The Clean Air Act and the Transformation of Environmentalism in American Society
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Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Honors College at WKU Projects Spring 5-13-2011 A Series of Un-breathable Events: The leC an Air Act and the Transformation of Environmentalism in American Society Chelsea Kasten Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Kasten, Chelsea, "A Series of Un-breathable Events: The leC an Air Act and the Transformation of Environmentalism in American Society" (2011). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 306. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/306 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Capstone Experience/ Thesis Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A SERIES OF UN-BREATHABLE EVENTS: THE CLEAN AIR ACT AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ENVIRONMENTALISM IN AMERICAN SOCIETY A Capstone Experience/ Thesis Project Project in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts with Honors College Graduate Distinction at Western Kentucky University By Chelsea E. Kasten ***** Western Kentucky University 2011 CE/T Committee: Approved by Dr. Patricia Minter, Advisor Dr. Ouida Meier ___________________________________ Advisor Professor Travis Wilson Department of History Copyright by Chelsea E. Kasten 2011 ABSTRACT Clean air legislation was first passed in the United States by Congress in 1955 and has since been amended in 1963, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1977 and 1990. The Clean Air Act was created to ensure that Americans were not being unnecessarily exposed to harmful air pollutants. It is the legislation that allows for the regulation and control over air pollutants and the sources that release those air pollutants. This legislation is important to the maintenance and improvement of air quality in the United States. Without the Clean Air Act to regulate pollutant sources, the air could be toxic to vulnerable populations in the U.S., if not toxic for the U.S. as a whole, causing different cancers and health issues. Air legislation has been passed in the United States because of the public demand for Congress to protect public health. Had it not been for these social pressures Congress had no reason to take action with legislation. This legislation changed as American society was transforming with a new awareness and environmentalism. Keywords: Clean Air Act, Earth Day, smog, air pollution, environmentalism, clean air legislation ii Dedicated to the people who make up my world, the most loving and supportive friends and family I could ask for. May we continue to breathe cleanly, always. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without the support, knowledge and dedication of so many people. I am grateful beyond words to my CE/T advisor, Dr. Patricia Minter, for all of her assistance with this project. Her dedication to her students and willingness to have weekly meetings as well as many email conversations throughout this process allowed me to create this thesis. I would also like to thank my committee, Dr. Ouida Meier and Professor Travis Wilson, for all of their time and support. I could not have asked for a better advisor or committee. Many thanks to the Honors College and Western Kentucky University for a creative and enthusiastic intellectual community that helped contribute to my project. Finally I would like to thank my incredible family and friends. Without them this thesis would not have been possible. I would not be the person I am today, nor would I have been able to produce the work that I did without them. Everything I do is for them, for they make up my world. iv VITA CHELSEA E. KASTEN [email protected] May 1, 1989……………………………………………………Born- St. Louis, Missouri 2007…………………………Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale, Illinois March 26, 2011…………..Presenter at 38th Annual WKU Student Research Conference May 6, 2011………………………………………………………..Honors Thesis Defense 2011……...Western Kentucky University, Honors College, Magna Cum Laude, Bowling Green, Kentucky FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History Minor Field: Legal Studies v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….….ii Dedication …………………………………………………………………………….…iii Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………..iv Vita ……………………………………………………………………………………….v List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………...vii Chapters: 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………1 2. Smog and Death: Air Pollution Control Act of 1955……………………………12 3. From Environmental Disasters to Literary Revolutions…………………………22 4. The Consequence of Neglect: The Clean Air Act of 1963………………………30 5. A Modern Dante’s Inferno: The Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act and the Air Quality Act of 1967………………………………………………………………….36 6. A Day for the Earth: Earth Day 1970……………………………………………44 7. The Peak of Change: The Clean Air Act 1970………………………………….61 8. The Time of Compromise: The 1977 Clean Air Act Amendment ……………...71 9. A Stalemate and a Resistant Executive Branch …………………………………83 10. The Last Great Action of Congress: 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment………….90 11. The Dirty Air Fight Continues: 1990 to the Present Day.……………………….97 vi LIST OF IMAGES Image Page 1 Donora At Noon………………………………………………………………...…4 2 Police officer controlling traffic during the London Smog……………………...14 3 President Dwight D. Eisenhower ……………………………………………......19 4 Rachel Carson and Silent Spring………………………………………………...27 5 President Lyndon B. Johnson ...…………………………………………………33 6 Caption from Earth Day 1970 depicting the fears of Americans if air continued to be dirty………………………….………………………………………........44 7 President Richard Nixon signing the Clean Air Act 1970 ………………………64 8 President Carter…………………………………………………………………..77 9 President Ronald Reagan………………………………………………………...86 10 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill ………………………………………………………….92 11 President George H.W. Bush signing the Clean Air Act 1990 ………………….95 12 President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore ……………………………106 13 An Inconvenient Truth………………………………………………………….114 14 President George W. Bush…………………………………………………….. 118 15 Protestor wanting regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and control of global warming…………………………………………………………………. ...118 16 Athlete arrives in China for 2008 Olympics…………………………………... 128 17 President Barack Obama………………………………………………………..131 18 BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico…………………………………………… 139 vii Chapter 1 Introduction “This situation does not exist because it was inevitable, not because it cannot be controlled. Air pollution is the inevitable consequence of neglect. It can be controlled when that neglect is no longer tolerated.”1 These were the words of President Lyndon B. Johnson when he signed the Air Quality Act of 1967 at a time when growing concern over the environment, especially air pollution, was of particular interest to the U.S. government and the people of the United States. Being able to breathe in air is one of the single most important functions of the human body. The human brain begins to shut down from lack of oxygen after three to four minutes of air starvation. With oxygen being an essential ingredient for the body to function, air pollution is a cause of concern. While starvation of oxygen altogether causes the brain to die and organ failure, exposure to air pollution is associated with numerous effects on human health. These effects include lung, heart, blood vessel, and brain impairments. How an individual’s health is affected by air pollution varies but there are different groups of people who are at a higher risk of illness than others. The groups most at risk for air pollution are the elderly, infants and children with developing lungs, 1 President Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks Upon Signing the Air Quality Act of 1967, 21 November 1967, http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/671121.asp (accessed 2 January 2011). 1 pregnant women (who are breathing dirty air to their unborn fetus), and individuals who suffer from serious heart and lung diseases.2 Air pollution can cause both short and long-term health effects. Short-term effects are usually immediate and often reversible when exposure to the pollutant ends. Eye irritation, headaches, dizziness and nausea are all associated short-term exposure. Long- term consequences of air pollution are not immediately evident. They are not reversible when exposure to the pollutant ends. These health risks include decreased lung capacity and cancer resulting from long-term exposure to toxic air pollutants. Air pollution can affect the skin, eyes, and other body systems but primarily affects the respiratory system. All forms of air pollutants can negatively affect the lungs. The lungs are the organ which absorbs oxygen from the air and removes carbon dioxide. Lung damage due to air pollution hinders this process and helps lead to respiratory illnesses like bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, and cancer. Weaker lungs can add additional strain to the heart and circulatory system. There are scientific techniques for assessing health impacts of air pollution making use of air pollutant monitoring, exposure assessment, dosimetry, toxicology, and epidemiology.3 It was an incident in Donora, Pennsylvania in 1948 that brought the issue of air pollution into the American consciousness. On October 29th of that year an inversion, where a cold air mass traps warm air near the ground,