Environmental Encyclopedia

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Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Theodore Roosevelt

ess at identifying birds on a field walk with the naturalist-

writer. Roosevelt’s interest in the natural history of birds

and other animals provided much of the motivation for two

long and perilous trips taken after his presidency to South

America and Africa, trips that compromised his health and

may have shortened his life.

From a very young age, Roosevelt was also a politician.

At the age of 23, he was elected to the New York State

Assembly in 1881. Always contradictory, the young Roose-

velt was conservative and pro-establishment but was also a

reformer, anticorruption and anti-machine politics.

As governor of New York (1898–1900), Roosevelt

defined and tried to act on conservation issues. In 1900,

Gifford Pinchot

helped Roosevelt formulate his message to

the New York State Assembly about the need for

forest

management

. The Governor also tried to outlaw the use

of bird feathers for adornment. Historians claim that his

actions so alarmed the Assembly that he was “manipulated”

out of the governor’s mansion into the vice-presidency, from

there he became President after William McKinley’s assassi-

nation.

Roosevelt’s contribution to conservation can be divided

into four categories: first, his role in setting aside and manag-

ing what are now called national forests; second, his decisive

initiation of a

national wildlife refuge

system; third, his

impact on transforming the

arid

lands of the American

West into irrigated farmland; and, fourth, his efforts to

promote natural resources nation-wide.

Roosevelt is best known for his collaboration with

Pinchot in appropriating public forest lands once controlled

by private interests and “reserving” them for “our people

unborn.” Congress passed the Forest Reserve Act (authoriz-

ing the Presidents to create forest reserves from the public

domain) in 1891, well before Roosevelt took office. The

three Presidents immediately before him established forest

reserves of some 50 million acres (20.3 million ha). Roosevelt

publicized the value of forest reserves to the people; and

reorganized management of the reserves, placing them under

the Bureau of Forestry (later the

Forest Service

) in the

Department of Agriculture. Increased the acreage in re-

serves—by 150 million acres (60.8 million ha), 16 million

(6.5 million ha) of which were set aside almost overnight

in a famous and successful action in 1907 by which he and

Pinchot worked long hours to create the reserves before the

President had to sign a congressional act with a rider limiting

his powers to do so. All of these actions remain controversial

today. The Forest Service’s timber management policies are

still being criticized for catering to special interests, and

not realizing Roosevelt’s goal to preserve the forests for the

people, not powerful private interests.

The story of Pelican Island illustrates perhaps better

than any other incident in Roosevelt’s administration his

1227

approach to conservation issues. Visited by naturalist friends

alarmed at the decimation of birds on Florida’s Pelican

Island, Roosevelt asked if the law prevented him from declar-

ing the island “a Federal Bird Reservation.” Told that no

such law existed, the President responded, “Very well, then

I so declare it.” During his tenure, Roosevelt created 50

additional

wildlife

refuges. His enthusiastic initiation of

these preserves provided a base for the extensive national

wildlife refuge

system.

Roosevelt entered the Presidency with the idea that

the western drylands could become productive through

irri-

gation

. He realized, however, that the scale of such projects

prohibited private enterprise from undertaking the task. One

of his first initiatives was to work with congressmen repre-

senting western states to pass the

Reclamation

Act of 1902.

Sixteen projects were soon initiated in those states. Reclama-

tion from Roosevelt’s point of view—especially large dams—

are considered a mixed blessing by many conservationists

today.

Roosevelt, was a natural publicist and, along with Pin-

chot and

John Muir

, he provided an extraordinary legacy to

the American people of a variety of lands and resources in

public ownership. Roosevelt used the Presidency’s “bully

pulpit” effectively to arouse public interest in conservation

issues. Harold Pinket argues that Roosevelt’s main contribu-

tion to the conservation movement was “wielding his presi-

dential prestige to craft a coalition of people with otherwise

opposed perspectives on natural resources, from naturalists

and civic leaders who favored preservation to utilitarian re-

source specialists and users.” No accomplishment illustrates

this better than the Governor’s Conference of 1907. At this

conference Roosevelt bought all the nation’s governors and

many other leaders together and, using his own enthusiasm

for conservation, he ignited discussions, policies and actions

that resonate still today at many levels of government.

Roosevelt’s concern for conservation was reflected in

his message to Congress, delivered two months after becom-

ing President. It contained strong references to all the rele-

vant issues of the time—preservation and use of forests,

soil

and

water conservation

, wildlife protection,

recreation

and reclamation of arid lands. He is still recognized for his

leadership on these areas. In addition to his concern for

conservation issues Roosevelt was a widely published author.

