMPAS development
has thus far emphasized software to
implement Levels I and II. How-
ever, the effort has included the de-
velopment of representative dynamic
models of environmental processes and
close liaison with the development of
CVT models such that their integration
into EDMPAS is quite feasible and
direct.
Hardware/ software incompatability
poses technical difficulties to such a
general concept. However, the recent
breakthroughs in computer technology
difficulties such as multi-programming,
teleprocessing, teledisplay, mini-com-
puters, distributed intelligence, low cost
memories, etc. have set the stage for
modular software systems for environ-
mental management to be visualized as
a feasible concept rather than techno-
logical imagination.
Summary
The EDMPAS environmental infor-
mation managemsnt system is a set of
intercompatible software modules selec-
tively integrated by its executive com-
mand module, ENVIR. It was devel-
oped to permit flexible and efficient
management of environmental data and
information and to interface with (but
not replace) existing archives or banks
of data, with dynamic models of envi-
ronmental and social processes, and
with organizational structures and func-
tions (whether computerized or not).
Among its established capabilities are:
Handles descriptive botanical,
zoological economic, etc. (word
type) data in the same alphanu-
meric system with physical, chemi-
cal, geological and other "hard
science" data;
Merges such data from dispar-
ate archives, banks, or active data
acquisition programs to compile a
temporary project information
file—and then restores data to the
archives automatically via tape
transfer or telemetry;
Provides unlimited flexibility as
to number and arrangement of de-
scriptors and items, and correc-
tions or additions thereto, without
system changes;
Extrapolates real data to any de-
sired number and distribution of
synthetic data points (in continu-
ous oceanic and atmospheric proc-
esses) as necessary for complete
display of dynamic fields as time-
series-on-a-map;
Accepts English language inter-
disciplinary query and responds
with graphic or compressed hard
copy answers without intermedi-
ate handling or manual transfer;
By using calculated storage and
retrieval, a complete Boolean ca-
pability, and complete inversion of
all files, accomplishes these func-
tions at computer speed as a re-
sult of direct access to any bit in
storage and with descriptor and
item subset selectability as pre-
scribed by query; and
Since the compression of data
increases geometrically with the
number of bits in the file, it ac-
complishes these functions with
not more than 32K of memory for
essentially infinite bit accessibility
(and even less memory for useful
stand-alone modules within the
system) such that utility is not
limited to large computers.
These capabilities have been tested
using real data from real environmen-
299
-------
tal systems. However, it is in its re- and their management counterparts
search applications mode in terms of its might like to have. However, even at
state of preparedness for application at this stage, it appears to provide excep-
this time. Complete integration of the tional capability for accession, correla-
system is not scheduled for completion tion, compression and display of inter-
until approximately mid-1973. disciplinary environmental information
At its fifteen-month stage of devel- and for the merging and interfacing
opment, EDMPAS does not accomplish with archives, dynamic models and
all of the automation and simulation existing information systems designed
functions that environmental specialists for business or operations management.
300
-------
VI.6 Integrated
regional
environmental
management
project
The Integrated Regional Environ-
mental Management (IREM) Project is
a product of the San Diego County
Comprehensive Planning Organization
(CPO) program to develop and imple-
ment a comprehensive regional plan.
The IREM project is part of a formu-
lation for a fully integrated and an-
alytically sound comprehensive plan.
The project is based on a regional
modeling system to develop accurate
and sound information. The planning
models are designed to evaluate alter-
native policies for land use and trans-
portation patterns. Nine steps were de-
fined for establishing a comprehensive
plan:
(1) Identify a set of broad long-
range regional goals and objec-
tives;
(2)Specify alternative sets of pol-
icies and public actions which
can be used to achieve these goals;
(3) Develop alternative plans
based on policv combinations to
represent future development and
transportation;
(4) Test each alternative plan
concept to determine the effective-
ness of alternate policies for
achieving goals;
(5) Identify pro and con aspects
for each alternative plan;
(6) Evaluate each alternative
plan for effectiveness, feasibility
and cost;
(7) Select alternative plans and
policies;
(8) Decide upon an implementa-
tion plan that utilizes public facil-
ities and services; and
(9) Monitor actual growth and
development and relate to goals.
IREM relies heavily on five computer
models. Each model examines a dif-
ferent aspect of a regional environ-
ment. The elements of the regional
models system may be used independ-
ently for analyzing a specific problem
for which it is best suited, or may
be used in sequence, with the output
of one sub-model serving as the input
of another. Figure 1 shows the in-
dividual models and their linkages.
Interactive population/employment
forecasting model
The Interactive Population/Employ-
ment Forecasting (IPEF) model is de-
signed for long range forecasts of pop-
ulation and employment, given various
regional policies. For example, regional
population and the quality of growth
could be substantially affected if there
were a regional growth policy.
The model responds to alternative
policies and tests their effects and im-
pact on unemployment rates, family
planning, health care, industrial expan-
sion and population migrations.
The IPEF model has five regional
growth components: births; deaths; em-
ployment-related migration; military-re-
lated migration; and retirement-related
migration. The components have var-
ious mixes that are simulated for spe-
cific policy alternatives.
Each policy assumption which is
used, produces a forecast of popula-
tion by age, race, sex and industry em-
ployment for five-year intervals. The
generalized output may be in graph
or tabular form.
Urban development model
The Urban Development Model
(UDM) is itself a set of sub-models
that simulate development patterns in
the San Diego region. The population
and employment forecasts of the IPEF
model are the input to the Urban De-
velopment Model for regional distribu-
tions. Given growth policies and devel-
301
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s
FIGURE 1.—REGIONAL MODEL SYSTEM
POLICY INPUTS (Policies)
MODELS (Tools)
MODEL OUTPUTS (Products)
Regional Growth Policies ,
K
X
Alternative Land Use Develop- X
ment Policies }
K
X
Alternative Transportation X
Systems S
£
Air Quality Standards \
\S
Regional Goals and Evaluation X
Criteria s
I.P.E.F. Forecasting Model
Urban Development Model
Transportation Model System
Strategic Air Quality Model
Evaluation Method (Model)
=>
z>
I>
i hv^
^/^
^>
Regional Population &
Employment Forecasts
Alternative Regional Develop-
ment Patterns
Future Travel Patterns By Mode
Regional Air Quality Measures
Final Regional Development Plan
-------
opment constraints, the UDM distrib-
utes future incremental growth and
identifies the growth pattern for sub-
areas within the region.
The model uses an "allocation func-
tion" to examine potential development
within the region. The three basic fac-
tors used are: (1) The accessibility to
employment opportunities, examining
commuting patterns and travel times;
(2) the availability of developable land,
considering residential densities and
open space policies to locate this de-
velopable land; and (3) the "attractive-
ness" of a given area, based on char-
acteristics which would attract develop-
ers (housing values are used as the
measurement for "attractiveness").
The alternative policies of transpor-
tation systems, governmental services
and land use are used as input for the
allocation function. Transportation fac-
tors considered are those which affect
travel times, costs and alternative
modes of transport. The urban govern-
mental factors considered are muncipal
water and sewer services. The identifi-
cation of land specifically withheld
from development is based upon land
constraints, which were established for
topological or planning considerations.
Each of the policies (transportation,
governmental services, and land use)
works independently and in concert
with the others to determine develop-
ment that will occur in the region. Pri-
mary regional factors such as income,
family size, housing needs, recreation,
industry employment, government
goods and services and transportation
needs are all interrelated to establish
the final development growth patterns.
The Urban Development Model pro-
vides output on how the region would
develop under various policy alterna-
tives. The model forecasts an economic
and land use profile for a variety of
geographic units. Details on total pop-
ulation and dwelling units, employment
by place of work and place of resi-
dence, total land use acreage by type
of use, household income, housing
values and property, sales, and income
tax revenues are available by census
tract (315), regional traffic zones (85)
or the smallest geographic unit, traffic
zones (663).
Transportation model system
Using detailed descriptions of a trans-
portation system (speeds, distances,
costs and travel times) this model simu-
lates traffic patterns for different seg-
ments of a transportation network. The
overall transportation model system
consists of four individual sub-models:
trip generator; trip distribution; mode
split; and assignment.
The trip generator model estimates
the origin and final destination of trips
according to traffic zones. The model
considers the numbers and locations of
residences and places of employment.
Identification of the transportation
mode (automobile, bus, train) is per-
formed by the mode split model. Iden-
tification is made of the type of trip
including purpose, basic transportation
characteristics, costs, time, and con-
venience, and of the user character-
istics, such as income, age and occupa-
tion.
The final element of the network, to
identify the route for each trip, is
accomplished by use of the trip as-
signment model. Assignments are made
on the basis of minimizing time and
distance to a trip's destination.
Output from the transportation sys-
tem model indicates the future pat-
terns for transportation facilities. By
indicating traffic densities and user fa-
cilities, it facilitates making policy de-
cisions on existing and proposed facil-
ities.
Strategic air quality model
The Strategic Air Quality (SAQ)
model describes future air quality based
on fixed and mobile pollution sources,
as well as meteorological characteristics.
The Urban Development Model and
the transportation model provide the
input on the sources (fixed and mobile)
to the Strategic Air Quality model.
Once located, the dispersion of these
303
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pollutants throughout the region is ex-
amined by the Strategic Air Quality
model, which then provides the ex-
pected regional pollutant levels.
The plan evaluation method
(or model)
The final step of IREM is the Plan
Evaluation Method. The previously dis-
cussed models provide details on popu-
lation, housing, employment, land use,
transportation and environmental qual-
ity. Using the output of all the models
the Plan Evaluation Meihod related the
data to predetermined criteria in order
to identify those policies that produce
the most desired situation and meet the
plans for the San Diego Region.
Conclusion
The models explained above require
a large computer system for their main-
tenance. Since the IREM model was de-
signed for a specific region, another
area would have to establish a data
base before it would be able to adapt
the model for its own usage.
The project has limitations that are
not exclusive to IREM. The models
require gross assumptions and accurate,
reliable and current data. City, county
and industry interests must work to-
gether. However, the model does inte-
grate environmental considerations into
the policy making process, is highly
flexible to meet the region's needs, and
is technically sound.
304
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VI.7 General
environmental
model*
The General Environmental Model
(GEM) is still in the development stage.
When completed, it will provide policy
analysis and strategies for responding
to urban problems and issues for use
by policy and decision makers. (GEM is
to be an Urban Policy Model.)
Basically, the GEM provides infor-
mation for urban-environmental policy
evaluations. Using specific policy cri-
teria as input, spatial and temporal dis-
tributions are the output. The model
includes various physical, economic and
social indicators and uses interrelation-
ships to provide secondary and tertiary
effects.
One of the more important aspects of
the GEM is the quality of urban life
indices. Indices are provided for pollu-
tion, housing quality and costs, quality
of public services, and public prefer-
ences for goods and services. Presented
as levels of dissatisfaction, the indices
induce change and allow for more
complete interrelationships to occur.
The GEM, when completed, will
consist of various subsections to meet
the needs of a variety of users. Unlike
many models, the GEM is not being
designed for or by a specific munici-
pality, which would require various
modifications if the model were to be
used by other cities. Rather, it is to be
a general policy model, designed for
a specific task, which can be used by
anyone.
Data bases
The GEM requires an extensive data
base that, like most, requires a great
amount of time and expense to con-
struct. The model's data input will
have three basic characteristics. First,
they will be displayed spatially on a
grid with 625 squares, each square rep-
resenting one square mile. However,
the grid may be clustered into juris-
dictions with input correlated to juris-
dictional boundaries. Second, the data
input will provide description of nat-
ural, physical, human, and monetary re-
sources. Third, the data will be adapted
to fit the system behavior of economic,
social and government sectors.
The general data categories include:
topographic and geographic, land use
and zoning, transportation network,
housing and population density, levels
of public and private sector activities,
and monetary conditions.
To save time and expense for a
user of the model, representative situa-
tions are under development. To test
the impact of a policy decision there
will be nine model data bases repre-
senting 221 Standard Metropolitan
Statistical Areas (SMSA) known as
Modal Cities.
As an alternative, there is a data
base generator, known as the Simula-
tion City model, under development.
Modal cities
The modal cities provide GEM users
with a standard urban area's data base.
There are nine basic types of modal
cities defined for use. Type A consists
of very large, highly-developed urban
areas with important manufacturing
sectors. Type B is highly specialized in
recreation, with rapid growth and high
income. Type C contains the medium-
sized areas with a relatively smaller
service sector, emphasizing distribution
and some manufacturing. Type D areas
are affluent and growing, but less high-
ly urbanized. Type E represents less
well-to-do areas with elderly popula-
tions. Type F are traditional New Eng-
land with relative stagnation, lack of
wholesaling and an absence of Blacks.
Type G are nonmanufacturing with
rather high levels of poverty and many
*The General Environmental Model is
being developed under the auspices of the
Environmental Studies Division, Washing-
ton Environmental Research Center, Of-
fice of Research and Development, of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
305
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Blacks. The Type H areas are arche-
typal Midwestern, stressing manufactur-
ing, somewhat smaller but growing.
Finally, the I group are reasonably
affluent, medium-size regional centers,
individually specializing in a variety of
functions. Representative areas for the
nine classes are shown in Figure 1.
Simulation city
The Simulation City (SC) model will
assist the GEM users in preparing a
regional data base. The model will util-
ize descriptors for a specific SMSA to
generate a detailed data base to meet
the requirements of GEM.
Required inputs to the SC model are
metropolitan area descriptors, either ex-
plicit (e.g., population) or subjective
(judgments), and topology descriptors
(roads, rivers, non-developable land).
These inputs provide limitations for the
ongoing simulation.
The actual simulations provide a
data base by using location and eco-
nomic theory. For example, industries
are located n;ar transportation sources,
and distances are minimized for house-
holds and services. While detailed area
information can be used to generate
the data base, the SC model is designed
to use readily available information
(from the statistical abstracts and
United States Geological Survey
(USGS) topographic maps).
Decision inputs
The GEM will have decision simul-
ators for economic, social and govern-
mental sectors. Presently only the Eco-
nomic Decision Simulator (EDS) is
under development. The simulators
utilize decision trees to assign probabil-
ities to specific courses of action based
on past success of those actions.
The GEM user can plan actions for
economic activities with information
provided on economic patterns. The
simulator examines the economic sec-
tor with respect to new business forma-
tion, land use allocation, economic
growth, business operating decisions,
business expansions, and provides input
to the social and government sectors.
The decision simulators will limit the
number of inputs required by the GEM
user.
The simulators are an independent
sub-model of the GEM and therefore
allow the user to modify or substitute
decisions before final processing. The
decisions available to the GEM user
are shown in Figure 2.
GEM modules
After the data has been established
and the decision inputs made, the final
processing through the GEM can be
accomplished. Four GEM modules pro-
vide a basic system framework and
user evalauation of goals and needs.
The Social Module contains popula-
tion groups broken into socio-economic
classes, population characteristics and
population needs (housing quality,
school quality).
The Economic Module presents basic
economic activities (industries and serv-
ices) describes economic needs, business
transactions, growth, and economic and
environmental effects.
The Government Module describes
the public and semi-private activities
that serve basic governmental services.
These include: budgets, tax rates, as-
sessments, zoning, public safety and
FIGURE 1.—Modal Cities Suggestions
Type A
Philadelphia
Cleveland
Type B
Las Vegas
Reno
Type C
Kansas City
Dallas
Type D
Phoenix
Orlando
Type E
Knoxville
Ashville
Type F
Lowell
Worcester
Type G
Mobile
Savannah
Type H
Saginaw
Rockford
Type I
Tulsa
Tacoma
306
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FIGURE 2.—Decisions Available to Users of the Model
Economic Decisions •
• buy and sell land •
• set rents •
• set prices
• set salaries •
• set maintenance levels •
• lend money
• borrow money •
• build and demolish three types of
residences, twelve types of basic in-
dustries, and four types of commer- •
cial establishements
• transfer money to other economic •
and social and government decision •
makers •
• boycott commercial establishments •
• construct chlorination, primary, sec-
ondary and tertiary effluent treat- •
ment facilities at basic industries •
• change the operating level of a busi- •
ness (without demolishing the build-
ing) •
• set the amount of water which is re- •
cycled at basic industries •
• construct residences which use •
ground water
• set the fuel mixture for an economic •
activity
• contract between a basic industry and •
a solid waste company for solid
waste collection •
• convert an industrial open dump into
usable land
• install and remove three types of air •
treatment at a basic industry
Social Decisions •
• allocate time to extra work, educa- •
tion, politics and recreation
• boycott work locations, commercial •
establishments, and modes of travel •
• set the dollar value of time travel-
ling to work •
• transfer money to other social, eco-
nomic and government decision •
makers
Government Decisions •
• grant appropriations •
• grant subsidies
• transfer money to other government •
and social and economic decision
makers •
• set welfare payments
• set tax rates •
• float bonds •
• assess land and buildings •
• buy and sell land •
• set the number of job openings in
government
set government service districts
request Federal-State aid
set the salaries offered government
workers
build and demolish schools
build and demolish municipal serv-
ice plants
grant contracts with local goods and
service establishments for govern-
ment purchases
set the amount of public adult edu-
cation offered by the government
construct and demolish roads
construct and demolish terminals
zone land
build and demolish public institution-
al land uses
provide parkland
install water and sewage lines
construct and demolish water and
sewage plants
locate bus routes
buy and sell rail rolling stock
locate rapid rail routes
set the amount of service on bus and
rail routes
set the maintenance level of govern-
ment facilities
set prices for private use of publicly-
provided water
construct and demolish primary, sec-
ondary, and tertiary sewage treat-
ment plants
construct and demolish water intake
treatment plants
locate municipal water intake points
locate municipal sewage outflow
points
locate water sampling stations
change a business' operation level
(without demolishing the building)
build and demolish nuclear and fos-
sil fuel power plants
set fuel mixtures at fossil fuel power
plants
set fuel mixtures at schools
set fuel mixtures at municipal serv-
ices
build and demolish cooling towers
at power plants
install and remove air treatment at
fossil fuel power plants
set power prices
create land fills
convert land fills into usable land
contract between a basic industry
and a Solid Waste Company for
solid waste collection
307
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• contract between a Solid Waste
Company in one jurisdiction and
that in another jurisdiction for use
of the other's land fill site
• set solid waste collection fees
• build and demolish incinerators
• install air treatment at incinerators
• assign parcels to incinerator districts
• establish ambient air sampling sta-
tions
• establish point source air sampling
stations
• set air and water pollution fines
• set air point source regulations
• buy and sell buses
• set bus and rail fares
• build rail lines
• build rail stations
• assign parcels to land fill districts
• raise local air ambient standards
above national standards
• implement motor vehicle pollution
emissions regulations
welfare services, utilities, education and
transportation.
The Environmental Module repre-
sents fuel, power and water consump-
tion; the generation of consumption
and industrial processes pollution; and
pollution treatment activities. Also in-
cluded are secondary pollution effects.
Operations
The last stage of the GEM deter-
mines the system behavior through the
interrelationships of allocated resources
via the GEM modules and the effects
of the decision inputs.
There are eight operations in the
final calculations: population shifts are
determined through dissatisfaction in-
dices; developments are depreciated
with calculations made for maintenance
expenditures; full and part-time work-
ers are assigned jobs by ranking their
education achievements and maximizing
their net salaries; total transportation
costs are minimized subject to public
transit capacity, road congestion, and
transportation boycott constraints;
school quality and capacity are used to
allocate students by districts; each pop-
ulation unit is allocated time for educa-
tion, politics, recreation and employ-
ment; personal goods and services and
business goods and services expendi-
tures are allocated by minimizing total
costs; and final calculations are made
for indicators, incomes and expendi-
tures.
Output
There are four output modes to the
GEM: maps, indices, detailed informa-
tion, and summary information. The
map output provides visualization of
economic activity, transportation net-
works, municipal services, land use,
planning and zoning, and market values.
Information is provided for each of
625 grids in a detailed format of eco-
nomic and demographic uses.
Indications about quality levels are
provided by indices. Indices are pro-
vided for: pollution (air and water
quality); neighborhoods (housing, rents,
schools, tax rates, and services); health
(crowding, bacteria counts and serv-
ices); and time (involuntary, transporta-
tion and recreation).
Detailed information is available to
examine the exact functional relation-
ships of the model. Economic activity,
pollution levels, financial operations,
and employment selection can be de-
veloped in detail.
Summary information is provided by
descriptions and graphs for every ma-
jor economic, environmental, social,
and governmental activity processed by
the GEM.
Conclusions
The GEM will provide a user one-
year cycles to determine the present
status of an urban area's resources and
policy effects on those resources. The
model can, through iterations, examine
urban area effects brought on by var-
ious policy changes. The model is basic-
ally concerned with the allocation and
reallocation of systems resources given
the effects of various policies and their
implementation.
The model is an attempt to provide
308
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policy and decision makers the capabil- icies can be examined in detail as to
ify of analyzing urban-environmental their effects, and workable solutions
issues. Using a systems simulation, pol- and alternatives may be suggested.
309
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VI.8 The
strategic
environmental
assessment
system (SEAS)
Dr. Stanley M.Greenfield :
I am pleased to discuss with you this
morning a research project underway in
my office to develop a Strategic En-
vironmental Assessment System, known
as SEAS. This project is particularly
appropriate in the context of this con-
ference and especially within the scope
of this session on Environmental Tech-
nology. As you will see, the SEAS
project is based upon the fundamental
premise that modern computer tech-
nology, when combined with expert
opinion, can if applied properly be of
significant value in assisting public de-
cision makers at all levels of govern-
ment in understanding the complex in-
ter-relationships of the environment and
the less apparent consequences of our
current and contemplated policies and
actions.
The EPA is charged to carry out a
program that will result in the protec-
tion of the environment of the nation
by abating or avoiding pollution. Cur-
rently, this program is primarily regula-
tory in form. In response to this
charge, the program of my office is
structured so as to emphasize the ac-
complishment of the following six ma-
jor goals:
(1) The development of appro-
priate science and technology for
setting and enforcing pollution con-
trol standards;
(2) The full understanding of
the environmental impact of that
which we are mandated to con-
trol;
(3) The knowledge of what it
"costs" to meet environmental
quality standards;
(4) Knowledge of the "costs" of
not meeting environmental stand-
ards (i.e., the benefits to be de-
rived from meeting them);
(5) Monitoring, to meet environ-
mental goals; and
(6) Establishing the means to
forecast the long-range effects of
societal actions so as to avoid
deleterious environmental impacts.
The SEAS project is primarily fo-
cused on this last goal and is pri-
marily concerned with developing an
improved capability to strategically as-
sess the comprehensive and long-range
environmental effects of various policies
upon society.
It is clearly recognized that the ac-
quisition of such a capability involves a
number of very difficult obstacles. In
this connection it is instructive to con-
sider a number of the more apparent
problems that beset any such endeavor.
First, there is the critical issue of
uncertainty. No one factor exemplifies
this issue more than the attempt to pre-
dict future technological trends. Tech-
nological trends are perhaps the most
critical component of any forecast of
the future, but also the most difficult to
assess. The institutionalization of R&D
eflorts has, to some extent, alleviated
the problem of anticipating new tech-
nologies, but the nature and timing of
technological "breakthroughs" and,
more importantly, the rate of imple-
mentation, remain subject to many un-
predictable factors. One thing we have
learned is that there is wide variation
in the rate of adoption of new tech-
nologies.
A corollary issue with respect to
technological forecasting is predicting
impacts upon society. We know from
experience that institutional and social
* Presented by Dr. Stanley M. Green-
field, EPA Assistant Administrator for Re-
search and Development at the National
Conference on Managing the Environment.
310
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factors and values are fundamental to
environmental quality, yet our ability
to predict such changes is equally diffi-
cult. For example, assessing the first-
level impact of new technologies upon
the economy is problematical in itself;
but predicting the secondary effects of
technology on human life styles, urban
form, and behavioral patterns and
values is extremely complex.
Secondly, we face the issue of the
interrelationships of factors and the
nature and degree of interaction. It is
obviously not sufficient to state that en-
vironmental factors are related to each
other. What is important is to acquire
better knowledge on the "why" and
"how" of these relationships. Central to
this problem of interaction is the nature
of the driving force and the resulting
perceived environmental system. As we
all know, the status of the environ-
ment depends upon a complex series of
actions and inactions at all levels of
government, industry, natural processes,
and human behavior, to name but a
few. Such actions occur in a highly de-
centralized fashion. Those of you with
responsibility for environmental man-
agement know well what your sphere
of influence involves—whether it be
geographical, jurisdictional, legislative
or economic. Thus, from the perspec-
tive of prediction or forecasting, major
problems are faced in terms of measur-
ing both the nature of these decentral-
ized actions and, perhaps more im-
portantly, their interrelationships.
All forecasting starts from the premise
that there are certain continuities run-
ning through the past and present into
the future, and that the reactive or re-
sponse type of decisions can be as-
sumed to have relative relationships. In
predicting environmental consequences
of policy choices, the assumption that a
first order forecast is a simple extra-
polation may be inadequate, because
the complexities and subtleties of the
interactions are simply not well under-
stood, and the multitude of unforeseen
branchpoints downstream preclude this
type of approach.
Another difficulty in forecasting in-
volves the risk of deceptiveness of short-
term considerations. On the one hand,
such a risk justifies the need for long-
term forecasting, since assumptions
made about the nearterm future are
often spurious with respect to the
longer-run ramifications, which may be
irrevocable. In practice, however, the
complexities to be dealt with in fore-
casting are normally assumed to be of
one form or another based upon our
best estimates of the future, which
usually amount to short-term consider-
ations. Thus we have a double-edged
sword—we are continually faced with
the need for long-term forecasting but
constrained by near-term comprehen-
sion and understanding, coupled with
the demand for near-term decisions.
Furthermore, we must consider the
issue of validation. Assessment of the
implications of policy choices is critical
to effectiveness, and the quality of our
techniques for conducting such assess-
ments is fundamental to the process.
There is much information in the lit-
erature describing the problems and
needs of validation, but the state-of-the-
art is imperfect. Essentially, one must
be continuously conscious of the issue
and strive to improve the methodology
as experience is gained. Effective fore-
casting of the past to the presnt is a
minimum test of validation, but by no
means sufficient, primarily because our
models, drawing from past experience,
are expected to optimize such forecasts.
In summary, there are difficult and
complicated problems involved in fore-
casting. These must all be taken into
account and internalized as one at-
tempts to develop a capability for stra-
tegic assessment.
On the positive side, however, there
are numerous significant benefits to be
gained from attempting to forecast fu-
ture problems. From a policymaking
point of view, the ability to consider
the likely long-range and comprehen-
sive implications of policy choices can
contribute substantially to policy effec-
tiveness.
First, one can have the benefit of
organization of thought. Strategic as-
311
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sessment requires structuring choices,
considering ramifications and attempts
at predicting impacts, all of which de-
mands some set of rational criteria by
which policy choices can be evaluated.
The concept of "alternative futures", or
the consideration and evaluation of al-
ternative states of the environment, is
one such example. With an effective
forecasting capability, one can develop
certain scenarios within the general
limits of expected growth trends or pat-
terns and evaluate the likely outcomes
or impacts upon environmental quality.
Only by organizing and bounding the
possible futures can one rationally con-
sider alternatives for growth policies.
Another benefit is the ability to help
move environmental policies in the di-
rection of protection. With an ability
to foresee long-range pollution prob-
lems, in an "early-warning" sense, one
can consider corrective actions in the
interim to protect rather than only to
regulate or penalize. Thus new policy
options are surfaced which may have
been overlooked. Policies in the areas
of incentives, land use planning, risk
avoidance, and conservation, for ex-
ample, may be shown to be of greater
long-range value or, alternatively,
shown to be of little overall conse-
quence, if not counter-productive in
certain respects.
Effective strategic assessment can
also assist environmental managers in
decision making. As some of the speak-
ers at this conference are pointing out,
we can no longer assume that the nat-
ural abilities of the market place and
our behavioral patterns will self-correct,
or, in other words, automatically turn
the environment around toward qual-
ity. Rational consideration of various
management strategies and actions is
necessary before problems result from
poor or nonexistent planning. In partic-
ular, our technological and institutional
solutions need to be broadened to in-
clude the long-range effects of our ac-
tions or inactions. In this context,
forecasting within a comprehensive
framework can assist the management
of policy making.
One example of this concept is the
ability to use forecasting as a means to
track progress in reaching goals. For in-
stance, a growth policy may be estab-
lished which is designed to reach a long-
range goal of a specified quality of life.
