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The U.S. Water Pollution Crisisand the Clean Water Act

Pat Munday, PhD

Fulbright Scholar

Southwest University PRC Spring 2012

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Historical Development of the

Clean Water Act of 1972

Introduction: 1969 Cuyahoga River fire as mythic

event

Water pollution and the U.S. industrial revolution

Give Earth a Chance: 1960s grassroots activism Leadership: 1960s political calls for action

Landmark legislation: the Clean Water Act of 1972

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Great Lakes Region, United States

Cleveland, Ohio:

Cuyahoga River


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Cuyahoga River Fire 1952

(http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1642)


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Cuyahoga River Pollution in 1969http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2009/06/cuyahoga_river_fire_40_years_a.html


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Video Clip: Cuyahoga River Fire, 1969

One of many fires: 1868, 1883, 1887, 1912,1922, 1936, 1941, 1948, and 1952.

Historical question: The Cuyahoga River, and

other rivers in America, had burned before.Why was this time different? Why did it help

lead to environmental policy changes?

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Historical Explanation

1960s America: social revolution anti-war

movement, civil rights, feminism, opposition

to materialism/technology, environmentalism

Universities: development of environmental

sciences

Political will to change: U.S. Congress and

President Richard Nixon

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Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)

Scientist

Popular writer

Activist

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http://www.treehugger.com/


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Environmental Philosophy/Literature:

Chinese and Japanese Zen Influences

Jack Kerouac, On the

Road(1957)

Alan Watts, The Way of

Zen (1957); [Zen =(Chn)]

Gary Snyder, Riprap and

Cold Mountain Poems

(1959)

[Cold Mountain =

(Hnshn) ]

9Hanshan and Shide (Museum Rietberg, Zrich)


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Growth of Grassroots Activism:

Sierra Club Membership

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Earth Day 1970

Teach-in for 20 million

Most events university-

based

Modeled after teach-inprotests against the U.S.

war in Vietnam

Pressure U.S. governmentto address environmental

issues

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Political Awareness:

President John F. Kennedy (1961-63)

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Even in material terms,

prosperity is not enough when

there is no equal opportunity

to share in it; when economic

progress means overcrowded

cities, abandoned farms,

technological unemployment,

polluted air and water, and

littered parks andcountryside John F.

Kennedy, U.S. presidential

candidate (1960)


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Political Awareness:

President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69)

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"We have always prided

ourselves on being not only

America the strong and

America the free, but Americathe beautiful Today that

beauty is in danger. The water

we drink, the food we eat, the

very air that we breathe, are

threatened with pollution

President Lyndon B. Johnson

(1964)

h l ( )


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The Clean Water Act (1972):

The Legislative Process

President Richard Nixon

submitted the CWA bill to

Congress

Vetoed by President based on

cost vs. benefit (17 October1972)

Overridden by Senate (18

October 1972)

Overridden by House andbecame law (18 October 1972)

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Th Cl W t A t (1972)


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The Clean Water Act (1972):

A Major Achievement

Major achievements

1. Federal agency control over pollution (Environmental

Protection Agency, established by President Nixon in

1970 in response to the first Earth Day)

2. Discharge of toxic pollutants prohibited

3. Water must be swimmable and fishable.*

* [drinkable added with Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)]

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The Challenge Continues

American social conflict: corporate vs.

environmental interests

Environmental support dependent on

grassroots citizen groups: Clean Water Action,

Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, and

hundreds of state/local groups

Video clip: Clean Water Action

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Selected Bibliography

Web Sites CWA general summary http://www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.html

CWA legislative overview www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/cwa.html

Scholarly Journals Adler (2002). Fables of the Cuyahoga,FORDHAM ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL 14:

89-146.

Rome (2003). Give Earth a Chance,The Journal of American History90: 525-554.

Stradling and Stradling (2008). Perceptions of the Burning River,Environmental History

13: 515-535.

Books Milazzo (2006). Unlikely Environmentalists: Congress and Clean Water, 19451972.

(University Press of Kansas).

Munday (2011). Environmental Protection Agency in Robbins and Wehr (eds), Green

Culture: An A-to-Z Guide (Sage Publications, Inc.).

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http://www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/cwa.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/cwa.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.html

1 us clean water act

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