Many readers can still be entertained by vivid accounts of

hunting

trips in the west or his life as a rancher in the

Dakotas.

Most environmentalists pay strong tribute to Roose-

velt’s accomplishments as a conservationist and his contribu-

tions to the conservation movement. However, he is not

universally admired. Some view Roosevelt as an elitist while

other criticize what some consider his excessive slaughter as

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Theodore Roszak

Theodore Roosevelt. (Archive/Corbis-Bettmann. Re-

produced by permission.)

a hunter. Outright defends Roosevelt, arguing “it was only

after Roosevelt put the full force of his power as President

behind the conservation program that it got off the ground.”

Theodore Roosevelt’s energy and bluster, his cultivation of

well-known naturalists and conservationists, his willingness

to listen to and act on their advice, his political skills in

getting policies enacted—all those endure in a lasting legacy

of national forests, a national wildlife refuge system, a

strengthened

national park

system, and increased and on-

going awareness of the importance of protecting these for

future generations

. His words still ring true today, that

“any nation which...lives only for the day, reaps without

sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the

penalty of the prodigal.” A very verbal leader, Roosevelt often

had the last word: “For the people...must always include

the people unborn as well as the people now alive, or the

democratic ideal is not realized.”

[Gerald L. Young Ph.D.]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Brooks, P. “A Naturalist in the White House.” In Speaking for Nature.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.

Cutright, P. R. Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Conservationist. Cham-

paign: University of Illinois Press, 1985.

1228

ERIODICALS

Ponder, S. “Publicity in the Interest of the Public: Theodore Roosevelt’s

Conservation Crusade.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 20 (Summer 1990):

547–555.

Theodore Roszak (1933 – )

American social critic

Perhaps most prominently associated with the countercul-

ture movement in the 1960s, Roszak was born in 1933. He

received his B.A. from the University of California at Los

Angeles in 1955 and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in

1958. Roszak began his career as an instructor in history at

Stanford University and is currently professor of history at

California State University, Hayward. He received a Gug-

genheim fellowship in 1971.

Like his mentor Lewis Mumford, Roszak combines

political and cultural criticism with a thoroughgoing critique

of technology and technological society. Published in 1969,

his first book was an effort to understand the counterculture

movement. In The Making of a Counterculture: Reflections on

the Technocratic Society and its Youthful Opposition, Roszak

criticizes consumer society, the military-industrial complex

it supports, the increasing concentration of populations in

unclean, unsafe, and ungovernable cities, and the techno-

cratic and bureaucratic mentality that views such dilemmas

as essentially technical problems with technical or scientific

solutions. Roszak is highly critical of this rationalist point-

of-view and argues that modern society should attempt to

recover and return to a sense of the sacred and mysterious

dimensions of human life.

In 1972, Roszak published Where the Wasteland Ends:

Politics and Transcendence in Post-Industrial Society. Here, he

offers an outline of what he terms a “visionary common-

wealth,” an alternative society that would check or eliminate

the destructive tendencies of modern technocratic civiliza-

tion. The commonwealth he describes is decentralized and

small in scale. Politics is participatory, technology is appro-

priate and intermediate, and there is widespread experimen-

tation with different forms of social, economic, and political

organization. Roszak believes that resettling populations into

such small-scale, economically self-sufficient, and politically

self-governing communities cannot happen quickly. How-

ever, he contends that such a shift will happen and he argues

that it should happen, if humans are to live spiritually rich

and meaningful lives. Roszak maintains that the possibilities

for this utopia are present as “springs” within the technocratic

wasteland, waiting to be discovered and used to transform

this spiritual

desert

into a humanly habitable garden of

earthly delights. It is he says, “more humanly beautiful to

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Frank Sherwood Rowland

risk failure in searching for the hidden springs than to resign

to the futurelessness of the wasteland.”

Published in 1978, Person/Planet expands on Roszak’s

vision of the future of humanity and continues his critique

of modern society. Roszak argues that industrial society is

disintegrating in a way that, he maintains, is creative. Large,

complex institutions, including government itself, are failing

to attract the loyalty and allegiance they need to maintain

their authority, and Roszak believes their disintegration will

make his utopian commonwealth possible. For him, the

needs of the individual and the needs of the planet are

identical. Both flourish in an

atmosphere

of authenticity,

diversity, and respect, and he argues that these are things

that large industrial institutions, with their emphasis on

uniformity, linearity, and wastefulness, can neither compre-

hend nor tolerate.