Forecasting techniques can then be ap-
plied periodically to assess the actual
progress being made over time to-
ward achievement of the goal. In this
way, mid-course corrections can be
made in the policy or, if necessary, in
the goal statement.
In a similar fashion, one can measure
the impact of alternative policies. For
example, a set of alternative growth
policies could be tested at that point
in time and evaluated according to
their relative impacts upon the en-
vironment and thus their projected
progress toward reaching the stated
goal. In this way, the forecasting sys-
tem would be sensitive to perturbations
in that progress, for example, unfore-
seen value changes, and would highlight
those areas in need of modification.
It is clear that one does not have to
produce a perfect forecast system in
order to obtain many of the above
benefits. Let me now highlight a few
of the characteristics of SEAS which
is being designed in general to acquire
the previously mentioned benefits.
First and foremost, SEAS is a re-
search project. As such, it is time-
phased in its development cycle. The
research plan revolves around our abil-
ity to synthesize the available state of
the art in techniques and methods for
assessing long-range comprehensive
pollution problems.
SEAS has a number of attributes, the
collection of which differentiate it from
other models and systems which have
been attempted in the past. Some of
these are as follows:
(1) SEAS will deal explicitly
with pollution generators and pos-
sible controls and known effects of
residuals;
(2) It is to be a national-level
model system for use by EPA
Headquarters and Regional policy
makers;
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(3) It is to have a ten to twenty
year time horizon;
(4) It will make use of "official"
environmental, economic and
demographic data;
(5) It is to be used together
with expert opinion to maximize
the combined man-machine cap-
abilities; and
(6) SEAS will project the state
of the environment and socio-eco-
nomic systems in the ten to twenty
year planning period that would
likely result from alternate projects
of population growth, technologic-
al change and economic activity
levels, and the effects of environ-
mental policies in a comprehen-
sive context.
Thus, SEAS is to be a complex model
system, attempting to tie together in a
comprehensive sense the interrelated
areas of environmental and socio-eco-
nomic factors.
At this workshop, you will be able
to learn about the progress made over
the past six months on the SEAS Test
Model. This test model is being done
as a research tool for the development
of the SEAS Prototype Model that will
be completed by December and used to
prepare a "1980 State of the Environ-
ment" projection. The prototype will be
a state-of-the-art system insofar as it
will incorporate the best available sub-
models into the comprehensive SEAS
context. We are now in the process of
surveying various federal and state/
local agencies, research institutes, uni-
versities, and private firms for the most
appropriate set of techniques and data
bases for the SEAS Prototype. One of
the final products of the SEAS proto-
type effort will be complete documen-
tation of the effort and an estimate of
what benefits and costs would be in-
curred from proceeding further toward
the full SEAS system.
Let me now mention briefly some
ideas we have for the application of
SEAS when it is developed.
Initially we envision SEAS aiding in
the assessment of alternative policies in
terms of their long-range impact on
the environment. This use we view as a
"process," whereby SEAS, as a com-
puter-based system of models, will be
augmented by human expert opinion in
an integrated analytical fashion. State
of the Environment Reports can be
produced, which result from man-ma-
chine analysis of the long-range rami-
fications of current and contemplated
environmental policies upon the Nation
and Standard Federal Regions.
This initial use could also involve as-
sisting us in the illumination of possible
research goals and needs. If it is pos-
sible to describe the environmental sys-
tem, it may then follow that sensitivity
tests may help in identifying potential
gaps in the sense that our information
in certain areas may be lacking and
the particular gap may be more im-
portant than we thought. Our goal of a
better understanding of the way the
total environment interacts with itself,
with man, and with all the elements
that go to make it up, may be broken
down, with the help of SEAS, into rel-
ative critical components with varying
research needs.
Ultimately SEAS could be helpful in
formulating policy choices and in mon-
itoring the overall progress of the Na-
tion or region in reaching policy goals.
Obviously this will require effective so-
lutions to the forecasting issues I men-
tioned earlier. But we are hopeful that
development of the Prototype will in-
dicate that it can be done, because this
is the most effective way we can hope
to anticipate long-range problems and
to take proper actions to prevent them
from occurring. For instance, we know
from experience that the problems we
face today are not necessarily those we
will face at some time in the future.
This is the principal reason that tech-
nology alone rarely solves problems. In-
stitutional and societal factors and
values really determine the success of
proposed solutions. With an effective
forecasting system such as SEAS we
may have the capability to consider
new policy options and assess their
ramifications upon the total environ-
ment.
313
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Finally, I want to suggest to you ment tool.
that the concept and process underlying We believe SEAS is a very worth-
SEAS is directly applicable to your or- while research project. It is being de-
ganizations and objectives. As you move veloped carefully and documented com-
toward a more comprehensive and in- pletely and I encourage you to follow
tegrated view of managing the environ- its progress and take advantage of our
ment, the process of organizing and experiences. Since we have the same
synthesizing the best available informa- environmental management goals, our
tion to consider alternative policies can techniques and methodologies should be
be extremely beneficial as a manage- shared.
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VII: Intergovernmental Relations
in the Environment
Environmental management has traditionally been a local responsibility.
Environmental functions such as sewage, solid waste disposal, and water
supply were among the earliest performed by local governments in the
United States. Throughout the twentieth century, however, there has been
increasing environmental activity at the state and federal levels, and the
relationships between the federal, state and local levels have changed.
As might be expected, the changes in the roles and responsibilities
among levels of government have resulted in conflict and uncertainty.
Not only is there some turmoil surrounding the roles of the three basic
levels of government, but efforts to solve environmental problems have led
to the development of regional approaches, e.g., regional sewer districts.
The result has been confusion and frustration for all concerned. Local
governments, for example, often feel trapped between changing environmental
standards, increasing enforcement actions, expanding investment in
environmental facilities, and continuing uncertainty of state and federal
financial assistance. Speaking at the Conference, John Quarles, Deputy
Administrator of EPA, explained:
"One of the themes that has come out repeatedly is a concern that
the problems have to be solved at the local level. There has been . . .
frequent comment by city administrators to the effect that the state
officials do not understand the problems that sxist at the city
(or county) level, the need to deal with the problems there, and
the need for flexibility to deal with them in a way that makes
the most sense in light of the local circumstances. The state
representatives say that the federal government does not understand the
need for flexibility to deal with these problems at the local (state)
level. Our regional people say that the Headquarters in Washington
does not understand the need for the regions to have flexibility.
Then I say ... to you . . . that I guess we do not understand."
As the most powerful actor in the intergovernmental arena, the federal
government has developed a clear policy direction—"New Federalism,"
to help bring order to the system. The complex web of intergovernmental
relationships in the area of environmental management promises to
serve as a fundamental test of that policy.
NEW FEDERALISM
The concepts behind the "New Federalism" had antecedents during the
1960's, when attempts were made to emphasize decision-making at the
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state and local levels. As discussed today, the objectives of the New
Federalism include: (1) redistribution of revenues and power from the
federal government to the states and local governments; and (2)
reorganization of the federal bureaucracy to make it more responsive
and more regional. President Nixon stated in his 1971 State of the Union
message:
"The idea that a bureaucratic elite in Washington knows best what
is best for people everywhere and that you cannot trust local
government is really a contention that you cannot trust people to
govern themselves."
At the present time, the major elements of President Nixon's "New
Federalism" include:
—general revenue sharing, a program returning $30.2 billion to state
and local governments over a five year period for expenditure in
nine broad areas;
—special revenue sharing, a proposal combining a number of
categorical grant programs into funds for broad general purposes—
community development, education, manpower, etc.
—federal regional councils, the focusing of federal efforts and
authority at the regional level to handle specific problems as close
to the source as possible given to the councils representing seven
federal agencies in each of the ten federal regions;
—intergovernmental cooperation, particularly the A-95 review process
which allows state, regional, and local review of certain federal
or federally assisted projects;
—administrative changes, including reorganization of the federal
bureaucracy along program lines, decentralizing federal operations,
establishing uniform regional boundaries, reducing grant processing
time, and simplifying regulations.
Many of these programs are currently being implemented. Proposals for
special revenue sharing and federal reorganization have not yet been
approved by the Congress.
THE FEDERAL ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Federal involvement in environmental management expanded rapidly
after World War II. This involvement has generally moved through
three stages. The tendency has been for Congress first to enact legislation
encouraging state and local actions and establishing a federal agency for
monitoring research and technical assistance. This is followed by legislation
containing greater incentives to state and local governments, plus
federal authority to promulgate certain standards. Finally, Congress has
mandated action at the state and local level, backed by the authority of
the federal government to implement programs where necessary. For
example, in 1955 Congress authorized the Public Health Service to provide
air pollution research and technical assistance. The Clean Air Act of
1963 contained financial incentives for state and local programs and
limited federal enforcement to seek relief during interstate air emergencies.
The Clean Air Act of 1970 authorized national standards to be established
(and enforced if necessary) by the federal government. The same
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progression can be cited in the area of water pollution, beginning with
the Water Pollution Control Act in 1956. The federal role was gradually
strengthened by the amendments passed in 1961, 1965, and 1972.
Another example of the expanded federal environmental role is the National
Environmental Policy Act, passed in 1969, which requires that federal and
federally-assisted projects be evaluated for their impact on the environment.
These examples seem to substantiate the position that environmental
management, pollution control, in particular, is being concentrated at the
federal level. This would seem to be a contradiction of the "New Federalism."
In clarifying this point, EPA Deputy Administrator Quarles agreed that:
"There has been a tendency for Congress to pass laws which specify
that there be a stronger role. . . . [While] it is true that these
problems do need to be handled at the local level, it is also true
that the legislation which has passed sets a number of obligations
which must be monitored or met by EPA or other federal agencies.
These are responsibilities in setting standards, in specifying what
the best pattern of controlled technology means for industry, in
developing systems for planning programs, and in setting out the
framework for a variety of actvities to occur."
In response to the policy direction of the New Federalism, the Environmental
Protection Agency formed regional offices conforming to the uniform
regional boundaries. Regional Administrators were given a broad mandate
for administering the Agency's programs in the field. The EPA Regional
Administrator for Region I, based in Boston, John McGlennon, commented
that:
"There is an old adage that applies here. You can declare war in
Washington, but you have got to run the war in the field. This seems to
me to summarize the basic domestic policy thrust of the Environmental
Protection Agency and, in fact, of the Nixon Administration. It is a
program of decentralizing federal bureaucratic power and on increasing
state and local authority. This is the essence of the New Federalism.
... In order to administer these laws, to manage pollution control,
. . . EPA must recognize two facts: [1] the states will be doing
much of the day-to-day work, and [2] it is the regions that must
have the authority to assist them."
Recent federal environmental legislation, notably the Clean Air Act of
1970 and the 1972 Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, has
resulted in two major changes in roles and responsibilities in the federal
system: (1) increased federal authority over state and local jurisdictions;
and (2) increased responsibility regarding environmental matters for
state and local jurisdictions. In each case state governments are given
primary responsibility for implementing the legislation. States are to prepare
plans for implementation of both air and water programs. This has led
both state and local governments to extend their authority into areas
generally bypassed before. For example, state and local governments must
have authority to act in case of an air pollution alert.
On the other hand, EPA defines the program to be implemented, approves
the state plans, and retains authority to intervene when not satisfied with
state and local performance. A recent example of this was the issuance,
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on July 6, 1973, of transportation control measures by EPA to achieve air
quality standards in eleven metropolitan areas (Salt Lake City, Utah;
Seattle and Spokane, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Phoenix-Tucson,
Arizona; Fairbanks, Alaska; and the California urban areas of San
Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, and Indio).
These controls were issued to supplement sections of state plans that were
found to be inadequate. The measures included: automobile inspection and
maintenance, automobile emission control requirements, parking limitations,
and gasoline sales restrictions.
THE STATE ROLE
States were relatively inactive in the environmental area until around the
turn of the century, when programs in the areas of health and conservation
were widely adopted. State activities increased with federal encouragement
after World War II, developing stronger programs in air and water
pollution control. The recent environmental movement has had tremendous
impact on state programs. Since 1970, nearly every state has passed
legislation to preserve environmental quality, and several have made
major organizational changes (see Chapter III). The range of these new
programs include: land-use planning, growth controls, wetlands protection,
coastal zoning, environmental facility financing, environmental impact
assessment, surcharge on non-returnable containers, restrictions on
chemicals (e.g., phosphate) and pesticides, as well as increased efforts in
air and water pollution control, and solid waste disposal.
In many ways, the state holds the pivotal position in terms of determining
the shape of intergovernmental relations in the environmental field. In
addition to defining their own environmental role, their action or inaction
in response to recent federal legislation, such as air and water programs,
determines whether the federal government will become directly
involved in implementing various environmental programs or whether the
state will retain primarily operational responsibility. Also, by virtue of
the legal dependence of local governments on states, states dictate the
role and functions of both regional and local governments. In an article
found later in this chapter, "State Responsibility in Managing the
Environment," Dan Lufkin, Commissioner, Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection, discusses the need for states to assume the
initiative in developing environmental programs and to be charged with
implementing major federal programs.
Recent federal legislation in the areas of air pollution control, water-
pollution control, and land-use planning have emphasized implementation
at the state level. In the area of water pollution for example, states are
given the responsibility for such activities as setting standards (as long
as minimum federal standards are met), administering the permit program,
developing state water plans, placing priorities on construction needs within
the state, and designating areawide planning and management agencies.
In each of these areas, state actions must be approved by EPA. Failure on
the part of the states to follow through, however, will result in federal
assumption of these new programs.
States also are a major influence on the form of regional and local
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jurisdictions. For instance, a state may allow regional planning commissions,
councils of governments, special districts for certain functions, but not multi-
purpose districts. The legal framework for those jurisdictions are set by
state law. This framework can include such factors as: area of jurisdiction,
sources of revenue, and scope of programs. State law, therefore, defines
responsibilities for environmental functions within the state. Air
pollution control, for example, may be designated a health department
function, administered by the state, and county, and/or local health
departments. There is considerable variation among states as to the amount
of autonomy regional and local governments are given. Some local
governments are permitted some home rule, while in other states, local
governments must seek state enabling legislation for new programs. Only
a few states, for example, allow local governments to set their own
envirnomental quality standards in addition to state standards.
THE REGIONAL ROLE
In a recent article, Francis B. Francois, a councilman in Prince Georges
County, Maryland, stated that:
"We no longer need to debate "Why Regionalism?" because that is
no longer a valid issue. Politicians and the voting public they
represent have both recognized that we must solve those problems
that fail to stop at our artificial city and county boundary lines, and
that it will require more than our own individual local governmental
powers to bring about those solutions. The issue for the '70's and
the '80's is, 'How are we going to develop and implement the needed
regional solutions, and who is going to be responsible for the
process?" (1)
This is particularly appropriate for environmental management, where
problems can be more effectively addressed on the basis of flood plain,
river basin, air basin, and the like.
A variety of regional approaches have been developed, including regional
planning commissions, councils of governments, special districts, metropolitan
federations, consolidated city/county forms, and compacts. Regional
planning commissions and councils of government have become popular
approaches to regionalism. These are primarily products of federal
planning legislation, recently bolstered by the A-95 review process
stemming from Section 204 of the Metropolitan Development Act of 1966
and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968. These approaches
are popular among local officials because: (1) they do not alter the
existing political relationships and, (2) they are multi-purpose in nature
and therefore reduce the proliferation of governmental units.
Special districts are perhaps the most prevalent type of regional
organization, particularly for environmental programs, e.g., air quality
control region, regional sewer district. While offering many of the
advantages of regional approaches, single-purpose special districts make
comprehensive approaches to regional problems exceptionally difficult.
This is especially important in environmental management because complex
interrelationships between environmental components, e.g., air and water
are characteristic of environmental problems. Plus, the proliferation of the
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agencies create a serious problem in terms of policy coordination, and
public accountability.
Other regional approaches have not proven to be particularly popular.
City-county consolidation, for example, has been adopted in only thirteen
communities since the end of World War II. Similarly, the United States
has not been as active as Canada in pursuing the Metropolitan Federation.
Metropolitan Dade County (Miami) is perhaps the closest approximation
in this country.
States are beginning to show strong signs of taking the initiative in
developing regional approaches to problems. At least two states have
moved aggressively to create state-sponsored regional councils: (1) the Twin
Cities Metropolitan Council (Minnesota), (described in a paper in this
section by Frank Lamm, Director of Environmental Planning for the
Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area), and, (2) the Atlanta
Regional Commission (Georgia), which has also been given wide authority
to coordinate the decisions and programs of local governments in the region.
Also, forty-two states have created a system of sub-state districts
covering the entire state. The districts are designed to be the boundaries for
federally-sponsored planning programs, councils of governments, and state
service areas. In many cases the boundaries have been chosen with the
needs of local government firmly in mind. In other cases state decisions
have been unilateral. It should be remembered, however, that in many
cases the sub-state districts are only on paper, and have yet to be
operationalized.
Perhaps the strongest and most widespread trend in recent years has
been the activity of the federal government in sponsoring areawide
planninng through grants-in-aid. In a study conducted by the staffs of the
public interest groups representing local and state government mentioned
earlier, (Federally-Sponsored Multijurisdictional Planning and Policy
Development Organizations), eleven federal programs sponsoring areawide
planning were identified. In a yet to be released and more comprehensiveffl
study by the ACIR, twenty-four such multijurisdictional programs were
found. These programs have created hundreds of regional planning agencies
and poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the agencies. David
Walker, Assistant Director, Advisory Commission on Intergovermental
Relations, reported "at last count, there were [to list a few]:
• 481 law enforcement and criminal regions
• 457 Community Action Agencies
• 419 sub-state CAMPS Committees
• 129 regional comprehensive health planning agencies"
The most recent example of federal legislation that initiates a regional
agency is Section 208 of the 1972 Water Pollution Control Act Amendments
which requires areawide planning to coordinate all water pollution control
efforts. The Act gives state governors the first option of designating the
areawide planning agencies. If a governor fails to act, the chief elected officials
of local governments within an area may make the designation.
THE LOCAL ROLE
Of all the levels of government, local government has the longest history
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of environmental management. Environmental functions such as water
supply, solid waste collection and disposal, and sewage collection and
disposal were among the earliest municipal functions. Provision of these
services was a local government responsibility which meant that environmental
services were quite responsive to local conditions and political process.
However, because of the local focus, insufficient attention was paid to the
impact of environmental conditions on the surrounding area.
Although some local governments are severely restricted legally and
financially from expanding their envronmental focus, many local
governments have made dramatic changes during the past few years.
Examples of these new local programs include: new organizational
arrangements (see Chapter III); greater citizen participation; environmental
planning; additional land use controls, e.g., open space zoning, marshland
controls, growth controls; adoption of environmental standards, e.g., noise,
or perfonrlance standards; environmental impact assessment; and,
construction of improved facilities.
In many cases, local governments have found it advantageous to join
through intergovernmental service agreements, with other local governments
on a subregional level for environmental programs. Joseph Zimmerman,
Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Albany,
discussed in greater detail the use of intergovernmental service agreements.
Zimmerman found that three-fifths of a sample of local governments
utilized this mechanism. He concludes, however, that although service
agreements will probably continue in popularity, their use is limited and
"pressure for the upward shift of responsibility for problem solving" will
increase.
The "New Federalism" has had a major impact on the role of local
governments. Revenue sharing and the block grants (including special
revenue sharing), place more responsibility on the local decision-making
process. This is less important for environmental programs, which thus far
have related more to state governments. However, there is a logic to
administering as many environmental programs as possible at the local
level. Mark Keane, Executive Director, International City Management
Association, discussed this issue and went on to emphasize the need to
build the capacity of local government to respond to the increased
responsibility.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL ISSUES
The intergovernmental issues of environmental management parallel
most other program areas. These include: overlapping programs, conflicting
(or unrealistic) standards, unreasonable enforcement measures, inadequate
participation in policy making, inadequate communication, inadequate
technical assistance, uncertainty and delay in program administration,
and inadequate funding. The "New Federalism" attempts to resolve some
of these problems. However, the failure to clearly sort out the responsibilities
of the various levels of government, and the absence of a consistent regional
alternative have hampered these efforts. In some cases these problems have
created still more conflict.
The future of environmental management in the federal system is open
321
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for speculation. It has already been noted that the environment conforms
less to the "New Federalism" than most other program areas, in spite of
the efforts of EPA. A recent study indicated that approximately eighty
percent of a sample of "urban experts" (mayors, administrators, and
academicians) predicted that environmental responsibilities would be
centralized in the federal government by 1980. (2)
Notes for
Chapter VII
1 Francis B. Francois, "Who Will Make Our Regional Decisions," Nation's Cities,
November, 1972, p. 12.
2 Lyle J. Sumek, "Urban Organizations of the Future," Center for Governmental
Studies, Northern Illinois University, forthcoming August, 1973.
322
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VIM Inter-
governmental
aspects of
environmental
controls
Frank P. Grad *
The scope of "environmental law"
has seen such rapid expansion in the
recent past that any attempt to an-
alyze the part played in it by the fed-
eral, state and local governments must
first face the problem of selection of
an area in which intergovernmental
considerations have made a significant
difference. Although aspects of conser-
vation and resource development are
touched at a number of points, the
emphasis of this paper is on the control
of environmental pollution—including
air and water pollution, solid waste,
noise and radiation pollution. There are
several reasons for this emphasis. Prob-
lems of pollution are the most wide-
spread, and many of their aspects are
most acute. Moreover, there is a well-
developed technology for the control
of many pollutants, and all that is re-
quired for their successful management
is the proper regulatory machinery,
properly staffed and financed. Perhaps
more important, environmental pollu-
tion is a significant metropolitan and
urban problem, and in consequence af-
fects more people than other aspects
of environmental pollution commonly
requires the efforts of more than any
one single government for its control.
Indeed, environmental pollution has be-
come an intergovernmental problem
because its dimensions can no longer
be contained within the narrow bound-
aries of municipal or local jurisdiction.
The federal role
The historical development of fed-
eral involvement in environmental con-
trols has followed a somewhat parallel
pattern in almost every aspect of pol-
lution control except in the case of
radiation, which the federal government
has viewed as a matter of national con-
cern from the very beginning of the
development of nuclear energy.1 In all
other areas of environmental controls,
however, the federal government has
moved from a position of self-denial
of powers to an ever stronger assertion
of federal interest. This is understand-
able because the control of the en-
vironment—in the traditional sense—
for the health, safety and welfare of
the people—be it in the area for the
exercise of the police power by the
several states.2 The federal government,
as a government of limited and dele-
gated powers, had never regarded itself
as a repository of a general police
power, even though "the federal po-
lice power" has sometimes been men-
tioned in a somewhat metaphoric
sense." The federal government has in-
volved itself in environmental controls
rather gradually. Reliance on the com-
merce power in the direct control of
pollution is the most recent phenome-
non of federal regulation; initially it
operated indirectly through the federal
government's power to tax and spend
for the general welfare. Thus, in most
fields of pollution control the federal
involvement begins not with an asser-
tion of federal regulatory power but
through sponsorship of grant-in-aid
programs, with federal standards gradu-
ally being imposed as a condition of
the receipt of federal funds for pur-
poses of environmental control. This
traditional Congressional approach to
*Frank P. Grad is Professor of Law,
Columbia University.
This article was excerpted from Environ-
mental Control: Priorities, Policies, and
the Law, pp. 47-216, edited by Frank P.
Grad, George W. Rathjens, and Albert J.
Rosenthal. Copyright 1971, Columbia
University Press. Reprinted by permission
of Columbia University Press.
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the pollution control problem is ex-
emplified in the policy declaration of
the Federal Water Pollution Act of
1948.
It is hereby declared to be a policy
of Congress to recognize, preserve,
and protect the primary responsi-
bilities and rights of the States in
controlling water pollution.'
This' limitation on the federal juris-
diction was almost entirely self-im-
posed.' Its justification lay in part in
a continued respect for the concept
of federalism, and in part in a judg-
ment, probably accurate in 1948, that
some form of local control was a more
effective means of combating water pol-
lution than federal controls. Conse-
quently, under early water pollution
and air pollution control acts the fed-
eral function was to operate in full
cooperation with state and interstate
agencies and with local and municipal
governments.1' When pollution problems
worsened rapidly, the wisdom of this
secondary federal role was questioned.7
The result, a new direction of the fed-
eral effort, is reflected in the declara-
tion of policy of the Water Quality
Control Act of 1965:
The purpose of this act is to en-
hance the quality and value of our
water resources and to establish
a national policy for the preven-
tion, control and abatement of
water pollution."
Though the concept of a partnership
with the states still remains," the un-
mistakable trend of federal programs
has been to locate the responsibility
for final decisions on water quality ob-
jectives, standards and priorities in
Washington.10
Air pollution control
In 1955 the Congress enacted the
first federal air pollution legislation. The
law was entitled "Air Pollution Con-
trol—Research and Technical Assist-
ance." " It provided grants-in-aid for
state and local air pollution control
agencies for research, training and
demonstration projects, and gave au-
thority for technical advice and assist-
ance from the federal government. It
also authorized the Surgeon General to
collect and publish air pollution infor-
mation. The limited view of the federal
role in the 1955 Act is reflected in the
Senate Report on the legislation:
The committee recognized that it
is primarily the responsibility of
state and local governments to pre-
vent air pollution. The bill does
not propose any exercise of po-
lice power by the federal govern-
ment and no provision in it invades
the sovereignty of states, counties
or cities. There is no attempt to
impose standards of purity.12
Some eight years later, in the Clean
Air Act of 1963, the legislative find-
ing still pair ritual obeisance to the
doctrine of primary state responsibility
for air pollution control.13 The Act it-
self, however, indicated that a major
change had taken place in the federal
role and in the pattern of federal-state-
local relations. It gave the U.S. Pub-
lic Health Service a far broader role
in handling air pollution problems and
recognized the need for regional cooper-
ation. While under the 1955 Act grants-
in-aid had gone directly from the fed-
eral government to the cities, under the
1963 Act the state became the focal
point. In addition to grants-in-aid and
provisions for research and technical
assistance, the Secretary of HEW was
authorized to publish non-mandatory
air criteria and to encourage and report
on efforts to prevent motor vehicle ex-
haust pollution. Grants-in-aid were also
provided for air pollution control pro-
grams and, perhaps more significant
from the point of view of direct fed-
eral regulatory involvement, the law
authorized the Secretary of HEW to
intervene when air pollution was al-
leged to endanger "health or welfare,"
when any state was unable to cope
with the problem by itself.11 The pre-
cise nature of these regulatory con-
trols, which have been continued under
present federal legislation, will be dis-
cussed at greater length in another con-
text.1' As will presently appear, the
1963 Act, in providing for grants-in-
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aid to the states for air pollution con-
trol, exerted an enormous influence in
the development and enactment of the
states' own air pollution control leg-
islation.16 Moreover, the 1963 Act, de-
parting considerably from the notion
of strictly local control of air pollution,
gave recognition to the need for re-
gional planning and provided tangible
incentives for regional cooperation in
its grants-in-aid program—a larger pro-
portion of the costs of establishing,
developing and improving air pollution
programs was to be reimbursed by the
federal government if the grantee
agency was an intermunicipal or in-
terstate agency than if it served only
a single city or other governmental
unit.17
The 1965 amendments to the Clean
Air Act moved even more toward di-
rect federal involvement. They author-
ized the Secretary of HEW to promul-
gate and enforce federal emission
standards for new motor vehicles, with-
out providing for the participation in
the standard setting process by the
states or localities.18 This was one of
the early instances of clear reliance
on the commerce clause as a basis for
federal air pollution control. Based on
similar constitutional authority, the
1965 amendments enabled the Secre-
tary to act on pollution complaints
brough' by international agencies or
by the Secretary of State. Such ac-
tion included the ultimate right to bring
suit against the polluter.19
The Air Quality Act of 1967 brought
the federal government squarely into
the field of air pollution control. While
continuing the provisions of the earlier
Clean Air Act for grants-in-aid for
research and for other program activi-
ties by air pollution control agencies,
for the first time the Secretary of HEW
was not only authorized but charged
with the duty of issuing air quality
criteria/LThe Act specifically required
him to designate broad atmospheric
areas, and to specify air quality control
regions or parts or regions within the
state's boundaries. If a state failed to
adopt standards of its own, the Secre-
tary was authorized to promulgate
standards for the state, following a
conference with the appropriate state
officials. If requested by the state, a
hearing was required before such stand-
ards could be promulgated. Moreover,
if the state failed to enforce its own
standards or failed to enforce the stand-
ards set for it by the Secretary, he was
authorized to request the Attorney
General to commence lawsuits for
their enforcement whenever interstate
air pollution was involved.21
A further change in the direction of
greater federal involvement in environ-
mental controls was evidenced by a
new power granted by the 1967 Act.
