Environmental History

Why do we have the laws we have?
What is the history that led to where we are?

Significant Events and Laws Related to Water pollution

1892 Flow of Chicago River reversed
1898 Rivers and Harbors Act
1908 Chlorination begun in water treatment plants
1940s-1950s itai-itai disease, cadmium in rice
1948 Water Pollution Control Act
1950s Miamata disease, mercury poisoning
1950s DDD bioaccumulation, anoxia in Western Grebes
1950s-1960s DDT and DDE, reproductive success in birds
1956 Federal Water Pollution Control Act
1962 Silent Spring published
1965 Water Quality Act
1965 Solid Waste Disposal Act
1965 Time magazine declares Lake Erie Dead
1966 80 people die in NYC of water pollution
1967 Torrey Canyon runs aground off England
1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill, offshore wells
1969 Cuyahoga River catches fire
1970 First Earth day on April 22
1970 NEPA
1970 EPA created
1972 UN conference, Stockholm
1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (passed over Nixon veto)
1972 DDT phased out
1972 FIFRA
1974 SDWA
1975 Kepone problems surface, Allied Chemicals, Hopewell, VA
1976 RCRA
1976 TSCA
1977 CWA amendments to FWPCA (focusing on toxics)
1978 Love Canal, NY (chemical waste)
1978 Amoco Cadiz, 220,000 tons oil
1980 CERCLA
1983 Kestersen, deformities in birds
1986 Times Beach, MO (dioxin)
1987 CWA reauthorization (added sec 319)
1989 Exxon Valdez, 11 million gallons
1990 Oil Pollution Act
1990 Pollution Prevention Act
1991 4,000 people die from cholera in Latin America epidemic
1992 Earth Summit, Rio

http://www.epa.gov/region09/features/top30/80s.html
Take a look at what EPA considered the top environmental stories in the last 30 years.

Problems in the Great Lakes
http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/pollution/water/water1.html
This is a very general overview about water pollution in the Great Lakes, but it does mention some of the points that I will cover in class.

http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/riverflow.html

What was the problem in the Great Lakes around the turn of the century? What was it caused by?
What were some of the solutions?

In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt made the statement " Civilized people should be able to dispose of their sewerage in a better way than putting it into their drinking water"
So why did we not develop laws to do this until the 1950s and 70s?

In 1930 , 87% of the American population had sewers, but only 26% had their sewage treated.

Cuyahoga River
http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/SpecColl/croe/accidx.html
This has some pictures of the Cuyahoga River fires
http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/engl/marling/60s/pages/richoux/TheFire.html
This is a summary of the 1969 fire and its impact
So what was the problem with the Cuyahoga River? Why did it catch on fire? Why was it important?

Santa Barbara Oil Spill

http://www.silcom.com/~sbwcn/spill.shtml

General Environmental Response
"We have met the enemy and he is us"* Where is this statement from? What does it mean?

Read the Lorax by Dr. Suess. What is it all about? Note particularly the 22nd paragraph starting with "What's more," snapped the Lorax. (His dander was up.)
http://www.geekteacher.net/lorax.html

1970s Facts
30% of drinking water supplies had chemicals exceeding public health limits
87% of swordfish caught had mercury levels unfit for consumption
98% of fish had DDT (1967-68), levels up to 9x FDA limit
Hudson River found to have bacteria 170x safe limit
26 million fish killed in Lake Thonotoassa, FL
More than 1/5 of nations shellfish beds closed
Commercial harvest of shrimp declined from 6.3 million lbs to 10,000 lbs

Kepone
Organochlorine pesticide
Manufactured by Allied Chemical
Affects the nervous system
Hydrophobic, bioaccumulates in fatty tissue,

Information from:
Environmental encyclopedia / William P. Cunningham ... [et al.], editors.
CALL NUMBER: GE10.E58 1994 -- RefBook -- NonCirculating/NonRequest
p. 461-463

What is the problem with Kepone?
How did it get in the river?
What happened to it/
What happened to the manufacturer?

Love Canal
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/lovecanal/
This site is full of information and links on the Love Canal
http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290c.htm
This is the EPA fact sheet on Love Canal which briefly explains what happened and what have been the remedial measures.

For some personal interest take a look at the Living on Earth transcripts
July 31, 1998 Transcript
http://www.loe.org/archives/archives.htm

What is it? What happened there? In view of what happened there and the remedial measures taken there has been some controversy over whether it was an overreaction. What are your thoughts on this? Should both evacuations have been done? How good is the evidence of harm?

Kesterson NWR
Selenium toxicity
Irrigation drain water

Additional information from:
Environmental encyclopedia / William P. Cunningham ... [et al.], editors.
CALL NUMBER: GE10.E58 1994 -- RefBook -- NonCirculating/NonRequest
p. 463-464
http://www.ul.cs.cmu.edu/webRoot/Books/National_Academy_Press_Books/irrigation/irrig025.htm

What was the problem at Kesterson?
What has been the solution?