Roszak has been criticized for his romanticism and

his utopianism. His attacks on science and rationalism, in

particular, have been frequently condemned as vague and

imprecise, and he has been accused of confusing the method-

ology of science with the failings of the people who employ

it. However, many admire Roszak not only for his passionate

prose but also for his vision of human possibilities, and his

books are still frequently consulted for their images of people

living reverently and responsibly in harmony with the earth.

[Terence Ball]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Roszak, Theodore. Person/Planet: The Creative Disintegration of Industrial

Society. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978.

———. The Gendered Atom: Reflections on the Sexual Psychology of Science.

Conari Press, 1999.

———. The Making of a Counterculture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society

and its Youthful Opposition. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969.

———. The Voice of the Earth. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

———. Where the Wasteland Ends: Politics and Transcendence in Postindus-

trial Society. New York: Doubleday, 1972.

———. M. E. Gomes, and A. D. Kanner. Ecopsychology: Restoring the

Earth, Healing the Mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1995.

Frank Sherwood Rowland (1927 – )

American atmospheric chemist

Rowland was born in the central Ohio city of Delaware.

After a brief period of service in the United States Navy,

he attended Ohio Wesleyan University where he earned his

bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1948. He balanced his

semi-professional baseball career with his studies and contin-

1229

ued his education in chemistry, earning master’s and doctor-

ate degrees at the University of Chicago in 1951 and 1952,

respectively. Fresh out of school, Rowland pursued a career

in education and research. He taught chemistry at Princeton

University from 1952 to 1956 and the University of Kansas

between 1963 and 1964.

Rowland has conducted research in many areas of the

chemical and radiochemical fields. In 1971, for example, to

calm an alarmed public, Rowland and a team of scientists

investigated the seemingly high levels of

mercury

being

found in tuna and

swordfish

. They tested the tissues of

museum exhibit, century-old fish and found the levels of

the dangerous substance were in about the same range as

those recently pulled from the water, and therefore proved

the fish were not a health threat. In addition to this type of

testing, he completed work for such organizations as the

International Atomic Energy Administration and the United

States

Atomic Energy Commission

. Rowland is probably

best known, however, for his work in atmospheric and chem-

ical kinetics and especially his investigations of

chlorofluo-

rocarbons

(CFCs).

Inert and versatile compounds, CFCs were most often

found in items like cooling devices and

aerosol

cans; CFCs

are also found throughout the

atmosphere

. The inherent

dangers of CFCs were unknown until Rowland teamed up

with University of California associate

Mario Molina

1973 and found that certain atoms of those CFCs present

in the atmosphere were combining with the

ozone

, causing

rapid depletion of the protective ozone layer itself. Such

destruction could result in drastic climatic changes, as well

as increased atmospheric penetration by the sun’s rays (caus-

ing a huge upswing of the occurrence of skin

cancer

Initially, Rowland’s and Molina’s theory was not

readily accepted. In recent years however, the theory has

come be accepted as an unpleasant fact; the importance of

CFC elimination has been realized. Major industries are

taking steps to address the CFC problem. Du Pont for

example, a major developer and manufacturer of CFCs, has

pledged to reduce its production of the compounds. The

1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Rowland,

Molina, and Paul Crutzen.

Rowland is currently the chemistry department chair-

man at the University of California at Irvine, where he has

been a faculty member since 1964. He maintains member-

ship in numerous organizations, among them: the Ozone

Commission of the International Association of Meteoro-

logical and Atmospheric Physics; Committee of Atmo-

spheric Chemical and Global

Pollution

; and various com-

mittees of the United States National Academy of Science.

[Kimberley A. Peterson]

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Rubber

ESOURCES

ERIODICALS

Edelson, E. “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” Popular Science 234 (January

1989): 60–65, 102.

Moreau, D. “Change Agents.” Changing Times (January 1990): 99.

Rowland, F. S. “Chlorofluorocarbons and the Depletion of Stratospheric

Ozone.” American Scientist 77 (1989): 36–45.