The Secretary of HEW was authorized
to request the Attorney General to
bring an abatement action in any air
pollution situation which presented an
imminent and substantial danger to
health, without the necessity of a prior
conference or hearing.22 Moreover, the
Secretary was granted exclusive author-
ity to establish and improve emission
standards for new motor vehicles, ex-
cept in those instances in which a state
had adopted a higher standard for new
motor vehicles prior to March 30,
1966.23 In fact, the exception applied
only to the State of California, which
had adopted such standards.24 The Sec-
retary was authorized, too, to study
the feasibility of national emission
standards, and was granted the power
to require the regisration of fuel addi-
tives.25 In 1970 the function of the
Secretary under the 1963, 1965 and
1967 Acts were transferred to the Ad-
ministrator of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency.28 At present, in 1970,
legislation is pending in Congress to au-
thorize national emission standards.27
It is perhaps noteworthy that the
1967 Air Quality Standards Act not
only placed greater emphasis on fed-
eral regulatory controls but also de-
emphasized local controls to a con-
siderable extent. The initial burden for
setting standards and for adopting plans
for their implementation to meet re-
gional air quality standards is placed
on the states, after an appropriate pub-
325
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lie hearing. There is, moreover, no re-
quirement that the local governments
participate in such hearings.28 The shift
from a local to a broader regional,
if not national, emphasis was reflected,
too, in a number of federal incentives
to regional cooperation. To be sure,
the encouragement of regional cooper-
ation—and especially the encourage-
ment of interstate compacts—is not
exactly unambiguous. While encourag-
ing interstate compacts for air pollu-
tion control, the Act expressed the Con-
gressional intention to disapprove any
interstate compact which included states
not within a federally determined air
quality region.2" This limitation, as will
presently appear, aborted three air pol-
lution control compacts on the verge
of adoption.30 However, though the fed-
eral attitude towards interstate and re-
gional cooperation is not as liberal as
appears on the surface, the Air Quality
Standards Act does provide for more
substantial financing of air pollution
control programs in interstate regions
than in intrastate regions, and seeks to
stimulate the establishment of air qual-
ity standards in interstate air quality
regions by paying up to 100 percent
of the costs of planning such inter-
state programs for the first two years
and, thereafter, authorizing the pay-
ment of up to three-quarters of the ex-
penses of such a program.31 There is
authority also for the Secretary to es-
tablish a federal air planning commis-
sion for consultation with the respec-
tive governors if the states fail to estab-
lish interstate air quality planning re-
gions.32
The federal role in air pollution
control with respect to policy making
and standard setting is thus one of lim-
ited but increasingly direct involve-
ment. For the present, the federal gov-
ernment merely designates air quality
regions and issues air quality criteria
which, in a sense, are performance
standards. It is up to the states to work
out emission standards and plans for
their enforcement so as to meet the
federal air quality criteria, the per-
formance standard nationally estab-
lished for designated air quality re-
gions. Though the federal involvement
in setting emission standards for auto-
motive pollution is somewhat more di-
rect, this direct involvement in the po-
licing of standards is thus far limited
to new cars, the specific area where
the federal government has the means
of regulation at the source. The im-
position of federal standards for emis-
sions generally is as yet in the future.
Though the federal government pre-
scribes standards for air quality gen-
erally, it is left to the states—and to
the localities—to establish the emis-
sion standards which industry and oth-
ers must observe and which the air
pollution control personnel must en-
force.
Federal environmental regulation
It is evident from the brief survey
of the role of the federal government
in setting standards and in making reg-
ulations for environmental control that
most areas have developed along simi-
lar lines. Since most aspects of environ-
mental pollution initially appear as
subjects appropriate for regulation
under the states' police power, the fed-
eral interest initially has been to bol-
ster the exercise of the states' and the
localities' power through grants-in-aid,
grants for research and development,
and grants for intergovernmental co-
operation in dealing with environmen-
tal pollution. As it has become appar-
ent in area after area that environmen-
tal problems are not easily susceptible
to state or local resolution, but are
indeed of regional or national scope,
the federal interest has been enlarged
and the federal government has taken
on more and more of the burden of
standard setting and regulation. As will
presently appear, standard setting and
regulation have not necessarily brought
about a more direct federal involvement
in enforcement activities for, on the
whole, the federal government has tra-
ditionally sought to work through state
and local instrumentalities in the con-
trol of the environment. It is also
clear that federal standards—whether
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direct regulatory standards as in the
case of radiation pollution or automo-
tive emission standards, or indirect reg-
ulation through the use of the grant-in-
aid device—have had an enormously
stimulating effect on the states' and
localities' own standard setting and rule-
making endeavors. Since the passage
of the Air Quality Control Act of 1967,
when the federal government first set
motor vehicle emission standards, for
instance, some 28 states have enacted
legislation to deal with vehicle pollu-
tion.33 It is evident, too, that many of
the state regulations for water pollu-
tion control were passed in response
to federal grants conditioned on the
states' enforcing appropriate standards,
as provided in the 1965 Water Pollu-
tion Control Act.34
Another aspect of federal involve-
ment controls needs to be mentioned.
Until very recently, with the passage of
the Environmental Policy Act of 1969,35
the federal concern for the regulation
of environmental pollution has pro-
ceeded on a totally piecemeal basis,
with each environmental problem being
taken up in turn, often without regard
to its impact on other aspects of en-
vironmental quality. Aside from regu-
latory controls in the area of air pollu-
tion, water pollution, noise pollution,
etc., the federal government's own in-
volvement in programs that have sig-
nificant environmental impact, such as
highway, airport and research develop-
ment activities, has proceeded separate
from, and without regard to, the poli-
cies implicit in some of the regulatory
efforts. The lack of coordination be-
tween regulatory programs on the one
hand and the broad developmental pro-
grams on the other raises a significant
question relating to the consistency of
federal environmental policy. Unless
federal programs with broad environ-
mental implications can be reconciled
with federal regulatory efforts in the
control of the environment, no sus-
tained coherent federal environmental
policy will emerge.
The role of the states
The states and localities have dealt
with environmental problems under the
states' police power practically from
the beginning of time. Much of what
is presently referred to as environmen-
tal legislation finds its origin in rather
primitive early regulations promulgated
in the state or local sanitary code as
part of the regulation of the public
health. So, for instance, the origins
of air pollution control can be traced
back to early colonial legislation and
to even earlier English regulations that
dealt with smoking chimneys and the
nuisance created by smoke, fly ash and
cinders.38 The origins of water pollu-
tion controls may also be found in the
early local regulations which prohibited
a man from placing his cesspool too
close to his own or his neighbor's well.37
Frequently, such regulations preceded
even the scientific knowledge which
would have justified them, for the
placement of a well near a cesspool
was regarded as dangerous even prior
to the knowledge that insufficient fil-
tration could cause contamination of
the well from the cesspool. So, too,
local regulation of noise nuisances an-
tedates by many years the clear evi-
dence that excessive noise results in
hearing loss. Thus, there 'has never
been any real question that the states
or the municipalities, by delegation
from the states, had the power to enact
laws or regulations that protect the
health, safety and welfare of the people
against adverse effects of environmen-
tal pollution.
Air pollution control
It is of course a long way from a
local smoke ordinance to a sophisti-
cated state or municipal air pollution
control code. Generally the states and
localities developed such codes in re-
sponse to federal grant-in-aid programs
that made it desirable for them to do
so. So, for instance, following the ini-
tial federal air pollution legislation in
1955 which provided funds for research
and development, the Council of State
Governments first called the states' at-
tention to the need for air pollution
regulations and proposed some gen-
327
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eral standards through appropriate rec-
ommendations of one of its governors'
conferences.38 Today, almost all states
have enacted state air pollution control
legislation, some of the most recent
enactments have occurred in response
to the 1967 Federal Air Quality Act.38
Typically the state laws designate a
state agency or establish a new com-
mission to promulgate standards and
codes.'0 In most states the enforcing
agency is the state health department,11
although in some states separate air
pollution control agencies have been
created.*J Most of the state laws allow
local governments to enact air pollu-
tion codes or regulations of their own,
but do not generally require it. A num-
ber require the state agency, board or
commission to encourage local units of
government to handle air pollution pro-
grams and to provide them with tech-
nical advice and assistance.43 Under
most state laws local units of govern-
ment are empowered to enact laws or
ordinances regulating air pollution, but
the standards set by such local units
must be consistent with, or more strin-
gent than, the state regulations. A few
states have even more detailed provi-
sions to insure a coordinated state-local
effort. In Florida, for instance, the state
agency must review local standards be-
fore they become effective," in Colo-
rado the law requires a mutual review
—local units must review state regula-
tions and the state agency must re-
view local regulations before either be-
comes effective.43 In some states, county
and other governmental units are given
the authority to study and investigate
pesticide problems and to report them
to the central air pollution control
agency for review and action.'" A few
states, too, require municipalities and
other local governments to participate
in area-wide regulation, or else to be-
come subject to direct state regulation.47
Regional cooperation is authorized and
provided for in many states' air pollu-
tion control laws, though none of them
expressly requires it.48
A recent draft of model state air
pollution control legislation proposed
by the Council of State Governments "
requires local regulatory action by state
law in a direct and effective fashion.
Section 14 of the proposed law re-
quires municipalities to establish and
administer air pollution control pro-
grams. Local standards must be stricter
than, or at least consistent with, those
of the state and must provide for ad-
ministrative and judicial sanctions.
Moreover, the state agency is required
to approve the program. If the local
unit of government does not act, or,
it it does not carry out its responsi-
bilities adequately, the state may, after
a hearing, administer the program di-
rectly, and may charge the local unit
for the expense. Interlocal cooperation
is provided for, and the state agency
may require area-wide air pollution
control programs where considered
necessary. If the local units of govern-
ment do not cooperate in the estab-
lishment or administration of such a
regional program, the state is author-
ized to administer the program directly.
Finally, if the state agency determines
that a particular class of air pollutants
is more amenable to state regulation
than local regulation, the state may
assume exclusive jurisdiction.
The proposed model state air pollu-
tion control act is significant in that it
deals with a number of problems that
have arisen in state air pollution con-
trol programs and that existing legis-
lation has failed to address. Generally,
state and local air pollution control
programs are structurally independent
of one another. While the state theo-
retically exercises supervisory control
over local programs, in fact there is
considerable disjunctiveness both on
the standard setting and on the en-
forcement level. The state generally ex-
ercises little or no supervision over
the standards promulgated by local air
pollution control agencies and the ques-
tion of inconsistency between state and
local standards is not likely to be raised
at all unless a person charged with vio-
lating the local code raises the issue
in defense to a criminal prosecution
or other enforcement action. The dis-
328
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junctiveness of state and local air pollu-
tion control programs within a single
state is even more sharply pronounced
in the area of enforcement and will be
referred to in greater detail in that
context.60
Originally, one of the most trouble-
some aspects of state and local air
pollution control programs was the
composition of the air pollution control
agency empowered to set standards and
make regulations. Normally state and
local air pollution control agencies op-
erate on well-established administrative
law principles. The agency is estab-
lished by law and is given power to
promulgate an air pollution control
code consisting of emission standards
and such other standards as the enabling
legislation may refer to in a general fash-
ion. The enabling legislation normally
prescribes the membership of the com-
mission or board that is empowered to
promulgate the code or other standards
under the law.61 It has been the prac-
tice in air pollution control legislation
to give substantial representation to
the very industries that were the most
serious polluters. For many years, mem-
bership in standard setting boards in
many of the states was based on some-
thing of a tripartite formula, with in-
dustry having approximately one-third
of the seats and with the public, labor
groups, and professionals with specific
knowledge or interest in air pollution
technology holding the other two-
thirds."2 Most of the professionals who
were likely to be knowledgeable in air
pollution control matters, however,
were either employed by industry or
were closely identified with industry's
point of view. Consequently, many
states' air pollution control agencies
were for a long time industry-protec-
tion oriented, and would not recom-
mend air pollution control measures
that were costly or otherwise objection-
able to industrial polluters. Moreover,
state air pollution control legislation
often contained safeguards from the
very beginning that were protective of
industry.61 Provisions that require the
agency to set air pollution control
standards, taking into account "eco-
nomic feasibility," were especially like-
ly to result in standards that permit-
ted economic factors to outweigh the
claims of public health.5*
State and local air pollution codes
differ widely with respect to coverage
and technical sophistication. On the
most primitive level, all of them deal
with visible emissions and set limits
(usually in terms of the Ringelman
chart) in terms of the density of emis-
sions.85 Most codes go beyond this
primitive smoke-emission standard and
deal also with gaseous emissions,
whether visible or not.56 On a yet higher
level stand the codes that relate the
amount of emission to the amount of
heat produced by the apparatus—in ef-
fect, requiring minimal standards of
heating efficiency.67 Other, more ad-
vanced regulatory approaches limit
certain harmful paniculate emissions,
including process dust, often relating
the amount of permissible emissions to
the weight of the bulk involved in the
manufacturing process.™ More ad-
vanced codes, moreover, impose not
merely emissions standards, but also
fuel standards, reflecting an apprecia-
tion of the fact that the nature of the
of the ra Finally, the most ad-
vanced codes provide for a system of
emission is directly related to the nature
permits and licenses both for the con-
struction of factories, power plants, or
other pollution producing installations,
and for their operation.60 The consider-
able variety in the nature of air pollu-
tion control codes is significant because
the more sophisticated the code, the
more complex the monitoring system,
and the more highly trained the per-
sonnel required for its enforcement.
Particularly in smaller municipalities,
the means for the enforcement of a
sophisticated code are not likely to be
available. In consequence, there are
serious limits on the capacity of a
local air pollution control agency, for
instance, to enforce a highly technical
and sophisticated state air pollution
control code.
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Water pollution control
The history and development of
state and local controls in the area
of water pollution is again not too dis-
similar from that in the area of air pol-
lution. As in the case of air pollution,
water pollution control by states and
localities is based firmly on the police
power.91 Initially the individual had no
realistic protection against water pollu-
tion beyond the possibility of a suit for
damages and injunction against an up-
stream polluter.62 And even private liti-
gation suffered from the absence of
any generally accepted standards of
water purity against which to measure
the degree of pollution.
Initial steps towards government con-
trol of water pollution came in the
form of measures to protect domestic
drinking water supplies""—as for in-
stance, the sanitary regulation, previ-
ously referred to, that prohibited the
placing of one's cesspool too close to
one's neighbor's well. Other measures
of similar nature took the form of
statutes that made the dumping of offal
and refuse into the waters a criminal
offense.64 Municipalities were often
granted extraterritorial powers to abate
pollution contaminating municipal wa-
ter supplies,85 and local boards of health
were empowered to monitor the quality
of water used for domestic purposes.68
Frequently, however, local success in
keeping water supply pure was often
achieved by sending wastes down-
stream, thereby harming other locali-
ties."7
As pollution became more severe
and its threat to the public interest
became more apparent, the need for
comprehensive state action was real-
ized. In this second evolutionary step,
several state agencies were typically
given pollution authority in their re-
spective spheres of operation."8 Where
a single agency was assigned primary
responsibility it was usually the state
health department.6" This assignment
reflected the public concern of the
times which focused almost exclusively
upon the public health aspects of water
pollution. Mines summarizes the main
faults of this period as being (I) in-
adequate statutory authority, (2) lack
of forceful administration, (3) inap-
propriateness of the public health do-
minion, and (4) lack of centralized au-
thority.™ These shortcomings became
apparent whenever concerted action
was required.7'
The present practice is to create a
single state agency and to assign to it
the authority to make the major policy
decisions relating to all aspects of water
quality control.72 In many states a num-
ber of agencies with lesser jurisdic-
tion antedated the creation of the
single dominant state agency. Many
states, therefore, were faced with the
choice of either creating an entirely
new agency to assume jurisdiction
from all existing ones, of creating a
special statutory coordinating board or
commission, or of singling out one of
the existing agencies and granting it
dominant powers over all other water
pollution control agencies in the state.
An example of the first type of agency
is the Texas Water Quality Board. Di-
rected by law to "set water quality
standards for the waters in the state
. . .," 7a it in effect has achieved major
master planning functions in the water
areas for the state as a whole. The
board is composed of seven members,
of whom three are appointed by the
governor and confirmed by the Senate;
the four others are the chief executives
of the Texas Water Development
Board, the health department, the
Parks Department and the Railroad
Commission.74 Generally, the appointed
members are community leaders.75 An
executive director, who is full-time, op-
erates^ liaison for the part-time board
members and supervises the execution
of policies through an appointed staff.76
Florida, which had initially entrusted
water pollution control powers to the
Department of Health, ended up by
creating the Florida and Water Pollu-
tion Control Committee, composed of
the governor, the secretary of state,
the commissioner of agriculture, and
two additional members appointed by
the governor and confirmed by the
330
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senate." Provision is made for a di-
rector with qualifications in bio-en-
vironmental or sanitary engineering.78
The coordinating committee ap-
proach is exemplified by Oklahoma.
There the department of pollution con-
trol, created in 1968, consists solely of
the pollution control coordinating board
and of any special task forces that
might be assigned to the department.79
The pollution control coordinating
board consists of the chief administra-
tors of the five enforcement agencies—
the Oklahoma Water Resources Board,
the corporation commission, the state
department of health, the state depar-
ment of agriculture and the state de-
partment of wildlife conservation. The
board's primary function is to coordi-
nate the efforts of the various agencies
in order to avoid duplication of effort
and to promote efficient pollution
abatement. The board was granted au-
thority to prescribe water quality cri-
teria, standards of water quality and
the beneficial uses of the state's
waters.8"
The third approach of vesting con-
trol powers in existing agencies was
adopted in New York. The New York
Public Health Law gave the water re-
sources commission the power to clas-
sify waters and to adopt standards. The
enforcement of the program, however,
was delegated to the State Department
of Health. The Water Resources Com-
mission, though it promulgated classi-
fications and standards for the Depart-
ment of Health to enforce, was an
independent body nominally within the
structure of the Conservation Depart-
ment.81 In April 1970, New York aban-
doned this structure, transferring the
functions of the Water Resources Com-
mission and the Conservation Depart-
ment to a newly created Department
of Environmental matters.82
A number of state water pollution
control efforts have been criticized on
structural grounds—it is said that sep-
arating standard setting and rule mak-
ing powers from enforcement powers
has proved unsatisfactory. According
to this view, the coordinating com-
mittee would seem likely to be the
least effective form of agency since
by definition it has coordinating pow-
ers only and may not enforce directly.
Conversely, a centralized agency, such
as that of Texas, with its own staff
and extensive enforcement authority,
is likely to be far more effective. It
has been charged, for instance, that
the reason for the lack of effective-
ness of the old New York law was
the absence of close coordination and
cooperation between the Water Re-
sources Commission, the policy maker,
and the Department of Health, the en-
forcement agency.83 The implications of
separating standard setting and rule
making from enforcement responsibili-
ties ought to be taken into account
when considering the recent trend to-
wards the establishment of coordinat-
ing and standard setting agencies for
environmental controls at large. There
is evidence that the establishment of
coordinating agencies, or the separa-
tion of policy making from enforce-
ment activities is of dubious effective-
ness even within any one field of pollu-
tion control, such as water or air pol-
lution. Why, then, should there be
greater effectiveness expected of a
state-wide pollution control agency with
responsibility for policy-making in wa-
ter pollution, air pollution, noise pol-
lution, solid waste disposal and all the
rest, but leaving enforcement respon-
sibilities to specific divisions within
the overall pollution control agency?
That is not to say, however, that inter-
agency coordination is not both desir-
able and necessary. It is true, for in-
stance, that water pollution problems
cut across many lines of interest and
require many different kinds of techni-
cal knowledge.84 Even a unified water
pollution control department may find
it difficult to administer its program if
it does not take cognizance of the ex-
pertise and interests of other agencies.
The composition of water pollution
control boards differs from state to
state but, just as in the case of air pol-
lution control boards, follows a num-
ber of set patterns. When a board's
331
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function is primarily advisory, the rep-
resentation of interests on the board is
likely to be very broad,85 although
some advisory boards consist wholly of
officials of state agencies involved in
various aspects of water pollution con-
trol, serving on the board ex officio.
In many instances advisory boards or
boards charged with standard setting
functions consist of officials of en-
forcement agencies and of persons
representing interests most directly
concerned with the regulation of pollu-
tion."7 Ordinarily, when a water pollu-
tion control body has not only super-
visory or standard setting authority but
also exercises enforcement functions,
it is likely to be composed primarily
of agency officials.™ The question of
whether or not it is desirable to in-
clude members of the regulated indus-
try on a standard setting or rule mak-
ing body has been previously referred
to in the context of air pollution regu-
lation. It has been suggested in the
context of water pollution control that
the members of the regulated industry,
who are likely to be the major con-
tributors to the pollution that is sought
to be regulated, should not be given
an official position in the standard set-
ting agency because their views have
usually been adequately represented in
the legislature in the course of legis-
lative hearings, and by counsel in
board hearings on proposed regula-
tions. It is likely that in water pollu-
tion standard setting agencies, just as
air pollution standard setting agencies,
the presence of industry board mem-
bers has hindered the regulatory effort
by at least as much as it has advanced
it.OT
State agencies differ considerably
with respect to their jurisdictional
scope, and this of course has consider-
able implications for the kinds of
standards and the reach of the regula-
tions that they may impose. Some state
statutes limit agency jurisdiction by
giving it regulatory control only over
specified waters, or by exempting cer-
tain waters from regulation." Other
states exempt ground water pollution
thereby ignoring the integral relation
between the quality of ground waters
and surface waters.91 The more up-to-
date and comprehensive statutes gener-
ally and expressly include all waters
within the pollution control effort.82
The presence of certain political and
economic pressures is clearly visible on
the face of certain of the water pol-
lution control statutes. Thus, for ex-
ample, Pennsylvania makes its act ap-
plicable only to sewage and exempts
from coverage all wastes from coal
mines, tannery and municipal sewage
systems existing at the time the act was
passed.63 Sometimes, too, the regulatory
scope of the law is limited by a very
narrow definition of the wastes capable
of creating a condition of pollution."
It is clear that inclusive coverage is
not difficult to achieve statutorily
through a broad grant of jurisdiction
and a liberal definition of activities to
be regulated."6
State agencies' powers differ consid-
erably with respect to the kind of wa-
ter quality standards they may impose.
Though on their face modern state
water pollution control laws grant broad
powers to the control agency,"" not all
of them grant full powers to the agency
to set water quality standards across
the board. Many states that have the
power to establish water quality stand-
ards are approaching the task in grad-
ual stages. Some states have never got-
ten beyond the promulgation of broad
minimal standards, while other states
have not set statewide standards but
have proceeded area by area."
The New York law and the regu-
lations promulgated under it offer a
good example of a comprehensive pro-
gram of water classification and the
adoption of quality standards. The wat-
ers are classified on a "best use" basis,
which means that the existing or poten-
tial use requiring the highest degree of
purity is used to set the standard.98
Public hearings are required in the
standard setting process. Standards of
purity are assigned to the various rivers
and streams based on the following
criteria:
332
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1. Stream characteristics, including
size, temperature, and drainage
area;
2. Character and use of the sur-
rounding area;
3. Existing and potential uses of the
stream; and
4. The extent of present defilement
or pollution."
In order to avoid standards from
becoming permanently fixed at too low
a level of quality, the New York Water
Resources Commission had the power;
to repeal, modify, or alter standards!
from time to time. The water classifi-
cation program in New York has been
attacked as an unconstitutional delega-
tion of legislative authority. The con-
stitutionality of the law and the regu-
lations were upheld, however, by the
highest court of the state.100 Similar
water classification schemes have been
upheld in other states against consti-
tutional attacks based not only on im-
proper delegation but also on due proc-
ess and equal protection grounds.101
Where a state's water pollution
regulations have been adopted, there is
relatively less scope for rule making on
the local level, except insofar as such
local regulatory efforts may be ex-
pressly sanctioned or authorized by
state law. In the main, however, the
local regulatory effort is likely to sup-
port the state effort by assisting the
municipality in meeting the require-
ments imposed on it by state law. This
happens to be one of the unusual areas
of the law in which local governments
have been sued by state water pollu-
tion control agencies to compel com-
pliance with state regulations. This is
particularly true in instances where the
locality has failed to provide adequate
sewage treatment facilities to treat raw
sewage before it is discharged into
one of the state's waterways.102
In many localities local subdivision
regulations require developers of entire
subdivisions or developers of sizeable
tracts to provide for community dis-
posal systems and for community-oper-
ated treatment plants instead of individ-
ual septic tanks.103 The aim is to help
meet the state's water purity standards.
In many jurisdictions, developers may
not proceed with building operations
until the local agency has been as-
sured—by way of submission of plans
for certification—of the developer's in-
tention to make adequate provision for
sewage treatment in his development.10*
In water pollution control there has
been far closer correlation between
state and local agencies than in air
pollution. In the case of water pollu-
tion the problem is generally well de-
fined by a river bed which touches
many municipalities within the state.
Consequently, the failure to conform
on the part of one municipal agency
becomes immediately apparent not only
to the state agency but to all other
municipal agencies downstream. The
problem of air pollution is far less well
defined because air pollution, though
it may move with prevailing winds, does
not move in clearly defined channels,
and the contribution of any one mu-
nicipality to the total amount of air
pollution in a region is not only diffi-
cult to gauge but also difficult to pre-
vent. Consequently, disjunctiveness of
effort in the air pollution control field
is less likely to become immediately ap-
parent than would be a similar dis-
junctiveness of effort in water pollution
control.
Solid waste disposal
Other areas of environmental control,
such as solid waste disposal and noise
control are by their nature far more
local in character, and in each instance
the federal concern is thus far reflected
primarily in grants-in-aid legislation for
research and development and, to a far
more limited degree, in federal regula-
tions.105 Solid waste disposal has been
handled thus far by local regulation,
generally subject to state enabling legis-
lation.106 The manner in which solid
waste is to be collected, the manner in
which the householder is to store his
solid waste and get it ready for col-
lection is generally treated in state or
local sanitary, health,107 or housing
codes.™ The subsequent disposition of
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wastes collected by municipal sanitation
departments or by private garbage col-
lectors is also regulated by local ordi-
nances, subject again in most instances
to state enabling legislation.™ Thus the
proper method for sanitary landfills and
the required quality of clean soil to
bury waste are regulated by state or
local health codes.110 The manner in
which wastes may be incinerated, eith-
er in a municipality incinerator or in
a privately operated incinerator, or by
burning on the lot, is generally subject
to state or local air pollution control
regulations.111 What is noteworthy in this
context is the fact that the relationship
of solid waste management to air pollu-
tion control or to water pollution con-
trol is not articulated in any state law
or regulation—in spite of the fact that
some jurisdictions have had that con-
nection brought to their attention—
rather forcefully—as in New York,
where an order to shut down apart-
ment house incinerators led to a gar-
bage removal crisis.112
The statutory treatment of solid
waste disposal is also interesting, in
that it appears to be concerned to a far
greater extent with the economic rath-
er than the environmental aspects of
the problem. Provisions for the issu-
ance of bonds for incinerators and
other disposal systems abound, and
special districts for this purpose are
sometimes authorized.113 In large cities,
considerably more attention is devoted
to the licensure of private garbage col-
lectors—a sometimes racket-ridden in-
dustry—than to the sanitary aspects of
waste collection and movement.
On the whole, state laws relating to
solid waste disposal exist in their own
statutory compartment just as does
water pollution and air pollution con-
trol legislation."4 While some states are
beginning to reflect the recognition of
the interrelationship of different com-
mittees and agencies of various kinds,
no effective means appears to have been
found as yet to reflect the close inter-
relationship of these matters in opera-
tive regulations.
Noise Pollution Control
The subject of noise regulation is in
some respects unique; though there
has been some recent federal develop-
ment in the area,115 the states and the
municipalities have on the whole dealt
with quite distinct aspects of it. State
regulation of noise is essentially limited
to muffler legislation intended to re-
duce noise produced by motor vehi-
cles,116 and to regulations relating to
industrial noise for the protection of
workmen.117 Aside from these two sep-
arate areas, the regulation of noise has
been largely a local responsibility, and
the local regulation involved has been
of a rather minor kind, namely the
establishment of miscellaneous prohibi-
tions collected in local codes under
some such heading as "police ordi-
nances." Usually these are composed
of matters too trivial to appear in the
state's general code, and they gen-
erally concern matters too neglected in
modern times to be included in public
health law or the like.