Rubber

Rubber was first used to manufacture tires in the mid-nine-

teenth century. By the turn of the twenty-first century, there

were about three billion waste tires stockpiled or clogging

landfills in the United States alone. Worldwide, about 700

million scrap tires are generated annually. This waste rubber

has become a major source of

pollution

Although rubber, made from latex secreted by trees,

has been used for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1839,

when Charles Goodyear invented vulcanization, that rubber

became important for manufacturing. Vulcanization uses

sulfur to cross-link the latex fibers into a rubber that is

strong, flexible, durable, and resistant to heat and cold. Like

natural rubber, modern synthetic rubbers are polymers (long

chains of similar molecules) that are cross-linked by vulcani-

zation. Tires consume 60–70% of all rubber produced, two-

thirds of which is synthetic.

Of the 273 million waste tires generated annually in

the United States, about 25% end up in landfills. There they

leak pollutants into

soil

and

groundwater

and tend to rise

to the surface, harming

landfill

covers. The largest tire dump

in the Northeast United States holds an estimated 20–30

million tires. The majority of states now ban tire disposal

in landfills and collect disposal fees on tires or require that

the tires be chipped or ground before disposal. An additional

800 million tires are stockpiled in the United States, how-

ever, and many more are dumped illegally. These mountains

of tires can fill up with water and become breeding grounds

for rats and mosquitoes. They also can ignite, have a high

heat output, and are very difficult to contain. These fires

can burn for months or years, producing toxic

smoke

and

oils that pollute the air, water, and soil.

Rubber recycling

Rubber is difficult to recycle because of its chemical

cross-linking. Furthermore most tires contain a mixture of

three or four types of synthetic rubbers, as well as natural

rubber, other fibers, and steel. Nevertheless in the United

States, markets now exist for 76% of newly-scrapped tires,

up from 17% in 1990. About 42% of scrapped tires are used

for fuel in facilities such as

pulp and paper mills

and cement

1230

kilns. As a fuel, tires are equivalent to oil and produce 25%

more energy than

coal

. Because of new technologies and

pollution controls, tire

combustion

now proceeds at higher

temperatures with less

air pollution

About 33 million retread or recapped tires are sold

annually in the United States. A retread tire reuses 75% of

the old tire and requires 70% less oil than manufacturing a

new tire.

In 2001 about 40 million scrap tires were used in the

construction of playground equipment, artificial reefs, boat

bumpers, crash barriers, stabilizers for slopes, and

erosion

control for

dams

. Tire material is used for

mulch

, mats,

septic systems, building products, coatings and sealants, and

hazardous waste

containers.

Many new products contain material from recycled

tires. In the United States about 24.5 million scrap tires

annually are ground up, cut, stamped, or punched for new

products. Ground tires are used for running tracks, play-

grounds, flooring, and the soles of shoes, or mixed with

asphalt for road paving. Rubber crumb is used in products

such as athletic turf and auto parts.

In typical rubber

recycling

, the tires are cut up into

small pieces and ground, or frozen in liquid

nitrogen

and

shattered or pulverized. The steel is extracted with magnets

and

filters

separate the rubber from other synthetic fibers.

However 15–50% of the original tire remains as a useless

rubber-fiber blend that goes to the landfill. The

U.S. Depart-

ment of Agriculture

is attempting to develop more efficient

methods of separating the rubber from the other fibers.

The development of new tire recycling technologies

is an active area of research. Ground-up rubber can be mixed

with virgin rubber and vulcanized to form new cross-links,

restoring its strength and elasticity. About 5% of scrap tires

are recycled in this way. Improved methods for rejuvenating

old rubber, without mixing it with newly-manufactured rub-

ber, would enable tire manufacturers to increase the recycled

content of new tires.

Another area of research uses heat and pressure to

combine the powder from ground-up tires with powder

made from asphalt. This asphalt-modified rubber is supe-

rior to asphalt for roads, construction materials, and roofing

shingles. Likewise, researchers are experimenting with add-

ing rubber crumb to fresh concrete to increase strength

and durability. A composite that contains 50% rubber

crumb could potentially replace

plastics

such as polyvinyl

chlorides for various applications. Other researchers are

studying whether the oils produced by waste tire combus-

tion can be reprocessed into

carbon

black for use in

various products.

[Margaret Alic Ph.D.]

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

William Doyle Ruckleshaus

ESOURCES

THER

“Arizona State University Research Finds Recycling Cure for Used Tires.”

ScienceDaily Magazine September 13, 2001 [cited July 7, 2002]. <http://

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010913074634.htm>.

“Recycling Research Institute.” Scrap Tire News Online. 2002 [cited July

7, 2002]. <http://www.scraptirenews.com>.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Jobs Through Recycling. May 31,

2002 [cited July 7, 2002]. <http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/recycle/

jtr/comm/rubber.htm>.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Municipal Solid Waste. May 9,

2002 [cited July 7, 2002]. <http://www.epa.gov/msw/tires.htm>.

“Umass Polymer Scientists Aiming to Turn Scrap Tires into Environmen-

tally Friendly Products.” ScienceDaily Magazine March 6, 2002 [cited July

7, 2002]. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/03/

020306073739.htm>.

RGANIZATIONS

International Tire & Rubber Association Foundation, Inc., PO Box 37203,

Louisville, KY USA 40233-7203 (502) 968-8900, Fax: (502) 964-7859,

Toll Free: (800) 426-8835, Email: itra@itra.com, <http://www.itra.com>

Recycled Materials Resource Center, 220 Environmental Technology

Building, Durham, NH USA 03824 (603) 862-3957, Email:

rmrc@rmrc.unh.edu, <http://www.rmrc.unh.edu>

Rubber Manufacturers Association, 1400 K Street, NW, Washington, DC

USA 20005 (202) 682-4800, Email: info@rma.org, <http://www.rma.org>

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC USA 20460 (703) 412-9810, Toll Free: (800) 424-9346,

Email: public-access@epa.gov, <http://www.epa.gov>

William Doyle Ruckleshaus (1934 – )

American former Environmental Protection Agency admin-

istrator

Ruckleshaus is known as a lawyer, a loyal member of the

Republican party, and a skilled administrator who has been

able to work effectively with environmentalists as well as

industry representatives. His reputation also bespeaks his

integrity in law enforcement and his ability to withstand

pressure. However, Ruckleshaus is best known on the na-

tional level for his service as administrator of the

Environ-

mental Protection Agency

(EPA) from 1970 to 1973 and

again from 1983 to l984.

Ruckleshaus was born on July 24, 1934 in Indianapolis,

Indiana, into a renowned Republican family. He earned his

bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Princeton University

in 1957 and his law degree from Harvard University in 1960.

His early career in the 1960s included the practice of law

between 1960 and 1968 and service in the Indiana House

of Representatives from 1967 to 1969. In 1969 he was ap-

pointed Assistant Attorney General for the United States

by the newly elected President Richard Nixon. In 1970,

President Nixon selected Ruckleshaus to become the first

head of the recently created EPA. Under his direction, 15

environmental programs were brought together under the

agency. Ruckleshaus left the EPA in 1973 to serve as acting

1231

director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and

later that year, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General

for the United States. In l974 he resigned from that position

rather than comply with President Richard Nixon’s order

to dismiss the special Watergate prosecutor.

From 1974 to 1976 he practiced law with the firm

Ruckleshaus, Beveridge, Fairbanks and Diamond, in Wash-

ington, D.C. Ruckleshaus has been criticized for going

through the “revolving door” of government. While at his

law firm he was the legal representative of several companies

that contested rules made by the EPA while he was its

administrator. From 1975 to 1983 he was Senior Vice-Presi-

dent for Legal Affairs of the Weyerhaeuser Company, Ta-

coma, Washington, a large timber and wood products

company.

Ruckleshaus was again called to head the Environmen-

tal Protection Agency in 1983. Early in 1983 the EPA came

under criticism from the public and from Congress regarding

allegations of mishandling of the federal Superfund program.

Allegations included lax enforcement against polluters, mis-

handling of Superfund monies, manipulation of the Su-

perfund for political purposes, and conflicts of interest in-

volving ties between EPA officials and regulated businesses.

The allegations and the ensuing investigation led to the

resignation of 21 top EPA officials including its administra-

tor, Anne Burford Gorsuch.

Upon Gorsuch’s resignation in March 1993, President

Ronald Reagan asked Ruckleshaus to serve as interim EPA

administrator. He agreed to do so, serving until the appoint-

ment of his successor Lee Thomas in November of 1984.

During this second period of service as the EPA’s top admin-

istrator, Ruckleshaus used his experience, his skills as an

administrator, and ability to work with industry and environ-

mentalists to stabilize the EPA. He succeeded in quelling

much of the criticism being leveled against the agency.