The fact that the states have gen-
erally not legislated against noise and
that such local laws as exist are largely
recompilations of old ordinances, sug-
gests that very little attention is pres-
ently being paid to the problem and
that there is little expectation that the
local laws will be actively enforced.
This point is substantiated by looking
at the anti-noise laws in a few Ameri-
can cities. In New York City, the rele-
vant provision of the Administrative
Code prohibits "the creation of any
unreasonably loud, disturbing, or un-
necessary noise" or of "noise of such
character, intensity and duration as to
be detrimental to the life or health of
any individual." "8 This is followed by
a list of specific acts that "among
others" shall be deemed to be viola-
tions of the general prohibition. Some
of these themselves are phrased in terms
or "loud" or "unnecessary" or "disturb-
ing" noises of various kinds. Included,
too, are such concrete examples as horn
blowing, except as a danger signal,
failure to use a muffler, and construc-
tion work between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
334
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on weekdays except by special permit.
Other provisions regulate sound trucks
and other amplifying devices used in
public.110 Philadelphia's code of ordi-
nances prohibits unnecessary noise in
the handling of trash cans, and con-
struction work between 6 p.m. and 6
a.m. It also contains special provisions
to protect the quiet of hospitals,
churches, court houses and schools, and
prohibits the use of outdoor amplifying
devices for advertising purposes, un-
necessary horn blowing and "all other
loud and unnecessary noises upon or
near to the streets or other public
places in the city," and provides for
the regulation of street peddlers.120 Chi.
cago, in addition to some of the more
standard provisions, provides that "rails,
chimneys, and columns of iron, steel,
and other metal which are being trans-
ported on the public ways of the city"
shall be loaded so as to avoid the
creation of loud noises.181
What all of these city ordinances lack
is a coherent scheme of noise control.
Typically they are collections of spe-
cific prohibitions drafted and enacted
from time to time by the local legisla-
tive body in response to some special
problem, and not subject to revision,
review and updating by an administra-
tive agency having the requisite exper-
tise to deal with noise problems in a
consistent fashion. There are, however,
some notable improvements on the ho-
rizon. Modern zoning ordinances, es-
pecially the 1960 New York City Zon-
ing Resolution, deal with industrial
noise and similar environmental insults,
such as vibrations, not only by the
ordinary zoning technique of requiring
separation of incompatible uses, but
also by imposing specific performance
standards for the more frequent pollu-
tants. Thus decibel standards for par-
ticular zones are imposed to set permis-
sible standards for noise, just as stand-
ards for vibrations, smoke, dust and
other particulate air pollutants, odor,
toxic emissions, fire and explosive haz-
ards and other onerous environmental
hazards are dealt with in relation to the
use of particular zones for designated
purposes.122 A modern zoning ordinance
also can, and should, deal effectively
with the problem of effective airport
zoning. Certain facilities—such as
schools or hospitals—should be ex-
cluded from neighboring zones unless
properly sound-oriented. Imaginative
use of the zoning power can protect
the airport without placing a complete
bar on other development in the area.
At least two building codes, in New
York>!3 and in New Jersey,124 require
sound insulation in new buildings as a
condition of a building permit or a
certificate of occupancy. In addition to
requiring adequate sound insulation
against noise from outside the build-
ing or from other parts of the build-
ing, these codes also provide for ade-
quate protection against noise sources
from within the building itself—i.e.,
ventilation and heating equipment,
elevators, ducts and other machinery
and facilities.
Unlike earlier municipal noise regu-
lations which were enacted from time
to time by municipal legislatures, these
newer regulatory efforts are not only
more comprehensive but are also the
result of technical work done by knowl-
edgeable and technically qualified ad-
ministrative agencies with special com-
petence in the field.
The role of the federal government
While there has been a gradual move
towards the consolidation of standard
setting responsibilities at higher levels of
government, the major responsibility fir
seeing that air pollution, water pollution
and other environmental standards are
actually enforced rests at the lower level
of the governmental hiearchy.125 In part,
the fact that the responsibility for en-
forcement activities is not centered at
the federal level reflects the earlier as-
sumption that environmental controls
are primarily a local responsibility. In
part, too, the primary emphasis on
enforcement powers at the local or
state level reflects the realistic appre-
ciation that there is local and state en-
forcement machinery—i.e., a staff of
inspectors and force of clerical back-
335
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up personnel—while there are very few
federal enforcement officials who are
concerned with matters of day-to-day
enforcement against individual violators
of the standards, rules and regulations.
The consequence of a predominantly
local emphasis in enforcement is that
in air pollution and water pollution
control, as well as in any number of
other areas of environmental protec-
tion, federal enforcement against per-
sons who violate standards is not only
infrequent but is viewed as a rather ex-
traordinary measure.
As constituted in 1970, federal law
provides for federal abatement pro-
cedures in four separate situations. If
solely intrastate air pollution is in-
volved, the Administrator of the EPA
may take action only if requested by
the governor of the affected state. But
he may not proceed if he determines
that the effect of such pollution is not
of such significance as to warrant the
exercise of federal jurisdiction.11*
A second procedure, added in 1967,
authorizes the Administrator to seek
immediate court action to stop emis-
sion of pollutants where there is evi-
dence of "imminent and substantial en-
dangerment to the health of persons"
and where state or local authorities
have failed to act.127 The section is
intended as a remedy for emergency
situations only, and the Congressional
intent embodied in the House Report
that accompanied the legislation was
clearly to make the remedy inapplica-
ble as a continuing control for chronic
or generally recurring problems of less
than calamitous nature.128 Local author-
ities do not have the power to require
the Administrator to act under this
section. The Congressional intent re-
garding the section was clearly to have
it used only in such extraordinary sit-
uations.
A third procedure is provided for if
the interstate air pollution occurs in
an air quality control region with es-
tablished air quality standards.128 Fed-
eral enforcement is authorized only if
the Secretary finds that air quality has
fallen below the prescribed standards,
and that the state itself has failed to
take reasonable action to implement
and enforce the applicable standards.18°
While the Administrator may act on
the basis of the complaint from one of
the states affected, he is not required
to act on the basis of such a state com-
plaint, and it is up to him to determine
whether the state complained of has
or has not taken "reasonable action"
to bring about abatement.
Finally, the fourth procedure which
may bring the federal government into
an active enforcement role is that which
was initially provided by Section 105
of the Clean Air Act of 1963. The pro-
cedure is applicable only in instances
of interstate air pollution where the
source of the pollution is in one state
and the adverse effect in another. The
Administrator is required to call a con-
ference whenever requested to do so
by the governor or by a state air pollu-
tion control agency of one of the states
affected, or with their concurrence, by
a municipality, if there is evidence
of air pollution "which is alleged to
endanger the health or welfare of per-
sons in a state other than that in which
the discharge originatefs)." m The Ad-
ministrator is also free to call a con-
ference on interstate air pollution on
his own initiative after consultation
with the officials of the affected states."3
It is noteworthy that this is the only
instance under the law in which a
state or municipality can require the
Administrator to act. However, an in-
dividual citizen cannot require him to
act under this or any other federal en-
forcement provision.
When a conference is called by the
Administrator, the interstate, state and
local agencies involved participate in
it, and an appointee of the Adminis-
trator presides. The person responsible
for the discharge may be invited by one
of the member agencies, but there is
no legal requirement that he attend the
conference, and it has been held that
due process does not require his pres-
ence since the conference is neither
rule-making nor adjudicative.133 The
conference meets on thirty days' notice
336
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accompanied by a preliminary report
made by EPA. Advance notice is also
given to the public by publication on
at least three different days in a news-
paper of general circulation in the
area.1'4 The conference itself is in-
formal and does not have the character
of an administrative hearing.155 Fol-
lowing the conference, EPA prepares
and distributes a summary of the con-
ference discussions, and the Adminis-
trator may recommend necessary re-
medial action. The law provides that
the polluter must be allowed six months
to take the remedial action recom-
mended. If six months later the Ad-
ministrator is dissatisfied with the prog-
ress made, he may call a formal public
hearing before a hearing board of five
or more persons appointed by him.
Each of the states affected may choose
one member, and each federal depart-
ment which the Administrator deter-
mines has a special interest in the mat-
ter may choose one member. One mem-
ber must be a representative of an ap-
propriate interstate air pollution control
agency, and a majority of the mem-
bers must be persons other than offi-
cers or employees of EPA136 The ap-
pointment of a formal hearing board
is entirely at the discretion of the Ad-
ministrator,1" and the complaining
state or municipality has no role in the
initiation of this step. All interested
persons must be given an opportunity
to present evidence at the hearing, and
the board makes recommendations for
affirmative action to abate the pollu-
tion on the basis of the evidence pre-
sented. The findings and recommenda-
tions of the board are forwarded by
the Administrator to the alleged vio-
lator and to the agencies involved, to-
gether with a notice specifying a rea-
sonable time of not less than six months
for compliance.1"8 Neither the board nor
the Administrator has been granted au-
thority to issue a binding order follow-
ing the hearing, and the Administrator
is not authorized to impose any sanc-
tions for the violator's failure to com-
ply with the directives of the con-
ference. It has been held that, though
more formal in character, the hearing
is not adjudicative and the alleged vio-
lator cannot obtain a judicial review
at this stage for he has not as yet been
subjected to any legally binding or-
der.139 If the alleged violator, however,
fails to comply with the hearing board's
directions within the time set for such
compliance, the Administrator may
then ask the Attorney General to file
suit in the federal district court to se-
cure abatement.140 This is the first and
only instance in the lengthy procedure
that a sanction has been provided for
failure to comply. However, the com-
plaining state or municipality cannot
require the Administrator to take this
step. Whether or not the Administrator
decides to ask the Attorney General to
file suit is again left entirely to his own
discretion. When suit is brought, the
court may receive any transcript of the
proceedings before the board and a
copy of the board's recommendations,
along with any other evidence which
the court deems proper.141 The board's
findings and recommendations will not
be received as evidence to prove any
facts recounted in them, but will be
evidence only as to what the public
interest and the equities of the case
may require. Both the government and
the defendant have an opportunity to
produce additional evidence.142 The
court considers all pertinent factual and
legal issues de novo and in making its
determination,
The court, giving due considera-
tion to the practicability of com-
plying with such standards as may
be applicable and to the physical
and economic feasibility of se-
curing abatement of any pollution
proved, shall have jurisdiction to
enter judgment, as the public in-
terest and the equities of the case
may require.143
Although this procedure has been
available since the enactment of the
Clean Air Act of 1963, its effectiveness
has been minimal. It is most cum-
bersome and slow, and in the past seven
years it has been invoked in only nine
interstate areas.144 In only one instance,
337
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moreover, has the case gone beyond
the conference recommendation state,
i.e., beyond the very first formal step.
That case involved the Bishop Process-
ing Company of Bishop, Maryland,
which was charged with emitting such
vile odors from its chicken offal proc-
essing plant as to endanger the health
and welfare of persons in Selbyville,
Delaware, two miles distant. In that
case, administrative proceedings were
initiated by a request from the Dela-
ware State Air Pollution Authority
which, with the state of Maryland, had
been engaged in futile efforts since
1959 to induce Bishop to abate its pol-
lution. A formal hearing was subse-
quently held in May of 1967 after the
company had failed to make satisfac-
tory abatement efforts. The company
was directed, following the hearing, to
abate the pollution by December, 1967.
On July 28, 1968, some two and a half
years after the proceedings had begun,
the district court in Maryland denied
the company's motion to dismiss the
government's suit seeking abatement.
In the fall of 1968 the Bishop Com-
pany agreed to a settlement requiring
it to cease operations upon the filing of
an affidavit by the Delaware Water and
Air Resources Commission, stating that
the company was causing air pollution
in Delaware. The affidavit was not filed
until March of 1969. In September an
order was issued directing the com-
pany to cease operations. The order
was, however, stayed during Bishop's
appeals to the Court of Appeals and
Supreme Court and did not become
final until spring of 1970—five years
after the inception of the federal pro-
cedure and eleven years after the state
governments first became concerned
with the situation."5
The range of federal enforcement
powers under federal water pollution
control legislation, as amended by the
Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966,
is similar to—and appears to have been
copied from—that in the air pollution
area. The bases for federal interven-
tion, closely paralleling those in air pol-
lution, are: (1) pollution of interstate
and navigable waters in or adjacent to
any state or states that endangers the
health or welfare of any persons, (2)
a governor's request for federal inter-
vention when pollution in one state
affects the health or welfare of persons
in another, "unless the effect of such
pollution on the legitimate uses of the
waters ... is not of sufficient signifi-
cance to warrant federal jurisdiction."1M
In addition, action may also be institut-
ed when the Administrator of the EPA
has reason to believe that pollution in
interstate or navigable waters creates
substantial economic injury resulting
from inability to market shellfish or
shellfish products in interstate com-
merce, and, finally, whenever the Ad-
ministrator has reason to believe that
pollution of interstate or navigable
waters endangers the health or welfare
of persons in a foreign country and
the Secretary of State has requested
him to abate such pollution.1" The
procedure consists of three stages. First,
a conference with participation by state
and interstate agencies and the alleged
polluters, followed by recommenda-
tion by the Federal Water Pollution
Control Administration to the state
agency to take action within a period
of not less than six months. Second, a
formal hearing before a board appoint-
ed by the Administrator, and, after
such hearing, again a direction that
abatement measures be taken within a
reasonable time of not less than six
months. Finally, a discretionary re-
quest by the Administrator to the At-
torney General to bring suit for an
injunction on behalf of the United
States."8 Some 43 informal confer-
ences were held through 1968; only
four continued to the hearing stage. Of
these, only a single case was taken to
court.14' Another provision allows com-
pliance action by the Attorney General
upon 180 days' notice to the polluter;
no court action has as yet been taken
under it.™
Both in air and water pollution en-
forcement, the federal government re-
lies primarily on informal negotiations
rather than on hard enforcement, for
338
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it is clear that the established en-
forcement devices do not meet the
need for the swift and decisive action
that may be necessary. Hence federal
enforcement under both the air and
water pollution control acts is only
as effective as informal procedures
prior to court action can make it. This
is well in line with long accepted prin-
ciples of public health compliance tech-
niques which rely primarily on educa-
tion and on negotiated cooperative
measures.161 It is clear, however, that
these measures are not designed to
gain compliance from a hard-core vio-
lator who sees no immediate reason for
prompt compliance when it is costly
and burdensome. Under both the fed-
eral air and water pollution control
acts such a violator knows that he has
two to three years from the time when
the federal government commences its
laborious proceedings until he may ac-
tually be compelled to take abatement
measures. There is virtually no incen-
tive for him to take earlier action, be-
cause neither the Air Quality Standards
Act nor the Clean Water Restoration
Act penalizes his delays—no fines or
other sanctions are provided for dila-
tory action.
Federal regulations with respect to
aircraft noise appear to be preemptive
in intent.152 While both the courts and
the Federal Aviation Administration
have asserted that operators of airports
have the ultimate right to decide which
aircraft can or cannot use their facilities
as long as their judgment is not dis-
criminatory, whatever decisional law
there is seems to hold that local gov-
ernments may not pass airport noise
regulations or ordinances more strin-
gent than the standards adopted by the
FAA—though they may promulgate
such standards in their proprietary
capacity as airport operator.158 Thus,
although there has been considerable
dissatisfaction with the federal aircraft
noise standards,164 municipalities have
been severely handicapped in defending
their inhabitants against excessive noise
from aircraft in interstate commerce.
The suggestion is readily at hand that
preemptive federal standards, both for
automotive emissions and aircraft noise,
are as much designed to protect the
particular industries affected against
more stringent controls by the states
and municipalities as they are to pro-
tect the public.155 This point may gain
in force in light of recent federal par-
ticipation in the development of the
supersonic transport plane, for the reg-
ulation of sonic boom, it seems, is also
a federal monopoly under the same
legislation that authorizes FAA regula-
tion of aircraft noise.156
Difficulties created by partial federal
preemption of a field are demonstrated
too by the current state of the law with
respect to the control of jet plane noise.
The federal regulations set by FAA are
preemptive in that no state or local
government may set higher standards
than the standards established by the
federal agency. On the other hand, the
federal agency has repeatedly stated
that its regulations provide a minimum
requirement only and that the proprie-
tors and operators of airports through-
out the nation are free to set standards
of their own—i.e., each airport may
decide that it will not permit its facil-
ities to be used by planes that exceed
a noise level set by that airport even
though the level set by the airport it-
self may be higher than that set by
FAA.157 In actual fact the purported
permission to airports to set standards
of their own is wholly illusory because,
as a practical matter, airport operators
cannot enforce higher standards. In
this instance the federal standard is
entirely more preemptive than it pur-
ports to be. The assertion that it is not
wholly preemptive serves the purpose
of the federal regulatory agency, how-
ever, because whenever the federal
standard comes under attack, the ag-
ency can respond that the local airport
is free to require more stringent com-
pliance if it wants to do so. Here, too,
federal preemption has created a no-
man's land in which there is federal
abstension from standard-setting with-
out any concomitant grant of power to
339
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the state or municipality to take up the
slack.
The roles of the states in
air pollution control
Regulations to control environmental
pollution are generally enforced on the
state or local level. If they are enforced
at all. Whether particular enforcement
efforts are the responsibility of a state
agency or local agencies depends on
the state's administrative or structural
arrangements. In most states the agency
primarily responsible for environmental
controls is still the state health depart-
ment.158 State health departments differ
from state to state with respect to the
degree of centralization and the de-
gree of their interrelation with local
health agencies. In some states the de-
partment operates primarily as a stand-
ard setting or rule making agency
which may have advisory and other
"staff" functions for the state as a
whole, but which takes little or no
"line" responsibility for the activities of
individual municipal or county health
departments. In many instances the su-
pervision by the state health agency of
the activities of local or municipal
health department does not supervise
the day-to-day operations of local or
municipal agencies, and may be called
in only to take steps when some major
failure on the part of municipal or
local health agencies has occurred.158
In other states the responsibility for en-
forcement of health laws and regula-
tions is much more centralized in the
state health department, with county
and municipal health agencies directly
responsible for their routine perform-
ance, and accountable to the state
health agency for all of their pro-
grams.160 In those instances a true "line"
relationship exists between the local or
municipal health agency and the state
health department. A variety of more
or less intermediate patterns exists, but
in almost every instance the primary
responsibility for standard setting and
rule making is in the state health
agency, and the actual enforcement
function is lodged lower down in the
hierarchy—whether or not the local
agencies are directly responsible to the
state agency or operate more or less
independently from it.
The relationship of state health de-
partments to county and municipal
health departments is further affected
by a variety of legal relationships de-
pendent on the state constitution and
on legislation that defines the rela-
tionship of counties and municipalities
to the state generally. In many states,
for instance, incorporated municipali-
ties, such as villages and cities, will
have health departments of their own,
and in addition there will be a county
health department which may or may
not be an administrative branch of the
state health department. This county
health department will commonly have
jurisdiction to operate within the un-
incorporated areas of the county, but
each of the cities and villages will he
free to regulate its own affairs, con-
sistent, however, with whatever stand-
ards the state health agency may
have prescribed for the state as a
whole.181 Moreover, the extent to which
health departments in incorporated
municipalities, such as villages and
cities, may manage their own affairs
may depend to a considerable extent on
the degree of home rule granted to
such municipalities, either by state
constitution or general municipal leg-
islation, or by their own individual
charters. In terms of air pollution leg-
islation, for instance this means that
there is likely to be a statewide air
pollution control code1M to meet the
requirements of the 1967 Air Quality
Standards Act for the air quality re-
gions federally determined for that
state. This statewide air pollution con-
trol act and the state code adopted
pursuant to it indubitably set the min-
imum standard for the entire state.
These standards are probably the only
standards applicable to the unincor-
porated areas within the state. Addi-
tional requirements may have been set
by a county air pollution control ag-
ency, and these standards though con-
sistent with the state code, may be
340
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higher for the county as a whole.1" The
county standards, depending on some
of the factors previously mentioned,
may apply to the entire county or
merely to its unincorporated areas—
or it may apply to all of the unincor-
porated areas in the county and to
such of the incorporated areas, i.e., vil-
lages and cities, that have not adopted
air pollution control codes of their
own. Any major city, however, particu-
larly if it has a substantial amount of
industry, is likely to have an air pollu-
tion control code of its own which will
have to be consistent with the county
code, if any, and certainly with the
state code. It may be more stringent
than either one of them, particularly
if it can be shown that the municipality
has special problems of pollution
caused by particular topographical or
industrial features that are not shared
by the rest of the county or state.164
The question raised by this array of
overlapping, albeit supposedly consist-
ent, codes is which agency enforces any
one air pollution control code. As a rule
of thumb it may be stated that each
municipality or other jurisdictional en-
tity enforces its own code, without
much regard to the code of the next
higher jurisdiction in the hierarchy."5
Each municipal air pollution control
agency has a staff of air pollution in-
spectors and some monitoring or other
surveillance equipment of its own, and
each of these staffs and their equipment
are used for the purpose of cutting
down on emissions from within the
jurisdiction so as to accomplish com-
pliance wtih that jurisdiction's code.
None of the municipalities have extra-
territorial powers, and in practice, each
jurisdiction can abate only the emissions
emanating from sources of pollution
within its own borders.166 Thus the air
pollution inspector is stopped aboslutely
in his enforcement efforts by the local
boundary line. If City A has the most
advanced air pollution control code but
receives most of its pollution from in-
dustrial sources in City B located within
the same county, the air pollution con-
trol inspector of City A cannot enter
City B to serve a violation notice on the
industrial pollution source in B. Only
the air pollution control inspectors in
City B can do so.187 If the main conse-
quence of emissions in B is pollution
fallout in A, and if the source in B is a
major employer of B's population, en-
forcement may not be overly zealous.
There is also a question in many states
whether the air pollution control inspec-
tor of the county in which both A and
B are located can go into either of the
cities to serve a violation notice because
he, in turn, may be limited by provi-
sions of law that grant enforcement
powers within their own boundaries to
incorporated municipalities. While air
pollution is no respecter of jurisdic-
tional boundaries, air pollution control
agencies are, by reason of the law under
which they operate. The consequence
of jurisdictional limits on enforcement
has frequently been to render helpless
municipalities which themselves pro-
duce few emissions but which, by rea-
son of topography or prevailing wind,
receive all or most of the fallout from
neighboring municipalities. There are
even a number of instances on record
when inventive owners of manufactur-
ing establishments combined to incor-
porate industrial enclaves as cities or
villages, as a defensive measure against
the imposition of pollution controls.1"8
Thus a highly industrial area with a
daytime working population of several
thousand persons and a nighttime popu-
lation limited to a few watchmen may
effectively eliminate the possibility of
having environmental pollution controls
enforced against them. All of the sur-
rounding residential communities may
enact the most sophisticated air pollu-
tion control ordinances, but since the
source of emissions is in another incor-
porated area, the residential communi-
ty's air pollution control codes will have
little effect, because its air pollution
control agency has no jurisdiction to
enter the incorporated industrial area
for purposes of enforcement. The only
possibility to secure adequate enforce-
ment under such circumstances is to
grant enforcement powers for county
and state agencies even within the in-
corporated area. In the past, however,
341
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enforcement staffs have been lodged at
the local level and in many states where
the structure of health departments
depended on local enforcement efforts,
there was no effective enforcement staff
on the state or county level. These
structural hindrances to effective envir-
onmental controls are not the result of
willful obtuseness on the part of state
or local officials. When the business of
health departments consisted primarily
of epidemiologic controls or of controls
of food establishments, eating places,
etc., the kind of division of labor be-
tween state, county and local depart-
ments involved here made good sense
and was appropriate to the problems for
which it was designed. It is only the
realization that environmental problems
have spread beyond narrow jurisdic-
tional boundaries and affect incorpo-
rated and unincorporated areas alike
that makes much of the traditional gov-
ernmental machinery for public health
enforcement archaic and inappropriate
for the uses to which it must be put.
Water pollution control
A somewhat different pattern of en-
forcement is encountered in the field of
water pollution control. The municipali-
ties generally are in charge of enforcing
certain aspects of the purity of the
water supply—i.e., it is generally the
municipality's job, either under appro-
priate health code regulations or under
subdivision ordinances, to see to it that
necessary septic tanks and private sew-
age disposal systems are built and that
they are built in a manner that will
prevent pollution of well water and
other sources of water supply.169 Nor-
mally non-compliance is punishable as
a misdemeanor,170 and usually the con-
struction of a private sewage disposal
system requires a permit from the local
health agency with the frequent require-
ment that the system not be covered up
or buried before a sanitary inspector
has had an opportunity of checking it.1"
In addition, the municipality generally
is in charge of enforcement against
malfunctioning private sewage disposal
system and usually has the power of
summary abatement if these systems de-
velop in to nuisances.172 The munici-
pality may have a requirement, too, that
as soon as public sewers become avail-
able, the householder is under an obli-
gation to connect his own facilities to
the public sewer, paying whatever spe-
cial assessments there may be for that
service.173 In some instances, subdivi-
sion developers may be compelled by
local law to provide community sewage
treatment plants for the development as
a whole.174
Aside from local enforcement of the
nature previously mentioned, water pol-
lution control is generally lodged at
either the state level or the regional
water basin level in those instances
when the state relies on separate agen-
cies for separate river systems rather
than on a central water pollution con-
trol agency.175 In either case, the agency
may itself seek out violations of stand-
ards through inspections or through a
monitoring system, or it may respond
to complaints.170 Most state laws require
that a hearing be held whenever a prob-
able violation is discovered and that the
alleged violators be afforded an oppor-
tunity to appear and answer the
charges."7 Some state laws contain pro-
visions for emergency procedures that
allow the agency to dispense with hear-
ing prior to issuing an order; under
those circumstances a hearing must
normally be held as soon as possible
after the order has been issued.178 Fol-
lowing the hearing, the usual remedy is
the issuance of a cease and desist or-
der.179 In New York, for instance, the
Commissioner may issue "such final
order or make such final determinations
as he deems appropriate under the cir-
cumstances.1"0 Failure to comply with
such an order may generally be penal-
ized by both civil and criminal sanc-
tions. Violations are usually treated as
misdemeanors.181 Civil penalties are re-
coverable separately by civil action.
The range of penalties for failure to
live up to water quality standards is
rather wide from state to state, just as
is the range of penalties for air pollu-
tion violations. In some states, the
maximum fine may range only up to
342
-------
one or two hundred dollars per viola-
tion. In others it may go as high as
$3,000. In Florida, for instance, the
civil penalty is $1,000 for each offense,
and the criminal penalty for a misde-
meanor is a thousand dollar fine and a
year in jail for each offense.182 In New
York the criminal penalty may include
fines from five to twenty-five hundred
dollars and imprisonment of up to one
year for each offense.183 In a number
of states, each day of non-compliance
may legally constitute a separate of-
ense.184 Most state statutes also provide
for injunctive relief when violator has
failed to comply with earlier agency
orders.185 All of the state laws provide
for judicial appeal and for review of
agency orders.180 Generally such a re-
view will be based on the record of the
hearing before the agency,187 although
a minority of jurisdictions require a de
novo review by the courts.188
Although enforcement procedures
under state water pollution control acts
are fairly similar throughout the coun-
try, enforcement in different states
varies considerably in effectiveness.189
The major reason for such differences
appears to be the relative aggressive-
ness of the responsible agency.190 Water
pollution control is one of the few
areas of enforcement in which a sig-
nificant number of cases can be found
where the state agency has actually
sued a municipality to compel compli-
ance by the local government with state
standards relating to sewage treatment
water purity and permissible emis-
sions.191
Solid waste disposal
With respect to solid waste disposal,
enforcement is an entirely local mat-
ter. As has been pointed out previously,
many states have extensive legislation
dealing with the municipality's obliga-
tion to collect wastes and to dispose of
them either by incineration or by sani-
tary landfill methods. Almost all muni-
cipalities have detailed regulations with
respect to placement of wastes outside
the home for collection and many of
them go into significant detail with re-
spect to the kind of containers that are
permissible, where they may be placed
and how soon they must be taken in
after trash and other wastes have been
picked up.192 Violations of such laws
and regulations are generally treated
as minor misdemeanors, and the fines
imposed are likely to be very low.183
Sanitary landfills, however, may be sub-
ject to a system of licensure in some
jurisdictions.194 A number of munici-
palities have enacted some special legis-
lation or regulations to deal with the
ever increasing problem of the thou-
sands of old automobiles that are
junked or abandoned at the roadside.196
Generally the trend of such legislation
or regulation is to provide both penal-
ties for unlawful abandonment of old
cars and a service program to make it
easier to leave old cars for sanitation
department pickup instead of abandon-
ing them to become an eyesore and a
possible hazard. Again, the responsi-
bility for enforcement is generally that
of the municipality, which is handi-
capped in applying the criminal sanc-
tions because the ownership of aban-
doned cars is usually very difficult to
trace after the license plates have been
removed.198
Noise pollution control
Enforcement of noise control, tradi-
tionally a matter of local concern, gen-
erally involves police prosecution, with
minor criminal penalties.197 The states
however, have long exercised jurisdic-
tion over industrial noise through their
industrial codes administered by the state
labor department. Criminal penalties for
violations, as well as cease and desist
orders and injunctive relief are com-
monly available; administrative pro-
cedures before the state labor depart-
ment usually precede prosecutive and
other judicial remedies.198 With the
greater concern for automobile noise,
state muffler legislation has become al-
most universal, and violations are com-
monly punishable as misdemeanors.190
In addition, such legislation is also en-
forced through state motor vehicle in-
spection laws.200
343
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Legal and administrative
arrangements
As indicated by the previous review
of environmental legislation, one of the
major problems that the present pat-
tern of rule making and enforcement
in environmental law presents to effec-
tive environmental management is the
lack of a unified policy and the dis-
junctiveness of regulatory and enforce-
ment activities. This lack of integration
and disjunctiveness is two-fold. First,
there is no integrative principle that in
some way ties federal and state devel-
opment programs into the state and
federal environmental control effort.
Second, present legislation too often
separates the responsibility for rule
making and standard setting from the
responsibility for enforcement by lodg-
ing them at different levels of govern-
ment. Although there may be adequate
reasons for the division of labor, it fre-
quently renders the regulatory effort
less effective.
The earlier portion of this paper
dealt primarily with specific regulatory
efforts in the control of pollution. But,
when discussing the lack of integration
of policy between development pro-
grams and the programs of pollution
control, we must consider governmen-
tal involvement more broadly. So, for
instance, the federal and state highway
program has a most significant envi-
ronmental impact which heretofore
either has been disregarded or dealt
with in a manner wholly separate and
unrelated to programs to regulate en-
vironmental pollution. The highway
program—aside from possible damage
to scenic, historic and aesthetic val-
ues—has major ecologic effects in that
it may interfere with watershed man-
agement, and may adversely affect for-
ests, wildlife and other resources de-
serving of protection. Just as important
as any of these, it may have a major
impact on the spread of air pollution
from automotive sources. The federal
government's support of extensive road-
building programs 2m constitutes fed-
eral support for internal combustion
engines, by encouraging greater use of
private automobiles and refined fuels,
and in consequence, of automotive air
pollution and other environmental ef-
fects that stem from fuel refining op-
erations. The production of more auto-
mobiles in and of itself makes consid-
erable demands on power resources
which in turn require industrial and
combustion processes with broad envi-
ronmental implications. Without enter-
ing into any detailed discussion of the
social and economic implications of
federal road building programs, and
even on the basis of a very cursory
overview, it is apparent that to con-
sider federal regulatory activities that
deal with air pollution, water pollution,
and other major environmental pollu-
tants without reference to the federal
government's own activities that have
a direct or indirect impact on the en-
vironment is to tell less than the full
story. Thus, federal controls on auto-
motive pollution may be largely neu-
tralized. The present policy preference
for roadbuilding over development of
means of mass transportation is, thus,
a policy which has to be considered as
part of the air pollution control pic-
ture, as well as, of course, a matter
having huge planning, land use, and
urban developmental implications.
As to the second aspect of disjunc-
tiveness in environmental policies and
programs, it is clear that the dispersal
of responsibility among federal, state
and local agencies frequently creates
confusion and results in ineffective en-
forcement. A review of the situation in
the field of air pollution control pro-
vides a focus for discussion. While
clearly air pollution is a regional prob-
lem in its impact and actual standard
setting functions is moving toward the
federal government, all of the effective
regulatory controls remain lodged on
the local level.202 The federal govern-
ment still is responsible only for ap-
proving regional air quality standards
(except in the case of emissions from
new automobiles where some federal
emission standards have been set).
While all of the states have by now
enacted state air pollution control codes
344
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that set limits on the emission of air
pollutants in order to live up to federal
standards for the ambient air, it is clear
that no fixed formula determines the
relationship of emission standards to
ambient air quality standards, and the
presence of federal air quality stand-
ards does not by itself impose upon
any state the obligation to reduce emis-
sions from particular sources. Legisla-
tive developments already point to the
eventual adoption of federal emission
standards, possibly national and most
certainly regional in scope. But even
with adequate federal and state emis-
sion standards, enforcement is likely to
remain at the municipal level. As
pointed out earlier, enforcement is lim-
ited by the geographical boundaries of
the jurisdiction. Since effective air pol-
lution control must make place at the
source of emissions, the jurisdiction
which receives the fallout and which
suffers the consequences of the emis-
sions is frequently not the one which
can regulate the source. In view of the
fact that most municipal or other local
enforcement agencies operate inde-
pendently of the state air pollution con-
trol agency, enforcement is likely to
be very spotty indeed. Moreover,
though the standards may be relatively
high, having been set at the state level,
enforcement at the local level may re-
flect a response to political pressures
which were not present to the same ex-
tent at the level at which the policies
were first adopted. Thus, though the
federal government or the state may
limit particular emissions stringently,
local enforcement is likely to be lag-
ging when the enforcement efforts
would result in limiting the activities of
a major employer in the locality.
Present arrangements for policy-
making are thus in need of substantial
review with a view to restructuring en-
vironmental programs on a national or
at least regional level. Enforcement ac-
tivities are similarly in need of review.
Traditionally, much of the environmen-
tal enforcement effort has been lodged
at the local level. Recently legislative
developments have begun to place
policy-making and standard-setting at
higher levels of government, reflecting
the insight that effective standards and
policies for environmental control can-
not be limited within narrow jurisdic-
tional boundaries. The question arises
whether what is true of policy-making
and standard-setting is not also true of
enforcement. Can we rely on the local
jurisdiction to enforce the state, re-
gional or national standard if the im-
pact of stringent enforcement will fall
primarily on industrial and commercial
establishments within the local munici-
pality? While a national air pollution
control program would be difficult to
operate with thousands of air pollution
control inspectors and other enforce-
ment personnel responsible to the Na-
tional Air Pollution Control Adminis-
tration in Washington, D.C., new in-
strumentalities and new enforcement
devices should be considered to over-
come the constraints that local admin-
istration puts on effective enforcement.
A major part of the difficulties in the
regulation of environmental pollution
is posed by the persistent attempt to
deal with regional and national prob-
lems on a state or local level, in spite
of the fact that is very recent, and our
traditional institutions and modes of
dealing with it reflect a cultural lag. It
is important to remember that less than
ten years ago air pollution could still
be regarded as a primarily local prob-
lem, and that it has been a mere fif-
teen years since the federal government
has involved itself in the regulation of
water pollution. Originally the dimen-
sion of these problems whas such that
they could be regarded as local in na-
ture, but air pollution and water pollu-
tion are no longer local or even state
problems; they have become national
problems quite simply because the
amount of pollution and the adverse
environmental effects have become so
great as to burst beyond the bounda-
ries of narrow local jurisdictions. They
have simply become too great for mu-
nicipalities and states to handle on their
own. The process is still going on—
initially local problems still grow into
345
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matters of national concern in environ-
mental pollution. The solid waste dis-
posal problem is an example. Still
treated as a primarily local matter, it
is becoming more apparent every day
that no major municipality has enough
land to bury its waste or the facilities
to incinerate it would creating major
water or air pollution problems that
will spill over municipal—and state—
boundary lines.
The persistence of the belief that
problems of environmental pollution
that are regional and national in their
impact can somehow be handled on the
local or municipal level continues to
have adverse consequences on the effec-
tiveness of regulation. It has been dem-
onstrated that the territorial jurisdic-
tion of many municipalities and local
governments and even the territorial
jurisdiction of many states—is inade-
quate to cope with problems of regional
air or water pollution. Within metro-
politan areas, in particular, the source
of emission and the place of fallout are
likely to be under different govern-
ments. Since local governments have
no extraterritorial powers and since
state governments rarely intervene in
local intergovernmental disputes—par-
ticularly where the dispute has its ori-
gins in the activities of a private opera-
tor—there is frequently no agency that
is responsible for abatement. What
holds true of different municipalities
within one metropolitan area also holds
true of interstate regions. When the
source of emissions is in one state and
the impact is in another, the only avail-
able remedies are either federal or else,
far less frequently, remedies provided
under some interstate compact. The
only other remedy, an original suit in
the United States Supreme Court is
even less frequently invoked.203 Thus
far the federal government has exer-
cised its enforcement powers with great
restraint—rarely, and only after lengthy
delays, and in emergency situations.
In addition to weaknesses in enforce-
ment caused by limited territorial juris-
diction, disabilities have also been
caused by inadequate legal power. This
is particularly true of powers granted
to local and municipal governments.
The powers of municipal government
under state constitutional or state legis-
lative provisions are often narrowly
circumscribed.204 Even in instances
where a municipality has been granted
home rule status, the question whether
it may carry out particular functions
is often unclear, especially when the
state has already asserted a regulatory
interest by enacting general legisla-
tion.2"5 Assuming that the municipality's
power to exercise a power on its own
is clear, the question of consistency of
the local and state code still remains,
and unless the local code merely dupli-
cates the state code, there will always
be a question whether a different regu-
latory approach is consistent or incon-
sistent with the state regulations. When
the state merely regulates emissions
may the municipality add fuel regula-
tions, or would such fuel regulations be
considered inconsistent with the state
_ action? There simply is no clear answer.
Problems of consistency aside, local
governments are commonly granted
more limited powers of enforcement
than state governments. Most of the
state codes are presently enforceable
by a variety of criminal and civil (in-
cluding administrative and equitable)
sanctions. On the local level, however,
enforcement is likely to be by criminal
prosecution as for misdemeanor, and
the use of civil penalties or equity pro-
ceedings is either not authorized at all,
or else is only rarely invoked. The
limits of the criminal process for effec-
tive environmental enforcement have
been discussed elsewhere.206 In view of
the relative ineffectiveness of the crimi-
nal process to bring about improve-
ments or abatement of conditions, a
municipality that can do no more than
to prosecute an environmental offender
is severely handicapped in its efforts.
In a few areas the federal govern-
ment has seized hold with full vigor
and has claimed preemptive effect for
its laws and regulations. While federal
preemption may bz necessary in some
areas, it may also create problems of
346
-------
its own, as, for example, in the area
of control of airplane noise and atomic
energy. Essentially, federal preemption
has tended to create a jurisdictional no
man's land where state and localities
fear to tread though full regulatory
jurisdiction has not been expressly exer-
cised. Federal preemption, both with
respect to regulation and enforcement,
is clearly called for in many areas of
environmental control—when national
uniformity is essential by the nature of
the problem, or the consideration of
regulatory efficiency proves persuasive.
The argument for federal preemption,
however, need to be examined and
clearly articulated in every instance.
When a decision is made to use federal
power preemptively, it should be made
wholeheartedly, to cover the field clear-
ly and decisively in order to avoid the
peripheral jurisdictional uncertainties.
The federal government could, con-
stitutionally, assume control of the reg-
ulation of all environmental pollution,
and it could establish broad interstate
regions to carry out its regulatory ac-
tivities, but it is unlikely to do so both
for political reasons and for reasons of
administrative economy. Short of such
federal assumption of power, the only
viable mechanism for regional pollu-
tion control management is the inter-
state compact. Although the interstate
compact has not been used to full ef-
fect in the regulation of environmental
pollution, it appears to be an instru-
ment of considerable flexibility and po-
tential. There are a number of prob-
lems with the interstate compact device
which will need to be resolved, how-
ever, before its full potential may be
realized. Considerable attention should
be given, first, to redefining the appro-
priate federal role in such an interstate
arrangement. With the dominant fed-
eral interest in navigable waters (and,
therefore, indirectly in all waters),
interstate compacts affecting waterways
have invariably had federal representa-
tives, observers, or participants on the
regulatory commission.207 With the ex-
ception of the Delaware River Basin
Compact, however, interstate compacts
have not enjoyed direct federal partici-
pation, and the federal government has
thus far not seen fit to exercise federal
power through interstate compact agen-
cies. The possibility that the federal
government might well use interstate
compact agencies as executors of fed-
eral policy was contemplated and ac-
cepted in the promulgation of the Dela-
ware Compact.208 In order to make the
interstate compact device more effec-
tive and less likely to conflict with
closely related federal interests, the
possibility of working out similar re-
lationships in other water pollution
compacts, as well as in air pollution
control compacts that have been pro-
posed, ought to be considered.
Government structure for
environmental management
In the planning for effective environ-
mental control a question has been that
of th; appropriate level of government
to make policies and rules and to carry
out or enforce them. Brought down to
its simplest terms, the question is how
wide must a government's territorial
jurisdiction be to operate effectively in
the control of environmental pollution.
To a considerable extent, the question
is one in which administrative and legal
arrangements ought to follow scientific
and technological determinations relat-
ing to airsheds, watersheds, etc. Thus,
whib there is considerable agreement
that local control of air pollution is no
longer appropriate because the prob-
lem by now clearly exceeds local
boundaries, there still remains a ques-
tion as to whether the state, the region,
or the nation as a whole is the appro-
priate regulatory entity.
For adequate pollution controls, a
set of criteria ought to be developed
to help determine the conditions which
make uniform national or regional
standards desirable or necessary.
Enough experience has probably been
collected in the regulation of air and
water pollution to make such criteria
possible. Such a set of criteria would
then be properly applicable to the plan-
ning of mechanisms for the control of
347
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other pollutants as well. Thus, the prob-
lem of solid waste disposal is clearly
emerging from a local and state issue
into a national one. The nice question
which has to be answered before long
is, when is the lack of a local solution
to a problem so fraught with regional
and national consequences that it prop-
erly becomes a regional or national con-
cern? Some developments that invite
comparison are taking place in noise
pollution control. Because the jet
plane—which has brought about the
demand for noise controls—is clearly
in interstate commerce, federal con-
trols have been developed. In the case
of muffler legislation for automobiles—
though the automobile is involved in
interstate commerce no less than the
jet airplane—reliance has been placed
on state legislation.20" Muffler legisla-
tion is more effectively enforced as part
of state motor vehicle inspection pro-
grams, but the need for national uni-
formity in th; case of automobile
mufflers may be no less great than the
need for uniform standards affecting
jet engines.
In all of these instances the problem
is two-fold. The issue is not only what
level of government should appropri-
ately regulate the problem, but whether
policy making and standard setting
functions need to be the responsibility
of the same level of government that
is primarily responsible for enforce-
ment. Thus far these issues have been
resolved pragmatically. Since state and
local governments were historically
concerned with the environment in the
traditional exercise of the police power,
and since state and local governments,
in consequence, were the ones that had
staffs of inspectors, sanitarians and
other enforcement personnel, enforce-
ment has generally been lodged at the
state and local level,210 although policy
making and standard setting has begun
to move in the direction of higher lev-
els of government. Thus, though re-
gional air quality standards may be ap-
proved by the federal government, the
emission controls—if enforced at all—
are enforced by the local air pollution
control officer. Whether policy and rule
making, and enforcement should be di-
vorced in this manner ought to be ex-
amined systematically. While the en-
largement of federal enforcement ma-
chinery is generally looked upon with
distrust, if not hostility, the question
whether federal standard setting should
not, in due course, lead to greater fed-
eral involvement in enforcement activi-
ties might well be explored. At the very
least, devices must be found to prevent
narrow local ^interests from determining
the direction and rigor of the enforce-
ment effort.
Notes for
Paper 1 *
*See original source for complete foot-
note refernces.
3Jacobson c. Massachusetts, 197 U.S.
11, 25 (1904); Town of Shelby v. Cleve-
land Mill and Power Co., 155 N.C. 196,
200, 71 S.E. 218, 220 (1911); Herman v.
Parker, 348 U.S. 26 (1954).
3 U.S. v. Carolene Products Co., 304
U.S. 144 (1938); Speert v. Morgenthau,
116 F.2d 301 (D.C. Cir. 1940); U.S. v.
Patterson, 155 F. Supp. 669 (N.D. Ill,
1957).
*Ch. 758, 62 Stat. 1155 (1948).
°Hines, Nor Any Drop to Drink: Pub-
lic Regulation of Water Quality, Part III:
The Federal Effort, 52 IOWA L. REV.
799, 800 (1967).
"The Water Quality Control Act of
1965, Pub. L. No. 89-234, § l(a), 79 Stat.
903 (1965), 33 U.S.C.A. 1153 et seq.
(1970).
12 S. REP. No. 389, 84th Cong., 1st
Sess. 3 (1955).
18 See NATIONAL CENTER FOR AIR
POLLUTION CONTROL, U.S. PUBLIC
HEALTH SERVICE, A DIGEST OF
STATE AIR POLLUTION LAWS
(1967).
"Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control
Act, Pub. L. No. 89-272, § 102 et seq.,
79 Stat. 992 (1965) (now 42 U.S.C. subch.
11 (Supp. V, 1965-69)).
21 Emissions standards are now author-
ized by CAL. HEALTH AND SAFETY
CODE §§ 39080 et seq. (West Supp. 1970).
^H.R. 17,199, 17,200, 17,393, 91st
Cong., 2d Sess. (1970) (bills to amend
the National Emission Standards Act and
348
-------
to provide for elimination of automotive
pollution).
30 Hearings on Air Pollution Compacts
before the Subcomm. on Air and Water
Pollution of the Senate Comm. on Public
Works, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 459-66 (1968)
[hereinafter cited as Hearings on Air Pol-
lution Compacts].
35 Pub. L. No. 91-190, 83 Stat. 852
(1970).
""Halliday, A Historical Review of At-
mospheric Pollution, in AIR POLLU-
TION 13, 14 (World Health Organization
1961); CHARLESWORTH, LIABILITY
FOR DANGEROUS THINGS 130, 140-
42 (1922).
37 E. W. GARRETT, THE LAW OF
NUISANCES 125, 135 (3rd ed. 1908).
38 COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERN-
MENTS, SUGGESTED STATE LEGIS-
LATION PROGRAM FOR AIR POLLU-
TION CONTROL 42-3 (1958); see also
id., at 132 (1959).
39 Pub. L. No. 90-148, 81 Stat. 485
(1967), 42 U.S.C. § 1857 et seq. (Supp.
V, 1965-69).
49 Council of State Governments, State
Air Pollution Control Act, 26 SUGGEST-
ED STATE LEGISLATION A3 (1967).
53 E.g., Stamford, Conn., Ordinance
No. 21, June 15, 1950; WILMINGTON,
DELA., CITY CODE §§ 312-315.
56 E.g., Fulton County, Ga., Board of
Health Reg. No. 2, January 17, 1952.
57 E.g., St. Paul, Minn., Ordinance No.
9275, May 10, 1949.
68 E.g., Birmingham, Mich., Ordinance
No. 450, April 5, 1954.
™E.g., MIAMI BEACH, FLA., CITY
CODE §§22.68-22.68.9 (1958),
60 E.g., AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
DIST. OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY,
RULES AND REGS., Reg. II, Rules 10-
14, 17-25, Reg. Ill, Rules 40, 42-44; CHI-
CAGO, ILL., MUNIC. CODE, ch. 17,
May 1, 1959.
61 Hutchins, Background and Modern
Developments in Water Law in the United
States, 2 NAT'L. RES. J. 416, 422 (1962);
Stein, Problems and Programs in Water
Pollution, Id., at 388, 404 (1962).
68 This ad hoc delegation of regulatory
powers to presently existing state agen-
cies is illustrated in Carmichael, Forty
Years of Water Pollution Control in Wis-
consin, 1967 WISC. L. REV. 350, 352-59.
73 TEX. REV. CIV. STAT. ANN. art.
7621d-l, §3.14 (Supp. 1969).
83 Comment, Water Pollution Control in
New York 31 Albany L. REV. 50, 60
(1967).
91 Bower, Some Physical, Technical, and
Economic Characteristics of Water and
Water Resource Systems, 3 NATURAL
RES. J. 215, 219 (1963).
92 Such a grant may be broad indeed.
In Application of City of Johnstown, 12
App. Div., 209 N.Y. S 2d 982 (1961),
the "waters of the state" were held to
include all fresh water in streams, public
or private, even though non-navigable.
97 PRESIDENT'S SCIENCE ADVIS-
ORY COMMITTEE (ENVIRONMEN-
TAL POLLUTION PANEL). RESTOR-
ING THE QUALITY OF OUR EN-
VIRONMENT (1965).
"N.Y. PUBLIC HEALTH LAW
§ 1205(3) (McKinney Supp. 1969).
100 City of Utica v. Water Pollution Con-
trol Board, 5 N.Y.2d 164, 156 N.E. 2d
301, 182 N.Y. S.2d 584 (1959).
101 City of Huntington v. State Water
Committee, 137 W.Va. 786, 73 S.E.2d
833 (1953) (due process); Madison Met-
ropolitan Sewerage District v. Committee
on Water Pollution et al, 260 Wis. 229
50 N.W.2d 424 (1951) (equal protec-
tion).
102 State Board of Health v. City of
Greenville, 86 Ohio St. 1, 98 N.E. 1019
(1912); Board of Purification of Waters
v. Town of Bristol, 51 R.I. 243, 153 A.
879 (1931).
106 E.g., N.Y. MUNICIPAL HOME
RULE LAW §§ 10, 36, 37 (McKinney
1969); 1 NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER
AND ADMINISTRATIVE CODE §751
et seq. (Supp. 1969-70).
112 N.Y. Times, June 4, 1969, at 34
col. 2.
116 For a tabulation of these laws, see
Kaufman, Control of Noise Through Laws
and Regulations in NOISE AS A PUBLIC
HAZARD 340 (Proceedings of the Con-
ference of the American Speech and
Hearing Association, Washington, D.C.,
June 1968, 1969).
118 NEW YORK CITY CHARTER AND
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE 435-5.0(a)
(1963).
120 CODE OF GENERAL ORDI-
NANCES OF CITY OF PHILADEL-
PHIA §§ 10-(401-408) (1956).
121 MUNICIPAL CODE OF CHICAGO
§99-58 (1969).
123 N.Y. MULTIPLE DWELLING LAW
§ 84 (McKinney Supp. 1969-70); 4 NEW
YORK CITY CHARTER AND ADMIN-
ISTRATIVE CODE RS12-(2-4) (1963).
349
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11MNEW JERSEY REGS. FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION AND MAINT. OF
HOTELS AND MULT. DWELLINGS,
art. 18, July 19, 1967. Issued pursuant
to ch. 76 LAWS OF NEW JERSEY
(1967).
129 81 Stat. 490 (1967), 42 U.S.C.
§ 1857(d)(l)(A) (Supp. V, 1965-69).
135 It has been suggested that this in-
formal procedure is a necessary result of
the nature of the conference. It is basically
a meeting of all the governmental agen-
cies involved to consider a problem of
concern in the light of all the informa-
tion available in order to arrive at the
remedial action necessary. Edelman, Air
Pollution Abatement Procedure Under the
Clean Air Act, 1 ARIZ. L. REV. 30, 32
(1968).
130 U.S. v. Bishop Processing Co., 287
F. Supp. 624, 633 (D.C. Md. 1968), aff'd,
423 F.2d 469 (4th Cir. 1970), cert, de-
nied, 398 U.S. 904 (1970).
143 81 Stat. 496 (1967), 42 U.S.C. 1857d
(h) (Supp. V, 1965-69).
14r'The history of the case can be found
in 423 E.2d 469, 470 (4th Cir. 1970).
Cert, was denied in 398 U.S. 904 (1970).
148 80 Stat. 1250 (1966), 33 U.S.C.A.
§§ 1160(a), (d) (1) (1970).
133 Allegheny Airlines v. Village of Ce-
darhurst, 132 F. Supp. 871 (E.D.N.Y.
1955), affd 238 F.2d 812 (2d Cir. 1956);
American Airlines Inc. v. Town of Hemp-
stead, 272 F. Supp. 226 (E.D.N.Y. 1967),
aff'd, 398 F.2d 369 (1968) (holding vil-
lage ordinances explecitly and implicitly
barring aircraft from lower air, in an ef-
fort to decrease aircraft noise, invalid as
conflicting with federal law in an area of
federal preemption); 34 Fed. Reg. 18356
(1969) in which FAA posits support of
local controls stating "The judicial de-
cisions and legislative history of Public
Law 90-411 [the Noise Abatement Act]
have made it clear that the Federal Gov-
ernment should not substitute its judgment
for that of the airport operator's right to
issue regulations or establish require-
ments as to the permissible level of noise
which can be created by aircraft using
the airport."
151 34 Fed. Reg. 18355 (1969) sets forth
a summary of public comments generally
concluding that standards should be
changed.
1°°". . . the uncertain limits of munici-
pal power have had a stultifying effect
on local initiative. Since local officials
must consider whether a prospective ordi-
nance might fall outside the area of 'prop-
erty affairs, or government,' [many will]
be restrained in exercising their lawmak-
ing functions." Note, Home Rule and the
New York Constitution, 66 COLUM. L.
REV. 1145, 1154 (1966).
188 F. Grad, The State's Capacity to Re-
spond to Urban Problems: The State Con-
stitution in THE AMERICAN ASSEM-
BLY, THE STATES AND THE URBAN
CRISIS at 46, 47 (A. Campbell ed. 1970).
180 N.Y. PUBLIC HEALTH LAW
§ 1242(7) (McKinney Supp. 1969).
181 State Board of Health v. City of
Greenville, 86 Ohio St. 1, 98 N.E. 1019
(1912); Board of Purification of Waters
v. Town of Bristol, 51 R.I. 243, 153 A.
879 (1931).
203 "The state governments' attitude to-
ward pollution control parallels that of
the Federal Government profusion of con-
flicting state agencies dealing with these
problems is common. Even more common
are the lack of effective power and the
minuscule budgets." A. Reitze, Jr., supra
note 63, at 926.
203 See, e.g., New Jersey, v. New York,
283 U.S. 805 (1931), modified 347 U.S.
995 (1954).
205E. Rusco, Municipal Home Rule:
Guidelines for Idaho 38 et seq. (Bureau
of Public Affairs Research, University of
Idaho, Res. Mem. No. 1 (1960).
350
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VII.2 State
responsibility
in managing
the
environment
DanW. Lufkin *
The pholosophy of the new federal-
ism that we now espouse in terms of
revenue sharing and financial talk, has
to extend to delegating authority and
responsibility to the state level, with
overview and assistance clearly coming
from the regional level. Management
by exception by the federal government
is the rule of the day, rather than man-
agement by attention to every little de-
tail. It is not only absolutely crazy, but
impossible for the federal government
to make all of our decisions for us.
We have 16,000 point sources of air
pollution in Connecticut alone, just for
starters.
Peter Drucker, always one of the
most direct and thoughtful writers about
business (and we are in a business, and
this is true of bureaucrats as well, my-
self included), says that by and large,
all businessmen spend ninety percent
of their time concentrating on problems,
and ten percent of their time concen-
trating on opportunities.
Where we really have a role to play,
federal, regional, or state officials, is
to concentrate on our opportunities.
That role must be on the state level,
the responsibility of enforcement; and
on the federal and the regional level
(this is split a bit), the setting of the
goals, the putting in place of the stand-
ards, and the establishment of the ob-
jectives, penalties and rewards. But the
individual state administrators and state
organizations must be left to imple-
ment the program. When the state fails
to do that job, then the federal govern-
ment should get in there fast, and
change the deck, both in terms of dol-
lars supplied, and in terms of authorities
exercised, from Washington. Speaking
for Governor Meskill, there is nothing
that I know of in the State of Con-
necticut (other than a junior edition of
Watergate) that would agitate him more
than having the federal government in
his backyard and all the attendant pub-
licity about his inability to handle the
job. And that's the greatest incentive
for the State to do the job.
There was an article in our main
newspaper in Connecticut, the Hartford
Current, about Russell Miller. Our main
regional airport in Connecticut is Brad-
ley Field. The article stated the follow-
ing: "Russell Miller, an amateur natur-
alist who makes a living as an airport
businessman, maintains that Bradley
Field is one of the best wildlife sanc-
tuaries in Connecticut. He would like
to see the new organization of the State
Department of Environmental Protec-
tion declare the area a sanctuary. 'Wild
animals quickly get used to the sounds
of aircraft taking off and landing. . . .
These sounds may in fact increase wild-
lige population by keeping them awake
and breeding instead of sleeping.' " You
can get anything you want under the
tent of invironment! Many of us often
try it!