After leaving the EPA at the end of 1985, Ruckleshaus

joined the firm Perkins Coie in Seattle, Washington. He

has served on the boards of directors of several major corpora-

tions and on the board of advisors for the Wharton School

of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

In l989 he was named chairperson of Browning-Ferris

Industries, Inc. (BFI) and, as of 1997, he continues to hold

that position. BFI is the world’s second largest

waste man-

agement

firm after WMX Technologies (Waste Manage-

ment, Inc.) and owns and operates substantial hazardous

and non-hazardous waste-disposal facilities throughout the

states. When Ruckleshaus took over as chairperson, BFI had

been cited in various lawsuits related to its operations. BFI

has been making steady progress since 1989 in obtaining

required permits. Two major lawsuits against BFI were also

settled under Ruckleshaus leadership in 1996. The U.S.

Justice Department’s antitrust division had alleged that BFI

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Runoff

and WMX had used long-term contracts to keep competi-

tion out of certain states. Thus, over the past eight years,

Ruckleshaus has been gaining substantial experience as the

leader of a major waste disposal business.

In 1995, the

Environmental Law Institute

(ELI)

honored Ruckleshaus on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the

U.S. EPA by presenting him with the 1995 ELI award.

The ELI presents its award annually to a lifelong leader in

environmental protection who represents the highest ideals

of service.

[Paulette L. Stenzel]

ESOURCES

ERIODICALS

“EPA: Ruckleshaus Bows Out.” Newsweek (December 10, l984): 39.

“Government’s Pollution Fighter.” New York Times (April 12, 1973): 22.

Ivey, M. “Can Bill Ruckelshaus Clean Up Browning-Ferris’ Act?” Business

Week (October 14, 1991): 46.

King, Seth S. “Return of First E.P.A. Chief.” New York Times Biographical

Service (March l983): 372.

1232

Simon, R. “Mr. Clean’s New Mess.” Forbes 146 (November 26, 1990):

166–67.

Runoff

The amount of rainfall or snowmelt that either flows over

the

soil

surface or that drains from the soil and enters a

body of water, thereby leaving a

watershed

. This water is

the excess amount of precipitation that is not held in the

soil nor is it evaporated or transpired back to the

atmo-

sphere

. Water that reaches deep

groundwater

and does

not, therefore, directly flow into a surface body of water

is usually not considered runoff. Runoff can follow many

pathways on its journey to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.

Water that primarily flows over the soil surface is surface

runoff. It travels more quickly to bodies of water than water

that flows through the soil, called subsurface flow. As a rule,

the greater the proportion of surface to subsurface flow, the

greater the chance of

flooding

. Likewise, the greater the

amount of surface runoff, the greater the potential for soil

erosion

. See also Storm runoff

Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA, 1974) is the main

federal law that ensures the quality of drinking water in the

Unites States. When implemented, it extended coverage of

federal drinking water standards to all public water supplies.

Previous standards, established by the United States

Public

Health Service

beginning in 1914 and administered by the

United States

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA)

since its creation in 1970, had legally applied only to water

supplies serving interstate carriers (e.g., planes, ships, and

rail cars engaged in interstate commerce). However, many

states and municipalities complied with them on a voluntary

basis. Under the SDWA, public water supplies were defined

as those publicly or privately owned community water sys-

tems having at least 15 connections or serving at least 25

year-round customers or non-community water supplies

serving at least 25 non-residents for at least 60 days per year.

The SDWA required the EPA to promulgate primary

drinking water regulations to protect public health and sec-

ondary drinking water regulations to protect the aesthetic

and economic qualities of the water. The EPA was granted

authority to regulate: 1) contaminants which may affect

health (e.g., trace levels of carcinogenic

chemicals

which

may or may not have an impact on human health); 2) com-

pounds which react during

water treatment

to form con-

taminants; 3) classes of compounds (if more convenient than

regulating individual compounds); and 4) treatment tech-

niques, when it is not feasible to regulate individual contami-

nants (e.g., disinfection is required in lieu of standards on

individual disease-causing

microorganisms

Recognizing the right and the responsibility of the

states to oversee the safety of their own drinking water

supplies, the SDWA authorized the EPA to grant primacy

to states willing to accept primary responsibility for adminis-

tering their own drinking water program. To obtain primacy,

a state must develop a drinking water program meeting

minimum federal requirements and must establish and en-

force primary regulations at least as stringent as those prom-

1233

ulgated by the EPA. States with primacy are encouraged to

enforce the federal secondary drinking water regulations, but

are not required to do so.