The legislature and the governor of
Connecticut established the Department
of Environmental Protection, and took
the pieces (we really followed the lead
of the federal EPA) rut of health, nat-
ural resources, and agriculture. We put
air, water, solid waste, pesticides, radia-
tion, and all of the natural resource cap-
abilities of the state for recreation,
forest, fish and game, parks, boat
launching, and all of those activities,
together in one department, and gave
the department a broad mandate.
* Presented by Dan W. Lufkin, Com-
missioner, Department of Environmental
Protection, State of Connecticut, at the
National Conference on Managing the En-
vironment.
351
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Under Act 872 .which established the
department, there is so much authority
that we really have not found it all yet.
What is not there, we pretend is there.
We have the opportunity to do the
job. Within that framework, some ac-
complishments have come forth, and
they have come forth with the support,
the encouragement, and even the prod
of the regional EPA in Boston under
John McGlennon. There is a solid waste
program that, for the first time, estab-
lishes solid waste as a state authority.
We set up an independent contractor,
the General Electric Company, to ex-
amine the difficult issue for one year:
how to attack solid waste on a regional
basis, what are the types of technology,
what are the costs of those technologies,
where is resource recovery in harmony
with the pocketbook, and so on. What
has come out of that study is the solid
waste authority bill, which establishes
an independent authority in the state
to manage and handle solid waste. Gen-
eral Electric developed a plan in con-
junction with our state department, that
sets up 23 wastesheds, separation of
combustible and non-combustible ma-
terial, and the re-use of those materials,
at a cost of about $10. a ton. That is
economically advantageous, if all costs
are figured in the high density areas of
Connecticut. There is also a bonding
capacity of $250 million to the author-
ity, with one interesting aspect—in the
authority bill is the provision that, by
law, there can never be more than
thirty employees in that authority. There
will probably never be more than fif-
teen. In that authority is a nine mem-
ber board, and a $250 million inde-
pendent bonding capability. The author-
ity gives the incentive to the private
business sector to perform efficiently
on a profit making basis, creating, man-
aging, innovating, bringing about
change which is properly directed and
properly incentived, and which is a role
best performed by private industry.
Let government do what it is good
at doing. That is establishing the pol-
icies, directing the roads to follow, and
legislating into place the rewards and
penalties.
One ability needed by the states is
an administrative enforcement proced-
ure, rather than a court enforcement
procedure which would be used only by
exception. What I am referring to is
a series of administrative fines that
equate the cost of compliance with the
cost of non-compliance. The only thing
we have now to get at a polluter in
the State of Connecticut is two things:
We can issue him an order, and go
through all of the cumbersome and
tortuous court procedures involved, or
do noting. There is nothing in between.
We issued a registration activity for
the 16,000 point sources of air; twenty-
five percent did not respond. They prob-
able lost it, or maybe a minority de-
decided that they were not going to
respond. The only way that we can
get back that questionnaire is to take
the guy to court under order. That
is crazy. What we have done in the
legislation, which will be passed soon, is
to set an enforcement procedure, an
administrative fining capability. We
measure the cost of compliance, the
cost of operation, the cost of equipment,
opportunity costs lost, the cost of cap-
ital, on and on, and equate with that
the cost of non-compliance—legal fees,
capital use saved by not being em-
ployed in that fashion, operating costs
saved, fines that under the bill run, and
ultimate costs discounted in terms of
time of finally complying with the
order. That is a big bill. So when you
equate that, that is the cost of non-
compliance. You equate your cost of
compliance with that cost of non-com-
pliance—the fine. It is a continuous,
running fine, which does two things.
One is that people recognize the extent
to which it is just as economic to com-
ply as it is not to comply. Secondly, it
eliminates all but the most meritorious
suits. The frivolous suit does not go,
because the clock is running while the
pollution is continuing. It really does
bring an additional tool which is des-
perately needed to the state arsenal of
getting the job done at the local and
at the state level.
352
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What Washington and what the re- to the states to do the job. When the
gion should be spending their time job then is not done, step in, lock, stock,
doing is giving the field the tools, the and barrel, with funds and with en-
incentives, the dollar bills (where the forcement at a Federal or regional level.
taxing capacity or the financial base of This will be management by exception
the state will not support it). They which the Federal government should
should be giving all of the opportunity strive for.
353
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VII.3 How a
regional
organization
assumes
•
environmental
responsibility
Frank T. Lamm *
Wise management of the environ-
ment requires commitment from the
local, regional, state, and federal levels
of government. The failure of any
single level to do its part can negate
or place in jeopardy the good work of
all the rest. Since the regional organiza-
tion is often the newest level of govern-
ment or quasi-government, its role is
often less clearly defined than that
of older, more established levels. How-
ever, it can be shown that many of
the important environmental manage-
ment concerns can be effectively re-
solved at the regional level. It is, there-
fore, of paramount importance that re-
gional organizations throughout the
country define and assume the appro-
priate responsibilities that will enable
them to provide effective management.
Regional organizations—variety
There is no single description of a
regional organization that is accurate
for all such agencies. Some are formally
structured, as by specific state legisla-
tion, while others are organized by con-
sensus of participating local units of
government. Some have an elected
body, while others consist of appointed
persons. Some are omni-governmental,
some merely have general planning and
review responsibilities, and others may
have responsibility only in a single func-
tional area of concern. Some operate
under specific legislative mandate, while
others are more free to function in
those areas chosen by their governing
body. Some can count on ample fund-
ing and staff expertise, while others are
severely constrained by these factors.
The political climate within which
the individual regional organizations
function can also vary. In some in-
stances the state executive role is so
strong and well defined regarding re-
gional concerns that the responsibilities
of the regional organization are dras—
ically limited, while in other in-
stances the regional organization
may be stepping into a govern-
mental vacuum where no such well de-
fined state responsibility exists. Also,
the amount of cooperation and coor-
dination received from local units of
government and citizens at large can
vary greatly.
Within the seven-county, 3,000
square mile Metropolitan Area serv-
ing Minneapolis, Saint Paul and vi-
cinity, the Metropolitan Council is the
regional organization. Many features of
the Council, such as governmental
structure and legislative mandate, are
not typical to regional organizations as
a whole. However, many of the ap-
proaches used by the Council in plan-
ning and implementation of solutions
of environmental problems can be ap-
plied to other regions.
Assuming environmental
responsibility
Regardless of the ability of the re-
gional organization to provide solu-
tions, there are a myriad of environ-
mental concerns which can and should
be approached at the regional level.
Whether or not the regional organiza-
tion has specific legislative mandate,
there are many opportunities for co-
operation with the appropriate state
* Presented by Frank T. Lamm, P.E.,
Director of Environmental Planning Met-
ropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area,
at the National Conference on Manging
the Environment.
354
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natural resource or environmental pro-
tection organization, or local imple-
menting organization in order to ad-
dress these concerns. This is especially
true in the case of a regional planning
and review organization, such as a
council of governments or a metropoli-
tan council, where limited operational
or monitoring responsibility may pre-
clude direct access to appropriate legal
and other implementing devices, as well
as to specific federal or state funding
sources. Such cooperation can result
in effective planning and implementa-
tion assuring maximum consideration
of regional concerns.
Important indications of environmen-
tal responsibility at the regional level
include the designation of the organi-
zation by HUD as the area-wide plan-
ning organization with appropriate cer-
tifications, and designation of the or-
ganization as regional clearinghouse un-
der Bureau of the Budget Circular
A-95.
The Twin Cities Area Metropolitan
Council has environmental responsibil-
ity in the separate areas of air quality,
solid waste management, water pollu-
tion control, water resources, and pro-
tection and recreation open space. This
paper briefly discusses some methods
of assuming regional responsibility in
each of these environmental areas. In
some instances, the Council has acted
in conformance with clearly defined
federal or state legislation, while in
other instances it has been necessary
to establish roles of cooperation with
other governmental agencies that have
the specific legislative responsibility.
Air quality has important regional
implications, especially in regard to
area-wide comprehensive planning,
since air quality standards and other
regulations, combined with the state-
wide air quality implementation plan,
may have a significant effect on the lo-
cation of such facilities as major airports,
highways, and industrial or commercial
complexes. Air quality responsibility
rests primarily with the state. In Min-
nesota, state legislation assigns that re-
sponsibility to the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency, which may delegate
many powers to regional implementa-
tion organizations. Through administra-
tive agreement, regional air quality
planning and referrals concerning ap-
proval of permits for certain large fa-
cilities must be approved by the Metro-
politan Council prior to action by the
State PCA.
It is difficult for general planning
organizations to receive funding for air
quality planning from the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency. However, there
are funds from other federal agencies,
such as the Federal Highway Adminis-
tration, Urban Mass Transit Adminis-
tration, and Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration, which may be available to
appropriate regional agencies. The
Twin Cities Metropolitan Council uses
funds from these agencies and also co-
operates with the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency in developing the met-
ropolitan area's portion of the state-
wide implementation plan for air
quality.
Solid waste management is another
environmental concern where coopera-
tion with state, regional, and local agen-
cies can occur effectively. In 1969 the
Minnesota legislature created the Solid
Waste Management Act. Recommenda-
tion for such legislation came from pri-
vate citizen groups, municipalities,
counties, and state interests, and was
bas^d on Metropolitan Council studies,
hearings, and advisory board delibera-
tions. The act assigned certain planning
and permit review responsibilities with-
in the metropolitan area to the Minne-
sota Pollution Control Agency, the
Metropolitan Council, and the metro-
politan area counties. The Pollution
Control Agency grants a state permit,
subject to Council review, and monitors
the sites. The Council develops a re-
gional solid waste management plan,
approves county plans if they conform
to the Council plan, and reviews per-
mit applications. The counties develop
county plans and ordinances, issue local
permits, and also inspect sites. This
distribution of planning and review
functions has operated very effectively
355
-------
over the past four years. In this area
of concern, it is very' difficult for a
planning and review agency to directly
receive EPA planning funds. However,
it is possible to act as a subcontractor
to the appropriate federal or regional
operational agency. Metropolitan Coun-
cil has received flow-through funding
from MPCA for solid waste studies.
Also, HUD doss have authority to
grant planning monies for solid waste
management, although this is not one
of the more widely used funding
sources.
Water Pollution control has become
the most widely publicized environmen-
tal concern. The idea of a regional
agency planning the solution to the
Twin Cities Metropolitan Area water
pollution control problems was one of
the reasons for creation of the Metro-
politan Council in 1967. The Council
immediately began a technical study of
the existing sewerage system and pres-
ent and future needs, which resulted
in a recommendation to the 1969 legis-
lature to create a single operating
agency to be responsible to the Council
for provision of adequate metropolitan
sewage collection and disposal facilities.
The Council, after a lengthy public
hearing process, adopted a development
guide section for water pollution con-
trol in the Metropolitan Area. That
guide section, modified annually since
1970 by capital improvements pro-
grams, forms the basis of construction
and operation of the metropolitan dis-
posal system. The Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency has agreed annually to
accept the Council's capital improve-
ments program and project priority list
as the Metropolitan Area's portion of
the state request for EPA construction
funding. The Council has received a
three year basin planning grant from
EPA. With the grant, the Council has
produced the interim Water Quality
Management Plan for the Metropolitan
Area and is preparing the "official"
Water Quality Management Plan. Also,
the Council is recognized as the area-
wide planning organization by HUD.
Metropolitan Council water pollu-
tion control responsibility extends far
beyond the planning and capital im-
provements programming processes.
The Council also approves the annual
operating budget of the Metropolitan
Sewer Board and the allocation of met-
ropolitan disposal system costs to mu-
nicipalities. The Council provides A-95
review for federal funding purposes
and, in addition, review of required
local comprehensive sewer plans for
conformance to the Council's develop-
ment guide. This latter review takes
place in cooperation with the review
provided by the Metropolitan Sewer
Board, which under the Metropolitan
Sewer Act was given that responsibility.
The Council received substantial
planning funding for water pollution
control studies from HUD during the
initial study years. From 1970 to early
1973 the Council had a three year
basin planning grant awarded by EPA.
It is true that the 1972 amendments to
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act has caused EPA planning sources
to be temporarily closed, but the Coun-
cil does anticipate planning funds to be
made available under the new amend-
ments, under at least one of three sec-
tions of the act: 201, wherein through
cooperation with the implementing
agency (the Metropolitan Sewer Board)
planning funds could be made available
as a part of the construction grant; 208,
where the Council would meet the test
of an area-wide planning agency; or
303(e), through cooperation with the
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as
part of the state-wide continuing plan-
ning process.
In the water resources area, efforts
by the regional organization can result
in a broadened respect for that organi-
zation throughout the regional area.
Problems such as erosion, sedimenta-
tion, and flooding are prevalent in
many parts of the nation. Coordination
of water supply needs is also important,
whether there is one single, limited
source, or where there is a choice of
a number of surface and groundwater
sources. Adequacy of treatment, stor-
age, and fire protection, variations in
356
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water rates, and provision of water sup-
ply on a multi-municipal basis are all
subjects which may be considered. It is
necessary to provide an area-wide plan
for water supply and storm drainage
in order to receive HUD certification.
The legislation creating the Council
gave it planning responsibility in the
area of water resources within the Twin
Cities Metropolitan Area. Subsequent
amendment of the state Watershed Act
required watershed districts in the Met-
ropolitan Area to submit their Overall
Plans and Comprehensive Plans to the
Council for review and approval.
The Council staff works closely with
local, state, and federal water resource
organizations. The U.S. Geological Sur-
vey provides data under cooperative
agreements, including a three and one-
half year study of water sources avail-
able to the area. Staff represent the
Council and the Metropolitan Area on
the State Water Resources Coordinat-
ing Committee and on the advisory
board to the State Water Resource Re-
earch Center. Staff also represents the
state on tb.2 Upper Mississippi River
Basin Commission Level "B" study for
the Metropolitan Area. The Council
has participated in water resources
studies of portions of the Metropolitan
Area in cooperation with the State De-
partment of Natural Resources and has
jointly sponsored a seminar on water-
shed districts in cooperation with the
Minnesota Association of Watershed
Districts. Planning for most of the
water resources effort has been supple-
mented by HUD funding throughout
thi life of the Council.
Protection and recreation open space
are two natural resource considerations
that are of great concern to the Coun-
cil. There does not seem to be a well-
coordinated effort in the area of open
space protection assuring that our im-
portant or unique land resources will
be properly managed and where neces-
sary preserved or protected. Of par-
ticular importance are areas under im-
mediate pressure for urban develop-
ment. Regional organizations can pro-
vide a much-needed focal point to
examine such issues. This is not easy
to do, for many reasons. First, it is
difficult and costly to document the
importance and uniqueness of many
land forms. Secondly, it is difficult and
expensive to determine what proper
protection or management steps are to
be taken. Thirdly, it is difficult to per-
suade local units of government to con-
sider protection elements in their zon-
ing and land use ordinances.
The Council has adopted and revised
its Open Space Development Guide.
That guide has attempted, through poli-
cies, general system plan, and pro-
cedures to persuade local units of gov-
ernment to consider protection and
management proposals. The difficult
job of documenting those protection
measures is now being initiated. The
Council has been assigned a soil con-
servationist from the Soil Conservation
Service under the Intergovernmental
Cooperation Act to assist staff in devel-
oping the technical data.
In recreation open space the Coun-
cil has concentrated on recommending
the regional portions of a recreation
system, along with appropriate policies.
Council staff has cooperated with vari-
ous public and private groups in the
open space arena. Of particular note
was the creation of an Open Space Ad-
visory Board which developed the latest
guide section and recommended legis-
lation which is presently being consid-
ered by the Minnesota Legislature.
Summary
I have attempted to outline some of
the methods by which regional organi-
zations can assume environmental re-
sponsibility, using the Twin Cities Area
Metropolitan Council as an example.
Major methods of assuming responsi-
bility or participating in the approval
process can be summarized as follows:
(1) Refer to the mandate of
legislation which created the re-
gional organization. Where the
organization was not formed by
legislation, incorporate such re-
sponsibility in the charter of the
357
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organization or other document
creating it. Legislate changes to
the mandate when necessary.
(2) Receive designation as re-
gional clearinghouse for A-95 re-
view and for HUD certification
purposes as the area-wide plan-
ning agency.
(3) Cooperate and coordinate
with those organizations at other
levels of government which have
specific environmental responsibili-
ties resulting from federal or state
legislation. Where necessary, enter
into contractual agreements or
memos of understanding to pro-
vide the coordination.
(4) Cooperate with and be re-
sponsive to queries from the pub-
lic at large. Often the effectiveness
of the regional role in environ-
mental management is directly re-
lated to the credibility of the re-
gional organization in the eyes of
the private citizen. Disseminate
information to the widest extent
feasible.
(5) Provide adequate staff and
a continuous program of study,
along with appropriate products,
to assure contribution to the en-
vironmental concerns commensu-
rate with your responsibilities.
Make full use of federal, state,
and other sources of funding.
(6) Be innovative in your
thinking, and remember to address
the governmental structure and fis-
cal measure best suited to provide
the changes recommended.
358
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VII.4 The
triumphant
technocrats
and non-
functioning
federalism
David B. Walker *
Of the several challenges confront-
ing the American federal system in the
seventies, the least recognized and prob-
ably least understood is the growing gap
between program specialists with their
interest group and legislative allies and
elected decision makers at all levels.
Yet, in the long run, efforts to correct
the fiscal crisis, to bring greater order
to the jurisdictional jungle in our urban
areas, to cut through the tangled web
of intergovernmental administrative re-
lations, and to improve service delivery
systems will fall unless we see the vital
connection between these challenges and
the need to curb the growing power of
specialized program functionaries at the
three traditional levels, as well as at
new, intermediate levels where neither
the electorate nor elected officials op-
erate directly.
The genesis of the gap
How then did this gap between tech-
nocrats and political executives, be-
tween "program politics" and "electoral
politics," emerge? In one sense, it is as
old as our governmental system with
its geographic division of powers, three
separate branches, checks and balances,
and internal legislative and administra-
tive structure organized by function and
is as traditional as our political system
with all of its decentralized, compara-
tively undisciplined, ambiguously pro-
gFammatic, and easy-access features. In
another sense, it is rooted in the myth,
which many have accepted as fact,
that policy decisions and policy execu-
tion are two clearly separate govern-
mental activities with entirely different
sets of actors performing in the arenas.
In a more contemporary sense, the gap
stems from the public's—particularly
the mushrooming urban public's—ever-
increasing demand over the past quarter
of a century for more and better, and
in several instances, highly specialized,
services and from the governmental re-
sponse to these demands.
And what a response it has been.
Total governmental expenditures mul-
tiplied more than six times between
1948 and 1970, surpassing the $333 bil-
lion level. Outlays in the civilian-do-
mestic sector (excluding the insurance
trust) rose from $36 billion in 1948 to
over $200 billion by 1970. Overall gov-
ernmental receipts quintupled between
1946 and 1970 (reaching $333 billion)
while governmental indebtedness soared
by more than 80%. In addition, the
number of public employees more than
doubled during the same period and
the professional sector reached the
point where it represented about one-
third of the total.
But what has this rapid acceleration
in governmental activity meant in terms
of our federal system and the relation-
ship between officials and program ad-
ministrators? In general terms, State and
local efforts have been greater than
those of the Federal government, al-
though Federal incentives and initiatives
have helped generate much of the ac-
tivity at the other levels. The State
and local share of all revenues rose
from 25% to over 38% between 1946
and 1969; their share of all domestic
program expenditures passed the 70%
level and their employees expanded by
*David B. Walker is Assistant Director
of the Advisory Commission on Intergov-
ernmental Relations. This article was ex-
cerpted from a speech delivered before the
League of Minnesota Municipalities' An-
nual Convention, June 14, 1972.
359
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more than 160% during the same
period. By way of contrast, the Federal
proportion of total civil governmental
outlays actually declined from 43.7%
to less than 30% between 1948 and
1970; its indebtedness rose by 470%;
and its personnel rolls grew by only
approximately one-half million.
The special role of grants
At the same time, Federal aid in-
creased nearly 20 times during the
period 1948-1972 and the number of
grants soared from approximately 34
at the end of 1947 to an estimated 530
today. The bulk of this increase came
in the sixties when nearly 200 new
grant programs were enacted in the
three year period 1964-1966 alone.
More than any other single factor,
it has been this near explosion in the
number, dollar amounts, and types of
Federal grants that created the inter-
governmental system we know today.
It was this Federal response to the pub-
lic's demands for better, expanded, or
new services that laid one of the basic
foundations of the present imbalance
between the power position of the pro-
gram specialists and that of political
leaders and their generalist allies.
Now certain positive aspects of this
development should be noted:
—It was after all largely a response
to real constituent demands and
needs with the frequent support of
elected officials and administrators
from the State and local levels.
—It did hike the Federal contribu-
tion to State and local revenues
from 10.4% in 1948 to over 20%
in 1971.
—During the sixties, the grant sys-
tem did experience a marked shift
to urban problems and programs,
with funds earmarked for these
areas increasing by 258%.
—Its programs in the human re-
sources area rose from 47% of
1960 total to an expected 55%
for 1973, while those in the trans-
portation and commerce fields
dropped from 43% to 14% during
the same period.
—To a greater degree than State aid,
it did aid central cities more than
suburbs; seventy of the central
cities in the 72 largest metropolitan
areas in 1970 did receive propor-
tionately higher per capita Federal
aid than did their suburbs in 1970.
—Above all, this heavy reliance on
categorical grants to provide fiscal
aid and to achieve various national
domestic goals was essentially a
traditional response; the grant de-
vice after all has been the chief
means used by the national gov-
ernment to achieve such objectives
for well over three score years.
Not to be overlooked in all this is
the nearly as strong emphasis on cate-
gorical aid at the State level. While less
narrow in scope than most Federal
grants and growing in size every year,
State aid to localities overall has been
and still is largely conditional in nature.
In 1970, for example, all but $2.9 bil-
lion, or only a little over one-tenth,
of the $28 billion in total State aid fell
in the general support—with few strings
attached—category.
The force of the functionalists
These are but some of the more
prominent fall-out problems generated
by the growth of grants in the sixties.
But one of the biggest is less visible,
though nonetheless vibrant and real.
Sometimes, it is described clinically as
the rise of "functional government;"
sometimes in historical terms, as the
emergence of the "new feudalists" or as
the "growth of the guilds;" and some-
times in more pungent terms, like the
"vertical, functional autocracies." And
recently, a noted political scientist, in
effect, described this phenomenon as
the end product, if not the bankruptcy,
of "interest group liberalism."
Despite the differences in these de-
scriptions, each of them tells us some-
thing of the nature of this basic chal-
lenge. It is primarily a functional phen-
omenon, rooted in the recent heavy
expansion of specialized governmental
activity at all levels. It does resemble
certain features of the feudal system of
360
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the middle ages, wherein the ostensibly
subordinate components of that system
—the dukes, earls and barons—fre-
quently possessed a far greater power
than their monarch. It does take on
some of the character of the old guild
system, in that specialization, shared
professional or technical goals, and com-
mon program objectives are the basic
behavorial conditioners that give each
of these functional groupings its essen-
tial unity and provides the basis for its
opposition to outside interference. It
does involve a vertical relationship,
since the membership of each guild is
drawn from all levels of government;
and these groupings do appear auto-
cratic to some, given their perennial
resistance to genuine oversight by po-
litically accountable officials and their
near monopoly on the professional and
technical skills required to perform
much needed, but complex, govern-
mental functions. Finally, there is a
strong interest group overtone to the
composition and strategies of these
functional conglomerates; each of them,
after all, is really a coalition of admin-
istrators, outside pressure group rep-
resentatives, and legislative proponents
within the pertinent standing commit-
tees. Whether this phenomenon is a
product of American liberalism as it
has evolved over the past four decades,
is a question I will leave to the political
theorists, historians, and politicians.
Having said this, it does no harm to
note that pressure group politics have
been with us as long as we have had
political parties and political conserva-
tives as well as political liberals have
been known to support individual grant
programs, specific governmental depart-
ments and agencies, and certain interest
groups.
The tenets of the technocrats
Seven years ago, the United States
Senate Subcommittee on Intergovern-
mental Relations issued a report en-
titled "The Federal System as Seen by
Federal Aid Officials." The findings of
this study, based on the responses of
over 100 middle management Federal
grant officials, highlight the fundament-
al views of all the defenders of func-
tional government regardless of the
level at which they operate. Four basic
attitudes emerged from their survey re-
sponses:
—Functionalism, or a preoccupation
with protecting and promoting the
purposes of their programs, was
the dominant factor explaining
their replies to the various ques-
tions posed.
—Professionalism, or a deep com-
mitment to the merit system and
to the technical and ethical stand-
ards of their specialized group,
was nearly as significant.
—Standpattism, or a rigid defense
of traditional practices, proced-
ures, and principles, was also a
major theme.
—And indifference, or the cavalier
dismissal of various critical inter-
governmental issues as being irrel-
evant or unimportant, was the
fourth attitude reflected in their
responses.
Middle management executives, with
a strong functional, professional, and
status-quo orientation, are not likely to
approach broad questions of a multi-
functional, interlevel, intraagency, or
coordinating nature with any great en-
thusiasm or concern. But this attitude
also relates to other factors. It stems
in part from the ignorance that only
the narrow specialist can display toward
broader questions of management, pol-
icy, and governmental operations. In
part it comes from an acute awareness
that their expertise is needed and that
their administrative positions are fairly
secure. Second, they recognize that
many of the larger intergovernmental
questions can only be resolved by
others more directly involved in the de-
cision-making process at the Federal,
State, and local levels. And it also is
rooted in their own particular view of
the system and of where the tension
points are located.
These program specialists identified
three major sources of conflict in con-
temporary intergovernmental relations;
-------
(1) Greater professionalism at higher
levels versus a lesser degree of pro-
fessionalism at the other levels; (2) Pro-
fessional program administrators versus
elected policy makers at all levels; and
(3) Administrators of individual aid pro-
grams versus intergovernmental re-
formers.
This listing of tension points can not
be ignored, since it underscores some
fundamental antagonisms within our
federal system that must be ameliorated,
or at least curbed, if any of the other
basic imbalances in the system are to
be overcome.
The response of the generalists
Now much has occurred since 1965
that suggests that elected decision mak-
ers and top management at all levels,
as well as those deeply concerned with
achieving a more workable and respon-
sive system, have not been unaware of
this challenge. Witness:
—The Intergovernmental Coopera-
tion Act of 1968, which strength-
ens elected officials and improves
the chances for better Federal-
State-local administrative collabor-
ation;
—Reorganization Plan No. 2 of
1970, which hopefully will
strengthen the domestic policy for-
mulation and management con-
trols of the Presidency;
—The Legislative Reorganization Act
of 1970, which provides new tools
for legislative oversight and fiscal
control;
—The 1969 reorganization of the
Federal field offices;
—The Intergovernmental Personnel
Act of 1970, which seeks to up-
grade the core management sec-
tor at the State and local levels;
—The positive 1970 and 1971 ac-
tions in Georgia, Illinois, Kansas,
Maryland, and North Carolina,
which bring to 12 the number of
States providing the governor with
executive reorganization authority
subject to a legislative veto;
—Legislative action during the past
seven years achieving major or
substantial executive branch reor-
ganization in a dozen States;
—Annual legislative sessions, now in
over two-thirds of the States;
—A decrease in the number of
standing committees in 23 States
and an increase in professional
legislative staff in 39 during the
past two years;
—More than 200 counties with ap-
pointed administrators and nearly
40 with elected county executives;
—A significant increase (103) over
the last decade in the number of
cities (236) have planning agencies
responsible to the mayor; and
—Adoption by nearly half the cities
over 50,000 in size of some ele-
ments of a program, planning,
budgeting system.
"The beat goes on"
Despite these encouraging actions,
other developments provide the basis
for continuing pessimism. They all un-
derscore the enduring strength of the
functionalists and their skills in perfect-
ing old—as well as developing new—
ways of preserving their strategic posi-
tion of influence at all of the three
traditional levels of government as well
as at the new emerging ones.
At the Federal level, a number of
developments should be noted, espe-
cially those relating to grant consolida-
tion and block grants. Many believed
that the passage of the Partnership in
Health Act of 1966 might inaugurate
a trend toward consolidation of nar-
rowly defined categorical programs. Be-
ginning with a consolidation of 17 pre-
viously separate categories and with
significant discretion given to States
and their governors in developing lo-
cally relevant State plans, three new
categories were tacked on in 1968 and
in December 1970 the President signed
the Communicable Diseases Act which
added a half dozen or more additional
strings to the original measure. Mean-
while, reports from the field indicate
that many governors have given their
health administrators primary control
over the program and comprehensive
362
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health planning units have been estab-
lished at the substate regional level—
usually separate and rarely having
much to do with other areawide bodies.
In short, the categories and the func-
tionalists seem to be winning out again.
Another apparent breakthrough for
the block grant approach was the Safe
Streets Act of 1968. Here consolidation
was not so much an issue in the debate
over the original measure, since only
a minor Federal program in this area
existed at the time. What was at stake
was the issue of achieving a block grant
at the outset, rather than a mix of cate-
gorical grants of both the formula-
based and project variety. In its 1970
study of this measure, the Advisory
Commission on Intergovernmental Re-
lations (ACIR) endorsed the block
grant approach contained in the origi-
nal legislation. No other area perhaps
lends itself so well to this form of as-
sistance. The interfunctional, interlevel,
and interbranch problems associated
with police, prosecution, corrections,
and courts at the State and local levels
are so complex, yet so connected, that
no other approach, in our opinion,
would make any sense. Yet, with a
block grant there goes the burden of
free choice, of making critical deci-
sions, of using the discretion that is as-
signed. And this rests with the State
Planning Agencies (SPAs) under the
Act. As a mechanism for bridging the
many gaps in the non-systems that exist
in most States, the SPAs must be repre-
sentative of functionalists and general-
ists, of State and local top executives,
of legislative and judicial as well as
executive branch people. They must
have strong balanced consideration to
the needs of all components of the sys-
tem and to areas that suffer from se-
vere crime problems. This is an ardu-
ous assignment and the evidence sug-
gests that some have found it too tough.
In reaction to much of this, Congress
in 1970 adopted a number of amend-
ments to the Act. Twenty percent of
the action funds now are earmarked
for corrections and the States are obli-
gated to "buy-into" the program insofar
as the non-Federal matching for local
projects is concerned.
Efforts to secure mergers in the li-
brary services and construction field
met with meager success in the last
Congress (a reduction of five to four
programs was achieved, rather than five
to one, as was proposed). Moreover,
the various consolidations proposed for
the 1970 housing legislation merely
produced mergers in the open space
and research programs. Revisions of
the Hill-Burton program resulted in an
additional construction grant, rather
than the merger of five programs into
one, as HEW sought. Efforts to achieve
a single authorization for the seven in
the Medical Library Assistance Exten-
sion Act also failed in 1970.
With the advent of the special rev-
enue proposals in 1971 came a much
bolder and far more encompassing ap-
proach to grant consolidation but one
which still relied on the workings of
the normal legislative process. Special
revenue sharing emerged as part of the
broader revenue sharing goal stressed
in President Nixon's 1971 State of the
Union Message. Ostensibly geared to
complementing the proposed reorgani-
zation of the executive branch as well
as general revenue sharing, the six spe-
cial revenue sharing measures would
consolidate some 129 categorical grants
into six broad programs. They would
provide automatic distribution of most
of the funds, minimal administrative
strings, no matching or maintenance of
effort requirements, adherence to Fed-
eral civil rights and labor standards, a
discretionary fund for each of the Fed-
eral administrators, and "hold harm-
less" provisions to insure that no juris-
diction receives less under the new
program than it did under the previous
ones during a stipulated base period.
Despite these common features, the
proposals differed from one another in
certain respects with many of the dis-
tinctive features reflecting the special
problems of each program area. By the
end of 1971, only three of the special
revenue sharing measures—education,
manpower, and urban development—
363
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had been exposed to Senate hearings by
the pertinent subcommittees. In the
House, hearings had been held on only
one—urban development.
Among the reasons for this slow
pace were the comparatively late intro-
duction of some of the special revenue
sharing bills, the novelty of all of them,
the absence of any real prior consul-
tation with public interest groups and
with the relevant Congressional com-
mittees, a heavy committee schedule in
some instances, earlier Congressional
action to the contrary as in the case of
the 1970 Safe Streets amendments, and
above all, concern over the fate of pro-
grams slated for consolidation or (par-
ticularly with the rural development
proposal).
This brief chronicling of diverse con-
solidation efforts from 1966 through
1970 suggests that the need for merg-
ing narrow grant programs still is as
great as ever. It indicates that the
normal legislative course raises major
hurdles of a political and program
nature. It shows that even where a con-
solidation is temporarily successful, the
tendency to recategorize is still strong,
and that chief executives at the other
levels must mount a vigorous initiative
to curb the parochialism of their nar-
row program professionals if the dis-
cretion which comes to them from a
block grant is to be retained. The rec-
ord also suggests that broad, panoramic
proposals that depart dramatically from
the more usual consolidation approach
are not likely to succeed.
With revenue sharing, the story, as
of the moment, is almost as bleak.*
But given the recent action of the Rules
Committee, along with the concerted
effort of elected policy makers from
all levels, it seems likely that legisla-
tion in this area will be enacted before
this Congress adjourns. Not to be over-
looked here, however, has been the
subtle but steady opposition of the in-
dividual program proponents, who view
revenue sharing as a serious threat.
* General revenue sharing (The State
and Local Fiscal Assistance Act) was
signed into law on October 20, 1972.
Yet, revenue sharing will not succeed
in strengthening the position of State
and local elected decision makers and
their core management allies, if these
officials—by default or conscious de-
sign—permit the discretion it grants
to slip into hands of middle manage-
ment. In short, revenue sharing is no
guarantee of stronger State and local
leadership and management. In cases
where this already is weak, it will
simply amount to a rerouting of funds
to line agency officials already aided
under the categorical programs.
Regarding efforts to simplify and
consolidate planning requirements under
various categorical programs, much ef-
fort was expended by the Planning As-
sistance and Requirements Coordinat-
ing Committee. But no real results as
yet are visible to the State, local, or
neutral eye.
In the area of substate regional ac-
tivities, two different strategies seem
to be evolving: one for the generalists
"and the other for the program special-
ists. With the former, the A-95 process
stemming from Section 204 of the Met-
ropolitan Development Act of 1966 and
the Intergovernmental Cooperation of
1968 stands out, since it basically bene-
fits areawide bodies representative of
general units of local government; and
over 400 such units have been desig-
nated to perform the review and com-
ment role under this clearinghouse pro-
cedure. With the program specialists, a
different approach silently has been
adopted, one geared to providing sep-
arate multi-jurisdictional mechanisms
for various aided program activities. At
latest count, there were:
—481 law enforcement and criminal
justice planning regions;
—957 single and multicounty Com-
munity Action Agencies;
—419 substate CAMPS committees;
—129 regional comprehensive health
planning agencies;
—115 Economic Development Dis-
tricts;
—232 Air Quality Regions;
—50 Local Development Districts;
and
364
-------
—68 Resource Conservation Devel-
opment Districts.
Now in some cases, the A-95 agency,
has been utilized for some of these
other federally encouraged areawide ef-
forts. But findings of a 1970 survey in-
dicate that only 21% of the 186 A-95
agencies polled were used for law en-
forcement planning; only nine percent
for comprehensive health planning;
only eight percent for economic devel-
opment programs; only two percent for
resource conservation; and only one
percent for air quality control. It seems
safe to say that the A-95's are having
a very difficult time in absorbing or
monitoring the efforts of these new
breed of special districts in most met-
ropolitan and some rural areas and
this, in no small measure, relates to
the strength and support that the pro-
gram specialists continue to enjoy at
the Federal and State levels. From the
vantagepoint of local governmental pol-
icy makers, however, the specter of
proliferating Federal-State mechanisms
at the substate regional level should be
some cause for alarm. Certainly, the
resolution on this subject voted by the
mayors at Hawaii in December of last
year reflected some growing municipal
concern.
In the State capitols, other develop-
ments underscore the resilience of the
functionalists at this level, including:
—Very few of the 12 recent State
reorganizations did much by way
of reducing the number of separ-
ately elected constitutional officials;
—Most of these executive branch re-
organizations did not eliminate or
seriously disturb the power of the
more well established separate
boards and commissions:
—The vast majority of the State
planning efforts have not had an
impact on the budgeting process
or on the activities of line agencies
and departments;
—Only a handful of State legislatures
have a post-audit service compar-
able to that provided by the Gen-
eral Accounting Office to the Con-
gress;
—Special districts, always a secure
haven for program specialists, in-
creased by more than 36 percent
nationwide between 1962 and
1972, reaching the 24,942 mark;
Minnesota enjoyed an 86 percent
hike during this period;
—All but 7,580 of these nearly 25,-
000 special districts had boundar-
ies that overlapped those of gen-
eral units of local government and
their total expenditure amounted
to nearly $5 billion in 1967;
—This growth in special districts
stems directly from either general
or specially authorized State legis-
lation, and no State has taken ac-
tion to institute effective curbs on
these authorities;
—Some 42 States have moved on
the substate regional districting
front, but in a majority of in-
stances this has yet to affect the
activities of State line agencies
or Federal-State areawide program
efforts.
An action agenda
These are but a few of the signs at
the Federal and State levels that the
"functionalists" are still the "wheel
horses of the federal system." Where
then does this leave us? It leaves us
with elected decision makers who don't
really decide, with top management
that isn't on the top, with legislative
oversight that rarely produces broad
insight, and with an electoral process
that has minimum impact on adminis-
tration. It also leaves us with the
program for intergovernmental reform
that has been before us for some time.
It includes:
—Revenue sharing, joint funding
simplification, and the grant con-
solidation authority provided in
the proposed Intergovernmental
Cooperation Act of 1972;
—A continuation of Federal Assist-
ance Review program at the Wash-
ington level;
—The development of a real Presi-
dential presence in the Federal
Regional Councils;
365
-------
-An effective melding of State bud-
geting and planning efforts;
-More effective legislative oversight
at all levels and a better post-
audit at the State level;
-A clearer understanding of the
real purposes of the substate re-
gional districts, especially as they
relate to the State agency, Federal-
State program, and local govern-
mental activities;
-State legislation along the lines
of the ACIR's draft bill to check
the growing power of special dis-
tricts;
-A combined State and local drive
to force the Federal administrators
to ponder the consequences of
continuing proliferation of separate
unifunctional areawide bodies;
-An ending of the ambivalence in
the minds of many local officials
and citizens regarding the role of
metropolitan and multicounty
bodies (this ambivalence, after all,
has helped to create the vacuum
at the areawide level which the
program specialists now are fill-
ing); and
-Finally, a deeper understanding
within the electorate as a whole
that failure to arm elected offi-
cials with adequate formal author-
ity only strengthens the power of
the "new feudalists"; and we are
fast reaching the point where this
understanding must be extended to
the substate regional level, since—
with the exception of a handful of
metropolitan areas—there are at
this level neither elected officials
with any areawide authority nor
an electorate empowered to inter-
act with such officials by the bal-
lot box or by any other means.
These are all means of righting the
imbalance between the political deci-
sion makers and the program adminis-
trators, between electoral politics and
program politics, between balanced and
accountable decision making and
skewed, fragmented decision making.
These remorms are necessary if policy
makers at all levels—the President
and the Congress, the governor and the
legislature, the mayor and the council—
are to be strengthened in a fashion that
will permit them to withstand the
mounting, parochial presures that swirl
around them. Top policy makers at
all levels must be empowered to plan,
pass, implement, and fund the vital
programs that this and future genera-
tions of Americans require. If we fail
to correct this imbalance in the system,
then popular alienation and cynicism
regarding our government can only
grow.
366
-------
VII.5 The
cooperative
approach to
environmental
enhancement
Joseph F. Zimmerman *
Interlocal service agreements have
been utilized for many years, with fed-
eral encouragement, to solve areawide
environmental problems. The empha-
sis the federal government places upon
such agreements is reflected in the Fed-
eral Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments of 1972 which direct the
Governor of each State to identify
areas suffering from water quality con-
trol problems and designate "a single
representative organization, including
elected officials from local governments
or their designees, capable of develop-
ing effective areawide waste treatment
management plans for [each area].2
The number of service agreements
has increased sharply during the past
twenty-five years following the removal
of many constitutional and statutory re-
strictions inhibiting the ability of local
governments to enter into such agree-
ments. Currently, forty-two states have
enacted a general interlocal contracting
act. In twenty-nine states local govern-
ments are authorized to cooperate with
local governments in other states, and
Michigan authorizes its local govern-
ments to cooperate with Canadian local
governments (see Table 1).
One of the broadest grants of power
to local governments to cooperate with
other governmental units is found in
the New York State Constitution.
Local governments shall have
the power to agree, as authorized
by act of the Legislature, with the
federal government, a state or one
or more other governments within
or without the state, to provide co-
operatively, jointly, or by contract
any facilities, service, activity, or
undertaking which each participat-
ing local government has the
power to provide separately.3
Most states have granted blanket au-
thorization to their local units to pro-
vide services to other units or jointly
provide services, yet a number of states
still have specific statutory provisions
authorizing such agreements. Minne-
sota, for example, has approximately
HO.4
Two provisions in many general in-
terlocal cooperation acts impede the
ability of local governments to enter
into service agreements. A power may
not be exercised in thirty-two states un-
less each local government possesses
the power. This means that a city and
a town can not jointly provide a serv-
ice if only the city possesses the au-
thority to provide the service. The gen-
eral interlocal cooperation statute in
thirteen states, further restricts the
ability of local governments to enter
into agreements by stipulating that an
individual statute authorizing coopera-
tion in a specific functional area is not
superseded by the general statute.
There are approximately two hundred
specific statutes in New Jersey.5
The State of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations lack a joint ex-
ercise of powers act, but do have a
general law specifically authorizing
cities and towns to establish regional
councils of governments. The law con-
tains an unusual provision: A "council
may, by appropriate action of the gov-
erning bodies of the member govern-
ments, exercise such other powers as
are exercised or capable of exercise by
the member governments and necessary
or desirable for dealing with problems
of mutual concern." °
One of the major reasons accounting
*Presented by Joseph F. Zimmerman,
Professor, State University of New York,
Albany, at the National Conference on
Managing the Environment.
367
-------
United States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Dist. of Col.
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Code
refer.
C.X. Sec. 13
Sec. 11-951
Sec. 14-901
Gov. 6500
88-2-1
Sec. 7-339a
Sec. 163.01
Sec. 2-5901
67-2319
24 Sec. 1-1-5
Sec. 53-1104
Sec. 28E.1
12-2901
65-210
33 Sec. 1321
30 Sec. 1951
Ch. 40 Sec. 4a
5.4088
Sec. 471.59
Sec. 70.210
16-4904
Sec. 23-2201
277.080
40.488-1
Coop.
power
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Con-
tract
power
X
X
X2
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Across
State
lines
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Local
unit
w/home
State
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Local
unit
with
U.S.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Power Requires
of only action of
one unit governing
nee. bodies
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X3 X
X X
X
X
X X
X
X
X
X X
X
X3 X
X
Approval
of
Attorney
General
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Other
statutes
unaf-
fected
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Revoca-
tion
or
term.
X
X
X4
X4
X
X
X
X
X
X
X4
X
X4
X
X
X
X
Responsi-
bility
clause
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
-------
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Puerto Rico
4-22-1
Sec. 180A-460
54-40-01
74 Sec. 1001
Sec. 190.003
53 Sec. 471
Sec. 1-75
1-24-1
12-801
Art. 4413(32c)
Sec. 11-13-1
24 Sec. 34901
Sec. 15.1-21
39.34.010
Sec. 8-23-3
66.30
Ch. 239 S.L. 1971
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1 The functions are limited—seems to include everything but
general government
* Cities and counties only.
'Only for contracting.
' May be provided for, but is not mandated.
5 May be perpetual.
' One year renewable—if more, it must be approved by con-
current voter majorities.
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X4
X4
X
X
X4
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
' Binding for the specified time.
8 Requires concurrent voter majorities.
* Requires approval of governor when State money is used.
When State, U.S., another State or subdivision, Canada or sub-
division are a party to the agreement
Source: Advisory Commission on Intergovernmeatal Rela-
tions.
-------
for the popularity ot intergovernmental
service agreements is their high degree
of political feasibility. They usually en-
counter little opposition since they do
not restrict significantly the freedom of
action of the recipient governments,
do not require voter approval in most
cases, and usually can be terminated
on relatively short notice. Consequent-
ly, local officials view service agree-
ments as a flexible method of obtain-
ing services as needed.
Three other reasons also account for
the popularity of service agreements.
First, a local government by means of
an agreement, may be able to obtain a
product or a service, such as water or
sewage disposal, which the locality can
not produce itself. Second, obtaining a
service from another governmental unit
may lower the cost and improve the
quality of the service. The provider of
the product or service also may benefit
from a service agreement if it results
in economies of scale. Third, inter-
local agreements may facilitate the solu-
tion of a problem transcending local
political boundaries without necessitat-
ing a major structural change in the
local government system.
A local government, of course, may
not have the option of producing a
service or obtaining a service from
another producer for one or more of
the following reasons. First, a city or
a public authority may have monopo-
listic control of a basic resource such
as water, and all local governments
must obtain water from this one sup-
plier. Second, the cost of directly pro-
viding a service may be prohibitive.
Third, the isolated location of a unit
may preclude the possibility of obtain-
ing a service from another unit. Fourth,
the only neighboring local government
with the ability to provide a given serv-
ice may refuse to do so.
Service agreements, with a few ex-
ceptions, are entered into voluntarily by
local governments. A state government
on rare occasions has ordered one local
government to provide a product or a
service to a neighboring unit. And in
a few states, Texas is an example,
counties are required by statute to pro-
vide certain specified services upon
receipt of a request from a city.
Data for this paper on the scope and
nature of agreements for seventy-six
services were obtained by means of a
twenty page questionnaire sent to 5,900
incorporated municipalities—cities, vil-
lages, boroughs, incorporated towns—
over 2,500 population. 'Returns were
received from forty percent of these
units, and were classified by population
categories, geographic region, form of
government, and central city, suburban
and non-metropolitan types.
The collection of data on service
agreements by means of a mail ques-
tionnaire, particularly a long one, re-
sults in an under-reporting of the num-
ber of agreements for two principal
reasons.'
First, accurate records of service
agreements, especially unwritten ones,
are not maintained by most local gov-
ernments. Second, several respondents
-indicated they did not have time to
complete the questionnaire and re-
turned it blank. It is reasonable to
assume that some of these municipali-
ties, as well as some which did not
return the questionnaire, are parties to
service agreements.
Services received
Table 2 reveals that sixty-three per-
cent of the 2,375 responding munici-
palities have entered into formal and
informal agreements for the provision
of services to their citizens by other
governmental units or private firms.
The propensity to enter into agree-
ments generally is related to population
size. Units in the 50,000 to 100,000
population class, however, enter into
agreements with a slightly greater de-
gree of frequency than larger units,
and units in the 25,000 to 50,000 class
enter into agreements more often than
units in the 100,000 to 250,000 class.
The presence of a larger number of
acute problems and service suppliers in
metropolitan areas accounts for the
finding that central cities (seventy-five
percent) and suburban governments
370
-------
(seventy-one percent) enter into serv-
ice agreements with more frequency
than municipalities in non-metropolitan
areas (fifty-three percent).
Classifying service agreements by
region, we find that they are most com-
mon in the West (seventy-nine per-
cent) and least common in the South
(fifty-four percent). Although agree-
ments with a local government in a
neghboring state were reported by only
fourteen respondents, we know that
such agreements are more common. To
cite only two examples, sixteen Rhode
Island cities and towns have joined
with Attleboro and Seekonk, Massa-
chusetts in a police communication
network, and cities and towns in New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Ver-
mont are members of the Southwestern
New Hampshire District Fire Mutual
Aid System."
Of the various forms of municipal
administration, council-manager gov-
ernments enter into service agreements
with the greatest degree of frequency
(sixty-nine percent). Vincent L. Ma-
rando reported a similar finding in the
Detroit area in 1968."
The finding of the national and Ma-
rando surveys is not surprising as a
professional administrator is more like-
ly than an elected chief executive to
seek to lower the cost of a service or
a product by obtaining it from other
governmental units or private firms.
Municipalities most commonly enter
into service agreements with counties
and other municipalities. Nevertheless,
the state government, public authori-
ties, and private firms are major sup-
pliers of service to local governments.
Police training, criminal identification,
police patrol, fireman training, traffic
control, and water pollution abatement
services are the principal services pro-
vided by state governments. Private
firms are major providers of the follow-
ing services—refuse collection, engi-
neering, legal, street lighting, public
relations, and microfilm.
The most popular agreements involve
jails and detention homes, police train-
ing, street lighting, refuse collection,
solid waste disposal, and animal control
services.
Data relative to sewage disposal
agreements are contained in Table 3.
The bulk of the agreements, fifty-three
percent, are with other local govern-
ments. Special districts also are parties
to a significant number (eighty-seven)
of agreements. Agreements with other
local governments are most common
in the South (sixty-nine percent) and
least common in the Northeast (thirty-
six percent), and council-manager and
mayor-council units have about the
same proclivity for entering into agree-
ments. As one would anticipate, it is
the smaller and medium size units
which are parties to the agreements for
the disposal of sewage with a greater
degree of frequency than central cities
which are more likely to have their
own disposal facilities.
Table 4 reveals that solid waste dis-
posal is most often provided under a
service agreement by other local gov-
ernments (forty-eight percent) and
private firms (forty-two percent). The
tendency of a local government to enter
into an agreement with another local
government for the disposal of solid
waste is positively correlated with
increasing population size with the
exception of the 5,000 to 10,000 pop-
ulation category. The breakdown of
agreements by geographic region is re-
vealing. Whereas sixty percent of the
responding incorporated municipalities
in the North Central Region have en-
tered into agreements with private
firms, only thirty-one percent have
entered into agreements with other lo-
cal governments. By comparison, sev-
enty-three percent of the responding
municipalities in the South have entered
into agreements with other local govern-
ments, but only sixteen percent have
entered into agreements with private
firms. Relative to form of government,
fifty-one percent of the council manager
units and forty-three percent of the
mayor-council units have entered into
agreements with other local govern-
ments for the disposal of solid waste.
The major suppliers of water, ac-
371
-------
TABLE 2.—Municipalities with agreements for receipt of services.
(O
Number
of
reporting
cities
TOTAL, ALL CITIES
POPULATION GROUP
Over 500,000
250,000-500,000
100,000-250,000
50,000-100,000
25,000- 50,000
10,000- 25,000
5,000- 10,000
2,500- 5,000
GEOGRAPHIC REGION
Northeast
North Central
South
West
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Mayor-Council
Council-Manager
Commission
Town Meeting
Representative Town Meeting
LOCATION
Central City
Suburban Unit
Non-Metropolitan Unit
2375
10
10
50
110
236
532
618
812
502
791
706
398
1148
1098
78
57
14
155
1076
1164
Have
agreement
for
service
#
1491
8
8
36
89
180
357
360
446
275
513
380
313
645
762
46
30
8
117
762
612
%
63
80
80
72
81
76
67
58
55
55
65
54
79
56
69
59
53
59
75
71
53
With
munici-
palities
#
600
1
3
18
42
81
156
141
154
149
224
118
109
257
315
11
12
5
43
426
131
%
40
13
38
50
47
45
44
39
35
54
44
31
35
40
41
24
40
63
37
56
21
With
counties
#
919
3
7
27
67
118
225
217
251
83
317
253
266
357
519
34
6
3
81
458
380
%
62
38
88
75
73
66
63
60
56
30
62
67
86
55
68
74
20
38
69
60
62
With
school
districts
#
380
1
6
15
36
60
114
77
69
72
126
66
116
136
249
8
15
2
41
201
128
%
25
13
75
42
41
33
32
21
15
26
25
17
37
21
33
17
50
25
35
26
21
With
other
special
districts
#
412
2
7
18
35
60
106
86
96
55
142
81
134
152
238
9
9
2
46
241
127
%
28
25
88
50
39
33
30
24
22
20
28
21
43
24
31
20
30
25
39
29
21
With
public
authori-
ties
#
249
0
5
14
31
46
51
52
49
67
58
81
43
91
157
5
6
1
37
142
70
%
17
0
63
39
35
46
14
14
11
24
11
21
14
14
21
11
20
13
32
19
11
With
state
#
429
1
7
22
39
64
93
98
104
79
122
123
105
167
233
16
11
2
53
201
176
%
29
13
88
61
44
36
26
27
23
29
24
32
34
26
31
35
37
25
45
26
29
With
other
#
217
3
6
12
21
31
41
41
62
37
73
66
41
88
118
4
4
2
39
112
76
%
15
38
75
33
24
17
11
11
14
13
14
17
13
14
15
9
13
25
33
13
12
-------
TABLE 3.—Sewage disposal agreements.
TOTAL, ALL MUNICIPALITIES
POPULATION GROUP
OVER 500,000
250,000-500,000
100,000-250,000
50,000-100,000
25,000- 50,000
10,000- 25,000
5,000- 10,000
2,500- 5,000
GEOGRAPHIC REGION
Northeast
North Central
South
West
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Mayor-Council
Council-Manager
Commission
Town Meeting
Representative Town Meeting
LOCATION
Central City
Suburban Unit
Non-Metropolitan Unit
Number
of
units
reporting
307
3
1
10
26
48
81
67
71
68
95
65
79
115
181
3
7
1
20
247
40
With
local
govern-
ments
# %
165 53
0 0
0 0
5 50
13 50
28 58
41 50
41 61
37 52
25 36
54 56
45 69
41 51
61 53
102 56
0 0
1 14
1 100
7 35
139 56
19 47
With
school
districts
# %
1 0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0 0
1 1
0 0
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
With
other
special
districts
# %
87 28
2 66
0 0
4 40
9 34
12 2
29 35
15 22
16 22
26 38
25 26
11 16
25 31
26 22
58 32
1 33
2 28
0 0
8 40
70 28
9 22
With
COG or
other
regional
units
23
0 0
0 0
1 10
1
5
5
6
5
3
10
6
8
7
8 11
6 6
3 4
6 7
11 9
11 6
1 33
0 0
0 0
With
state
govern-
ment
# %
5 1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
2 2
2 2
2 2
2 2
1 1
0 0
0
1
0
28
0 0
With
Federal
govern-
ment
# %
5 1
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
1
21
1
0
0
7
1
2
0
2
0
1
2
2
4
1
0
0
0
2
2
0
2
0
1
3
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
With
private
firms
# %
18 5
1 33
0 0
0 0
10
6
0
8 11
1 10
5 5
3 4
3 3
8
3
0
2 28
0 0
2 10
10 4
6 15
-------
u>
-J
TABLE 4.—Solid waste disposal agreements.
TOTAL, ALL MUNICIPALITIES
POPULATION GROUP
OVER 500,000
250,000-500,000
100,000-250,000
50,000-100,000
25,000- 50,000
10,000- 25,000
5,000- 10,000
2,500- 5,000
GEOGRAPHIC REGION
Northeast
North Central
South
West
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Mayor-Council
Council-Manager
Commission
Town Meeting
Representative Town Meeting
LOCATION
Central City
Suburban Unit
Non-Metropolitan Unit
Number
of
units
reporting
301
2
1
9
20
42
71
64
92
48
108
79
66
126
170
0
5
0
29
175
97
With
local
govern-
ments
# %
146 48
0 0
1 100
5 55
11 55
20 47
33 46
36 56
40 43
22 45
34 31
48 73
32 48
55 43
88 51
0 0
3 60
0
With
school
districts
# %
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
15 51
73 41
58 59
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
With
other
special
districts
# %
14 4
1 0
0 0
1 11
0 0
4 9
5 7
3
4
0
20
0 0
With
COG or
other
regional
units
# %
8 8
1
13
0
3
7
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
4
0
4
2
2
6
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
3
4
4
1
0
0
0
0
3
2
With
state
govern-
ment
# %
4 1
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
1
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
3
1
1 2
0 0
3 3
0 0
2
0
0
0
0
With
Federal
govern-
ment
# %
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
With
private
firms
# %
128 42
2 100
0 0
3 33
9 45
16 38
32 45
23 35
43 48
23 47
65 60
13 16
27 40
56 44
71 41
0 0
1 20
0 0
13 44
81 46
34 35
-------
cording to Table 5, are other local
governments (forty-five percent), pri-
vate firms (twenty-five percent), and
special districts (twenty-one percent).
In general, water supply agreements
are inversely correlated with population
size; the exception being the 10,000 to
25,000 population class. Special districts
(thirty-seven percent) are the major sup-
pliers of water in the West and other
local governments (sixty-seven percent)
are the major suppliers in the North
Central Region. Not surprisingly, in-
corporated municipalities in non-metro-
politan areas receive water more often
from private firms than from other
local governments since there are few
municipalities in such areas with the
capacity of supplying water to other
units.