Other provisions of the SDWA authorized control of

underground injection (e.g., waste disposal

wells

); required

special protection of sole-source aquifers (those providing

the only source of drinking water in a given area); authorized

funds for research on drinking water treatment; required the

EPA to conduct a rural water supply survey to investigate

the quality of drinking water in rural areas; allocated funds

to subsidize up to 75% of the cost of enlarging state drinking

water programs; required utilities to publicly notify their

customers when the primary regulations are violated; permit-

ted citizens to file suit against the EPA or a state having

primacy; and granted the EPA emergency powers to protect

public health.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace at which new regula-

tions were being promulgated by the EPA, which had in

1983 initiated a process to revise the primary and

secondary

standards

, Congress amended the SDWA in 1986. The

1986 amendments required the EPA: to set

primary stan-

dards

for nine contaminants within one year, 40 more

within two years, 34 more within three years, and 25 more

by 1991; to specify criteria for

filtration

of surface water

supplies and disinfection of

groundwater

supplies; to re-

quire large public water systems to monitor for the presence

of certain unregulated contaminants; to establish programs

to demonstrate how to protect sole-source aquifers; to re-

quire the states to develop well-head protection programs;

and to issue, within 18 months, rules regarding injection of

waste below a water source.

The 1986 SDWA amendments also prohibited the

use of

lead

solder, flux, and pipe; authorized the EPA to

treat Indian tribes as states, making them eligible for primacy

and grant assistance; required the EPA to conduct a survey

of drinking

water quality

on Indian lands; authorized the

EPA to initiate enforcement action if a state fails to take

appropriate action within 30 days; and increased both civil

and criminal penalties for failure to comply with the SDWA.

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Sagebrush Rebellion

Since 1986 was a Congressional election year and every

member of Congress wanted to go on record as having voted

for safe drinking water, the amendments passed unani-

mously. However, Congress failed to provide federal funds

to assist state programs in complying with the many new

provisions of the SDWA. The average annual cost per state

to comply with the SDWA by the year 1995 has been

estimated to be nearly $500 million.

Further amendments to SWDA were passed in 1996.

The new amendments established a Drinking Water State

Revolving Fund to finance state compliance costs for water

treatment facilities, easier access to water quality information

for consumers, and contamination prevention initiatives.

The mandate for contaminant testing was changed to a risk-

based prioritized system that granted the EPA the authority

to decide whether or not to regulate a contaminant after

completing a required review of five contaminants every five

years. The amendments also called for specific risk assess-

ments and final regulation of

radon

arsenic

, DBP/crypt-

osporidium, and sulfate.

As of 2002, the SWDA ranks the following drinking

water standards as rule making priorities:

Arsenic–

The SWDA requires the EPA to revise the ex-

isting 50

parts per billion

(ppb) standard for arsenic in

drinking water; the EPA implemented a 10 ppb standard

for arsenic in January 2001; After the Bush administration

briefly withdrew the standard, the new rule became effec-

tive in February 2002. All U.S. water systems must be in

compliance by 2006;

Ground Water Rule–

The EPA is proposing to regulate

the appropriate use of disinfection in ground water and of

other components of ground water systems to ensure public

health protection.

Lead and copper–

The EPA estimates that approximately

20% of human exposure to lead is attributable to lead in

drinking water.

Microbials and disinfection byproducts–

The EPA con-

siders that a major challenge for water suppliers is how to

balance the risks from

microbial pathogens

and disinfec-

tion byproducts.

MTBE–

MTBE (methyl-t-butyl ether) belongs to a group

of chemicals commonly known as fuel oxygenates and has

replaced lead as an octane enhancer since 1979.

Radionuclides–

The EPA has updated standards for

ra-

dionuclides

in drinking water.

Radon–

Radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas as-

sociated with

cancer

, and that may be found in drinking

water and indoor air. The EPA has developed a regulation

to reduce radon in drinking water.

[Stephen Randtke and Paula Anne Ford-Martin]

1234

ESOURCES

OOKS

Ingram, Colin. The Drinking Water Book: A Complete Guide to Safe Drinking

Water. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1991.

Lewis, Scott A. The Sierra Club Guide to Safe Drinking Water. San Francisco,

CA: Sierra Club Books, 1996.

National Research Council. Setting Priorities for Drinking Water Contami-

nants. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999.