Water distribution agreements present
a somewhat different pattern than water
supply agreements (see Table 6) in that
incorporated municipalities have a
greater tendency to enter into distribu-
tion agreements with private firms
(thirty-eight percent) than with other
local governments (thirty-five percent),
and mayor-council units (thirty-two
percent) have a lesser tendency than
council-manager units (forty-one per-
cent) to enter into agreements with
private firms. The geographical pattern
of the two types of agreements is gen-
erally similar, but suburban units are
more dependent upon agreements for
the supply of water than for the dis-
tribution of water.
Package of services
Relatively few agreements involve a
package of services (see Table 7). The
bulk of the agreements involve only one
service and only two governments—
the provider and the recipient of the
services. Most binary agreements relate
to functions which tend to be non-
controversial—civil defense, fire and
police mutual aid, jails, and water sup-
ply. We must point out, however, that
many municipalities have entered into
several individual service agreements.
There is a two-fold explanation for
the small number of package agree-
ments. First, few local governments
have the ability and the desire to pro-
vide a package of services. Second,
most recipients of services are interested
only in a service which they can not
provide economically themselves or a
product which they can not produce
themselves.
Not surprisingly, local governments
in non-metropolitan areas are the recip-
ients of the fewest packages of services.
In these areas there often is no local
government with the capacity to provide
a package of services to other units.
The number of package agreements
declines with a decrease in population
with one exception—the 2,500 to 5,000
population class. Package agreements
are most common in the West which is
the home of the Lakewood Plan.
Many municipalities had received
more than one service from another
local government on a contract basis
prior to 1954, yet the concept of a
contract providing for a large number
of services did not originate until 1954
when the newly incorporated City of
Lakewood signed a formal agreement
with Los Angeles County to have it
provide all municipal type services to
the citizens of the City.10 Since 1954,
all thirty-two cities incorporated in the
County have contracted with the Coun-
ty for a package of services. Most
agreements are for a five year term.
A typical service package includes
animal regulation, election services,
emergency ambulance services, enforce-
ment of city health ordinances, engi-
neering services, fire and police protec-
tion, library, planning and zoning, street
construction and maintenance, and
street lighting, certain services, such as
animal regulations, are financed by fees.
Other services—fire protection, li-
brary, sewer maintenance, street light-
ing—are financed by means of special
districts administered by the County. All
other services are financed by direct
reimbursement of county costs by the
recipient cities.
Currently, seventy-seven cities in the
County are parties to contracts with the
County for the receipt of services. All
375
-------
o\
TABLE 5.—Water supply agreements.
TOTAL, ALL MUNICIPALITIES
POPULATION GROUP
OVER 500,000
250,000-500,000
100,000-250,000
50,000-100,000
25,000- 50,000
10,000- 25,000
5,000- 10,000
2,500- 5,000
GEOGRAPHIC REGION
Northeast
North Central
South
West
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Mayor-Council »
Council-Manager
Commission
Town Meeting
Representative Town Meeting
LOCATION
Central City
Suburban Unit
Non-Metropolitan Unit
Number
of
units
reporting
297
0
0
11
26
38
76
71
75
64
98
76
59
129
156
6
4
2
19
218
60
With
local
govern-
ments
# %
135 45
0 0
0 0
3 27
9 34
16 42
38 50
32 45
37 49
20 31
66 67
37 48
12 20
63 48
67 42
3 50
1 25
1 50
8 42
110 50
17 28
With
school
districts
# %
1 0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0 0
1 1
0 0
0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
With
other
special
districts
# %
65 21
0 0
0 0
5 45
9 34
10 26
13 17
14 19
14 18
13 20
8 8
22 28
22 37
19 14
44 28
1 16
1 25
0 0
7 36
45 20
13 21
With
COG or
other
regional
units
# %
7 2
0
0
0
1
1
0
4
1
3
0
1
3
3
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
2
0
5
1
2
2
0
0
0
With
state
govern-
ment
# %
7 2
0
0
0
1
2
4
5
2
0
0
0
0
4
3
0
0
0
3
0 0
0 0
0
2
2
5
0
1
5
With
Federal
govern-
ment
#
5
0
0
7
1
2
0
1
0
0
1
3
1
1
4
0
0
0
%
1
0
0
9
3
5
0
1
0
4
2
0
0
0
With
private
firms
# %
11 25
2 18
5 19
8 21
25 32
18 25
19 25
28 43
20 20
11 14
18 30
37 28
35 22
2 33
2 50
1 50
3 15
49 22
25 41
-------
TABLE 6.—Water distribution agreements.
TOTAL, ALL MUNICIPALITIES
POPULATION GROUP
OVER 500,000
250,000-500,000
100,000-250,000
50,000-100,000
25,000- 50,000
10,000- 25,000
5,000- 10,000
2,500- 5,000
GEOGRAPHIC REGION
Northeast
North Central
South
West
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Mayor-Council
Council-Manager
Commission
Town Meeting
Representative Town Meeting
LOCATION
Central City
Suburban Unit
Non-Metropolitan Unit
Number
of
units
reporting
163
0
0
6
10
18
36
42
51
38
EJ
39
36
78
77
2
4
2
11
112
4J
With
local
govern-
ments
# %
58 35
0 0
0 0
3 50
2 20
5 27
12 33
16 38
20 39
8 21
26 52
20 51
4 11
32 41
25 32
0 0
0 0
1 50
5 45
40 35
13 32
With
school
districts
# %
1 0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
0
0 0
1 2
0 0
0 0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
With
other
special
districts
# %
33 20
0 0
0 0
2 33
30
27
11
16
3
5
4
7
12 23
8 21
4 8
10 25
11 30
13 16
19 24
0 0
1 25
0 0
3 27
25 22
5 12
With
COG or
other
regional
units
# %
5 3
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
4
1
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
5
5
1
0
0
0
0
1
7
With
state
govern-
ment
# %
1 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
With
Federal
govern-
ment
# %
3 1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
2
1
0
2
5
0
2
0
1 50
0 0
0 0
With
private
firms
# %
62 38
0 0
0 0
1 16
5 50
6 33
20 55
16 38
14 27
21 55
18 36
5 12
18 50
25 32
32 41
50
75
0
1
2
1 50
3 27
41 36
18 45
-------
OJ
-~J
00
TABLE 7.—Municipalities receiving and providing a package of Services
Number of
municipalities
reporting
TOTAL, ALL MUNICIPALITIES 1394
POPULATION GROUP
Over 500,000 4
250,000-500,000 8
100,000-250,000 31
50,000-100,000 82
25,000- 50,000 167
10,000- 25,000 341
5,000- 10,000 338
2,500- 5,000 418
Under 2,500 5
GEOGRAPHIC REGION
Northeast 256
North Central 492
South 352
West 294
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Mayor-Council 599
Council-Manager 721
Commission 40
Town Meeting 27
Representative Town Meeting 7
LOCATION
Central City 100
Suburban Unit 724
Non-Metropolitan Unit 570
Receive
package
of services
#
188
1
2
8
18
32
46
31
49
1
34
52
44
58
61
114
10
2
1
22
116
50
13
25
25
26
22
19
13
9
12
20
13
11
13
20
10
16
25
7
14
22
16
9
Number of
municipalities
reporting
2135
6
10
43
97
216
482
542
726
13
451
699
619
366
997
1014
64
47
13
133
977
1025
Provide
package of services
to other units
# %
239
3
4
8
24
31
61
59
47
2
55
86
56
42
86
145
6
1
1
31
111
97
11
50
40
19
25
14
13
11
6
15
12
12
9
11
9
14
9
2
8
23
11
9
-------
TABLE 8.—Reasons -why municipalities use intergovernmental agreements.1
Total
Munici-
palities
Reporting
AP 112
NP 46
WP 111
RC 329
SD 306
SL 105
SW 283
WS 278
WD 126
Take
advantage
of econo-
mies of
scale
(1)
# %
74 66
16 35
37 33
168 51
164 54
55 52
155 55
126 45
51 40
Lack
of
facilities
(2)
# %
44 39
22 48
37 33
123 37
93 30
28 27
101 36
119 43
43 34
Lack of
qualified
personnel
(3)
# %
28 25
5 11
15 14
16 5
13 4
11 10
11 4
8 3
5 4
Meet an
urgent
problem
(4)
# %
8 7
5 11
12 11
31 9
40 13
16 15
35 12
36 13
11 9
Citizen
demand
for service
agreement
(5)
# %
\ \
1 2
7 2
3 1
1 i
8 3
2 2
Take
service
out of
politics
(6)
# %
1 i
5 2
2 i
1 i
1
c 1
5 4
Civil
service
avoid-
ance
(7)
# %
0
1 i
9 3
0 —
1
2 1
Other
(specify)
(8)
# %
12 11
5 11
9 8
12 4
18 6
10 10
8 3
21 8
18 14
1 Percentages, when totaled, may exceed 100% since manyrespond-
ents noted more than one reason. 2Less than 1 per cent.
AP—Air pollution
NP—Noise pollution
WP—Water pollution
RC—Refuse collection
SD—Sewage disposal
SL—Sewer lines
SW—Solid waste disposal
WS—Water supply
WD—Water distribution
-------
seventy-seven cities receive election
services under contracts, and all cities
except Vernon contract with the County
for state health law enforcement. And
all cities but Santa Monica have con-
tracted for the maintenance of city
prisoners in the County Jail.
Reasons and negotiation
Each recipient of the survey ques-
tionnaire was requested to "check the
reason that best explains your decision
to use an intergovernmental service
agreement for the provision of the
service." Eight reasons were listed—(1)
take advantage of economies of scale,
(2) lack of facilities, (3) lack of quali-
fied personnel, (4) meet an urgent
problem, (5) citizen demand for service
agreement, (6) take the service out of
politics, (7) civil service avoidance, and
(8) other. As Table 8 reveals, the
principal reason for entering into agree-
ments for the receipt of environmental
services is to take advantage of econo-
mies of scale. The reasons, of course,
vary according to the service involved.
Lack of facilities, for example, is a
more important reason for entering into
a noise pollution abatement agreement
than economies of scale.
Agreements in thirty-six percent of
the reporting municipalities are negoti-
ated by the mayor and council. The
manager or administrator negotiates the
agreements in thirty-four percent of the
units, and the manager and council
negotiate the agreements in twenty-six
percent of the units.
The mayor and council most com-
monly negotiate the agreements in cities
over 250,000 population whereas the
manager or administrator most com-
monly negotiates the agreements in
cities in the 25,000 to 100,000 popula-
tion category. This finding is in general
accordance with the prevalence of these
two forms of administration in munici-
palities in these two forms of adminis-
tration in municipalities in these popu-
lation categories.
Evaluation of agreements
In fifty-six percent of the reporting
municipalities the performance of the
supplier of services is evaluated by
performance measures established in the
agreements. Sixty-five percent of the
central cities, however, evaluate the
services by means of periodic inspection
by their personnel. This method also
is used by fifty-two percent of the sub-
urban communities and forty percent of
the non-metropolitan communities. Lev-
els of citizen satisfaction, as measured
by the number of citizen complaints, are
used by sixty-one percent of the central
cities, fifty-eight percent of the suburban
communities, and forty-eight percent
of the non-metropolitan communities to
evaluate the performance of the sup-
pliers of services.
The vast majority of the recipients of
services are satisfied with the service
agreements as only 137, or six percent,
of the 2,367 responding local govern-
ments have terminated agreements.
Central cities (twelve percent) discon-
tinued agreements with greater frequen-
cy than suburban municipalities (five
percent) or municipalities in non-metro-
politan areas (three percent). The small
percentage of agreements terminated in
the latter type of municipalities un-
doubtedly is due to the fact that these
units have few if any alternative meth-
ods of providing or obtaining the
services.
Joint agreements
Agreements for the joint provision of
services and the joint construction and
operation of facilities are relatively com-
mon. Union agreements differ from
standard service agreements in that two
or more governmental units join forces
to provide the service or construct the
facility, a joint body usually is created
to administer the program, and each
participant typically is a coequal part-
ner.
Thirty-five percent of the reporting
municipalities are parties to agreements
for the joint provision of services.
Larger units generally enter into agree-
ments most often—eighty percent of the
units in the 250,000 to 500,000 popula-
tion category and only twenty-seven
380
-------
percent of the units in the 2,500 to
5,000 category.
Conjoint service agreements are most
common in the West (forty-nine per-
cent) and least common in the South
(twenty-eight percent). Forty-three per-
cent of the council-manager municipali-
ties participate in joint agreements com-
pared to thirty-one percent of the
commission cities and twenty-nine
percent of the mayor-council cities. Not
unexpectedly, central cities (sixty-two
percent) enter into such agreements
with greater frequency than suburban
communities (thirty-nine percent), or
non-metropolitan municipalities (thirty-
one percent). In part, this finding is a
reflection of the fact that the central
city usually has more opportunities to
enter into joint agreements, particularly
with the county.
Twenty-one percent of the responding
municipalities are parties to joint con-
struction and joint leasing agreements.
Once again, larger units have the great-
est proclivity for for participating in
such agreements—sixty percent of the
units in the 250,000 to 500,000 popu-
lation category compared to fourteen
percent of the units in the 2,500 to
5,000 categories. Council-manager units
are nearly twice as likely to be parties
to these agreements as are mayor-
council cities. And more central cities
(forty percent) sign these agreements
than suburban governments (twenty-
two percent) or non-metropolitan mu-
nicipalities (eighteen percent).
Agreements for the joint leasing of
equipment are relatively uncommon.
Only fifty-five municipalities report that
they are signatories to such agreements.
Agreements for the loan of personnel or
equipment are more common with fif-
teen percent of the reporting units
parties to agreements of this nature.
Services provided by counties
In 1971, the Advisory Commission
on Intergovernmental Relations, Inter-
national City Management Association,
and National Association of Counties
cooperatively surveyed 3,047 county
governments relative to services pro-
vided for individual local governments
within each county on a contract basis,
provided on a joint basis with local
governments in each county, and jointly
provided or under contract with another
county.
As Table 9 reveals, one-third of the
848 reporting counties provide services
on a contract basis to local governments
within the county. Although seventy-
three percent of the reporting counties
with a population over 500,000 provide
contract services, these counties account
for only 5.7 percent of the total num-
ber of service agreements. Interestingly,
slightly more than one-quarter of the
reporting counties providing services are
in the 10,000 to 25,000 population
class. This finding in part is a reflection
of the greater number (998) of coun-
ties in this population class.
More than one third of the respond-
ing counties provide services jointly with
other local governments. As in the case
of the contract services, joint service
agreements are most common among
counties in the 10,000 to 25,000 popu-
lation class. This finding in part is a
reflection of the greater number (998)
of counties in this population class.
Joint agreements with another county
for the provision of services are rela-
tively prevalent—226 out of 744 report-
ing counties have such agreements.
These agreements also are most com-
mon in the 10,000 to 25,000 population
class and in non-metropolitan areas.
Inhibiting factors
"Limitations placed on independence
of action by the agreement" was
checked by nearly one-half of the re-
porting incorporated municipalities as
the factor which has the most adverse
effect on their willingness to enter into
an agreement with another govern-
mental unit to obtain services.
"Inequitable apportionment of the cost
of the service" inhibited nearly one-
fourth of the municipalities from enter-
ing into agreements. The only other
factor checked by a significant number
of officials (nine percent) was "adverse
public reaction to services presently
381
-------
<-*> TABLE 9.—Counties supplying services on a contract basis 1971.
Population Number Number of Do not
group of responding Provide provide
counties counties services services
# % # %
Over 500,000 58 22 16 5.7 6 1.1
250,000-500,000 70 39 16 5.7 13 2.3
100,000-250,000 185 62 32 11.0 30 5.5
50,000-100,000 326 94 40 14.2 54 9.0
25,000- 50,000 566 153 48 17.1 105 18.8
10,000- 25,000 998 258 73 26.0 185 32.6
Under 10,000 844 230 56 19.9 174 30.7
Total 3,047 848 281 100.0 567 100.0
Source: 1971 survey of county governments by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, International City Manage-
ment Association, and National Association of Counties.
-------
being provided by another unit." Re-
sponses did not vary much by region,
form of government, and central city,
suburban, or non-metropolitan type.
The New Jersey County and Munici-
pal Government Study Commission
found "great hope in the fact that the
overwhelming majority of officials in
over 400 municipalities polled and inter-
viewed are willing and anxious to enter
into joint service agreements on a wide
variety of areas." u Our national survey
did not produce such optimistic data—
478, or twenty percent, of the 2,383
reporting incorporated municipalities
are contemplating entering into agree-
ments with other units for the provision
of services.
State and federal encouragement
Only forty-four of the respondents
felt that the state constitution prohibits
their municipalities from entering into
agreements for the receipt of services or
inhibits their ability to enter into agree-
ments. A larger number (109) report
that state statutes impede their ability
to enter into service agreements.
Three-fourths of the reporting mu-
nicipalities indicate that the state gov-
ernment actively encourages the inter-
governmental provision of services.
Forty-eight percent report that the
state provides incentive grants-in-aid,
forty-two percent mentioned financial
assistance for studies, and fifty-six per-
cent report the state provides technical
assistance.
Only twenty-eight local governments
felt that federal statutes and regulations
restricted their ability to enter into
agreements for services with another
governmental unit. One-half of the re-
spondents replied affirmatively to the
question "Do federal statutes and regu-
lations encourage intergovernmental
contracting and cooperation?"
Concluding comments
Incorporated municipalities over
2,500 population, according to our na-
tional survey, receive a significant num-
ber and a large variety of services from
other governmental units and private
firms under provisions of informal and
formal agreements. More than three-
fifths of the responding units receive
services from other governmental units,
yet most agreements are limited in scope
and involve only a single service. This
finding agrees with the finding of Vin-
cent L. Marando that in the Detroit
area "cooperative agreements entered
into by a municipality were generally
confined to one functional area. It did
not appear that such agreements were
generally confined to one functional
area. It did not appear that such agree-
ments were generally confined to one
functional area. It did not appear that
such agreements were encouraging mu-
nicipalities to cooperate with one an-
other on a large number of varied
functions."12
Service agreements would play a
larger role in solving major environ-
mental problems if a plan for the
multilateral use of agreements was de-
veloped and promoted in each region
by a metropolitan planning commission,
council of governments, or the state.
The widespread and successful use
of multi-lateral agreements, however,
would have three undesirable conse-
quences.
First, a large number of agreements
would complicate an already complex
local governmental system and make it
less comprehensible to the average citi-
zen. This, in turn, will make it more
difficult for citizens to pinpoint responsi-
bility for failures of the local govern-
mental system.
A second undesirable consequence of
a proliferation of service agreements
would be the reinforcement and per-
petuation of the existing fragmented
governmental system in the typical
metropolitan area. Services agreements
may make more difficult the creation
of an areawide government with ade-
quate powers to solve the major prob-
lems of the metropolis.
A closely related consequence may be
the promotion of additional political
fractionation and fiscal disparities in a
number of metropolitan areas. Even the
Advisory Commission on Intergovern-
mental Relations, a strong supporter of
383
-------
interlocal contracting, recognized "that
under certain conditions such contracts
can only further fragment unnecessarily
the metropolitan tax base. The presence
of nonviable 'paper' communities, in-
corporated under highly permissive state
legislation and sustained by interlocal
contracting arrangements, undoubtedly
creates extremes of fiscal capacity or
incapacity within certain areas."13
The cooperative or ecumenical ap-
proach to the solution of service prob-
lems will continue to be popular with
local government officials in the future
because the approach allows units to
take advantage of economies of scale
and has a minimal disruptive impact on
local governments. And it is not un-
reasonable to forecast that most state
governments will expand their efforts to
encourage local governments to enter
into service provision agreements and in
special cases to order one unit to pro-
vide a service to one or more contigu-
ous units.
Service agreements probably will
continue to act as a safety valve in
reducing the pressures for the establish-
ment of a metropolitan government. If
cooperation, however, fails to solve the
major problems of the metropolis, pres-
sure will be generated for the preemp-
tion of responsibility for solving prob-
lems by the federal and state govern-
ments.
One must not lose sight of the facts
that not all governmental service prob-
lems lend themselves to solution by
means of service agreements, and that
the potential of intergovernmental co-
operation is limited principally to the
solution of relatively minor and non-
controversial problems involving a small
number of local governments.
We conclude by pointing out that in-
creasing metropolitan scale and develop-
ment of megalopolises limit severely the
ability of interlocal cooperation to solve
major areawide problems and will in-
crease the pressure for the upward shift
of responsibility for problem solving.
Notes for Paper 5
'This paper is based on data collected
for a larger study of substate regionalism
being conducted by the Advisory Com-
mission on Intergovernmental Relations
under the direction of Dr. Carl W. Sten-
berg. See Joseph F. Zimmerman, "Inter-
governmental Service Agreements" in Sub-
state Regionalism (Washington, D.C.:
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmen-
tal Relations, forthcoming), chap. III.
2 Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments of 1972, 70 STAT. 498, 33
U.S.C. 1151.
3 Constitution of the State of New York,
art. IX, sec. l(c).
* Leigh E. Grosenick, A Manual for
Interlocal Cooperation in Minnesota (St.
Paul: Office of Local and Urban Affairs,
State Planning Agency, May 1969), p. 113.
8 Joint Services—A Local Response to
Areawide Problems (Trenton: County
and Municipal Government Study Com-
mission), p. 38.
" Rhode Island General Laws Anno-
tated, §§ 54-43-3.
7 For a fuller description of the prob-
lems encountered in gathering data on
service agreements, see H. Paul Friesema,
Metropolitan Political Structure: Intergov-
ernmental Relations and Political Integra-
tion in the Quad Cities (Iowa City: Uni-
versity of Iowa Press, 1971), pp. 37-42.
8 Joseph F. Zimmerman, "Solving Area-
wide Problems in Rhode Island," News-
letter (Kingston: Bureau of Government
Research, University of Rhode Island,
September 1972), p. 2, and "Can Cities
and Towns Meet the Challenges of the
Space Age?" New Hampshire City and
Town, June 1972, pp. 104-10.
* Vincent L. Marando, "Inter-Local Co-
operation in a Metropolitan Area: De-
troit," Urban Affairs Quarterly, December
1968, p. 193.
10 See the California Government Code,
§ 51301 and Los Angeles County Charter,
§56V2.
"Joint Services: A Local Response to
Areawide Problems (Trenton: County and
Municipal Government Study Commission,
1970), p. iv.
12 Vincent L. Marando, "Inter-Local Co-
operation in a Metropolitan Area: De-
troit," p. 199.
13 Fiscal Balance in the American Fed-
eral System: Metropolitan Fiscal Dispari-
ties. Vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Advisory
Commission on Intergovernmental Rela-
tions, October 1967), p. 15.
384
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VII.6
Managing at
the local level
Mark E. Keane
#
Environmental management is one of
the most intriguing public issues. It has
about it a spirit of hope which is other-
wise in short supply today. There is a
sense of being in on the beginning of a.
great battle on behalf of society.
There are ten points on the nature
of environmental management and the
need for a strong local government in
the "New Federalism" that I feel are
important and should be discussed.
They are as follows:
Point 1. This conference is typical of
the environmental movement in the
variety of speakers you have heard. The
academic community is well represented
along with all levels of the government
—Federal, state, county, metropolitan,
and city. The private business sector
has been represented too, although
probably not in adequate strength com-
mensurate with their importance. From
the White House to the Courthouse we
have looked at this strange creature
known as the environment. And that is
the only way we will make progress
back in our home communities—by get-
ting together like this.
Point 2. The environmental struggle
needs constant attention from the
media, not only when it stages a dra-
matic crisis or demonstration. The
papers, radio, and TV need to be
educated to the issues, the problems,
and the potentials, even as we do.
Point 3. The dimension of race is
a pervasive influence in all the problems
of current American society. No matter
how we may measure the quality of life
in our nation or in our community, we
need to establish a base point monitor-
ing system on those who have been
short circuited in the affluence of the
rest of society.
Point 4. Politics determines the envi-
ronment. We have faced the enemy of
pollution: how can he be defeated?
—by the government, or federal, state,
and local working together. They will
allow the citizen to express himself and
they will heed the computers and the
system analyses of their professional
staffs and of the academic community.
And who is they? It is the elected lead-
ers, from the President of the United
States to the trustee of the smallest
village. We know by now that they are
human and uncertain, and often tired
and weak, even as we are. We do not
generally understand, however, the tre-
mendous stress and pressure of elective
office today. We do not adequately
analyze how the elected official may be
helped and supported in making those
decisions we may think are so right and
so necessary. But they must and will
make the decision, even if the decision
is to do nothing.
Point 5. We adapt to the environment
at the local level. It's so obvious—
"you've made your bed, now lie in it."
In the cities, the complex jargon and the
sophisticated interrelationships of the
ecosystems translate to plain sensory
shocks: stinks, worms, rats, mud and
flood, backed-up sewage, messy garbage,
ugliness, noise, sickness, coughs, jams
and delays, ad nauseum. This is the
way you feel it, the way / feel it. These
are insults to the senses that are largely
controllable by community action, given
the essential national foundation of
basic law, commitment and resources.
Point 6. National strategy should aim
at creating the climate for energizing
local initiative. The results will be un-
even, but there will always exist a basic
need for diversity and freedom of
choice. The goal is to achieve an ever-
rising minimum standard, not some
ideal equality and purity.
*Presented by Mark E. Keane, Executive
Director, International City Management
Association, at the National Conference on
Managing the Environment.
385
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Point 7. At the local level, this point
of most important action, decisions are
difficult to come by. The people are
there. They see, feel, touch, taste, and
smell what their local officials do to
them. City Hall and the Courthouse are
within reach. No long distance toll
charges are necessary. Decisions are less
likely to be dramatic or revolutionary,
less likely, in fact, to deal with ego-
systems. They move incrementaly. Com-
prehensive plans are generally ignored,
while a change in zoning on one single
lot may fill the council chambers for a
public hearing. So, do we surrender to
destruction of the environment while
constructive change moves at such a
local pace? This may be. Or, we may
evolve a science of political action that
permits such involvement at the local
level while reshaping the basic frame-
work at regional, state, and federal
levels.
Point 8. Political leadership at the
local level needs to build, develop, and
sustain the best talent available as staff,
to help them understand and analyze
the environmental issues. Not even a
sign ordinance is simple; a water bill is
potential dynamite; a garbage bag will
break in your face. A local elected offi-
cial needs the help of well trained,
broad-gauged advisors, who will help
evolve policies that will actually work
to achieve the original objective. They
need to be organized in new ways that
integrate their viewpoints, ways that
bring them out of their functional spe-
cialities, a climate of interrelationships
that focuses their attention on the com-
mon problem and away from their par-
ticular departmental kingdoms.
Point 9. The technological capacity
to deal with environmental issues cannot
reach local governments today through
the traditional channels. Field represen-
tatives of federal or state agencies and
private consulting firms are helpful, of
course, but in most cases they have a
standard product to sell. New kinds of
institutions will be created by local
governments to serve their special needs.
An example is Public Technology In-
corporated, which has been organized
386
by the national associations, such as
I-CMA, representing state and local gov-
ernment. PTI is designed to serve as
the vehicle for facing the local govern.
ments' problems against the technology
of the universities and of industry. The
software and hardware products devel-
oped through this constant interface of
producer and consumer will constitute
an important part of the capacity of
local government to meet environmental
needs.
Point 10. We have postulated much
about citizen involvement in the deci-
sion-making process. We have con-
cluded that it is vital. We reach the
same conclusion on every public issue.
A public official welcomes public par-
ticipation when it tends to support the
ongoing process of governnic nt, but
tends to wish it would go away when
seemingly essential projects are stopped
dead or when decisions seem forever
delayed. You in public life at the front
lines in local government know there
is no formula, no pat solution. It is
the essence of the local political process.
However, there has been too little effort
to help the politician bridge the gap of
understanding between him and his
voters. Those who hope to improve the
effectiveness of citizen involvement need
to develop a strategy in each communi-
ty, one that best fits its political tradi-
tions. Frontal assault will be necessary
in some, while in others city hall will
gladly join with the citizens as a team
if the method and the motivation is
carefully and wisely developed.
The environment, perhaps more than
any other issue, requires intergovern-
mental solutions. It is important there-
fore that an appropriate role for the
federal, state and local levels be de-
fined and adhere to. The direction of
the "New Federalism," as exemplified
in general revenue sharing and the pro-
posed special revenue sharing, has right-
ly placed greater responsibility back in
the local level. The local government
official will make or break this great
national effort. We need to continue this
process of helping him, respecting him,
and most importantly, listening to him.
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1974 O 528-735
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