Subcommittee on Arsenic in Drinking Water, Committee on Toxicology,

Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Commission on Life

Sciences, National Research Council. Arsenic in Drinking Water Washing-

ton, DC: National Academy Press, 1999. Available online at http://books.-

nap.edu/books/0309063337/html/index.html. Accessed June 2, 2002.

THER

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water. The Safe Water

Drinking Act. [cited June 2, 2002]. <http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/

sdwa/sdwa.html>.

RGANIZATIONS

Water Environment Federation, 601 Wythe Street, Alexandria, VA USA

22314-1994 (703) 684-2400, Fax: (703) 684-2492, Toll Free: (800) 666-

0206, Email: csc@wef.org, <http://www.wef.org>

Sagebrush Rebellion

A political movement in certain western states during the

late 1970s, sparked by passage of the

Federal Land Policy

and Management Act

in 1976. The federal government

owns an average of 60% of the land in the twelve states that

include the Rockies or lie west of them. Cattlemen, miners,

loggers, developers, farmers, and others argued not only that

federal ownership had an adverse impact on the economy

of their states, but that it violated the principle of states’

rights. This group demanded that the federal government

transfer control over large amounts of this land to individual

states, insisting on their right to make their own decisions

about the management of both the land itself and the

natu-

ral resources

. The rebellion was defused after the election

of Ronald Reagan in 1980. He appointed James Watt, who

had been a leader of this movement, as Secretary of the

Interior, and oversaw the institution of the so-called “good

neighbor” policy for the management of federal lands. See

also Wise use movement

Sahel

A 3,000-mile (5,000 km)band of semi-arid country extending

across Africa south of the Sahara

desert

, the Sahel zone ("the

shore” in Arabic) passes through Mauritania, Senegal, Mali,

Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and the Cape Verde Islands. Sim-

ilar semi-arid conditions prevail in Sudan, Ethiopia, and So-

malia. These countries are among the poorest in the world.

The low annual rainfall in this region is variable (4-20 in or

10-50 cm) and falls in a short, intense period in July and Au-

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

St. Lawrence Seaway

gust. In some years the rains fail to develop, and droughts

are a common occurrence. The uncertain rainfall of the Sahel

makes it generally unfavorable for agriculture.

For centuries, the indigenous nomadic Tuareg people

used the Sahel in a sustainable way, constantly moving herds

of camels from one grazing area to the next; they practiced

little agriculture. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,

following European colonization, herds of water-dependent,

non-native cattle were introduced, which were poorly suited

to the

arid

conditions of the region. The above average

rainfall of the 1950s and 1960s attracted large numbers of

farmers and pastoralists into the Sahel, which placed new

stresses on this fragile

ecosystem

. A series of droughts of

the 1970s and 1980s in the Sahel resulted in episodes of

large-scale starvation.

Studies of long-term

climate

patterns show that while

droughts have been common in the Sahel for at least 2,500

years, the droughts of recent years have increased in fre-

quency and duration. Records also show that the annual

rainfall has decreased and that the sands of the Sahara have

shifted some 60 miles (100 km) south into the region.

The causes of these changes have been linked to the

expanding human settlement of the Sahel, with consequent

increased demands on the area to produce more food and

more firewood. These demands were met by increases in

domestic animal herds and by more intensive agriculture.

This in turn led to drastic reductions in vegetation cover.

Land was cleared for farming and human settlements, vege-

tation was overgrazed, and large numbers of trees were cut

for firewood. In this way, the natural vegetation of the Sahel

(sparse, coarse grasses interspersed with thorn trees and

shrubs) was dramatically altered and the ecosystem degraded.

Less vegetation cover meant more

soil erosion

and

less

groundwater

recharge as heavy seasonal rainstorms

hit exposed ground, carrying away valuable

topsoil

in flash

floods. Less vegetation also meant more soil erosion from

wind and rain, as there were fewer root systems to bind the

soil together. In addition, fewer plants meant that less water

was released into the air from their leaves to form rain-

making clouds. The net result of these processes was the

trend towards less annual rainfall, more soil erosion, and

desertification

. Other reasons for

famine

and desertifica-

tion in the Sahel include political events (such as prolonged

civil wars) and social changes (such as the breakdown of the

old sustainable tribal systems of using the land).

[Neil Cumberlidge Ph.D.]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Brown, L. R., ed. State of the World 1986. New York: Norton, 1986.

1235

Gorse, J. E., and D. R. Steeds. Desertification in the Sahelian and Sudanian

Zones of West Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank, 1987.

Myers, N., ed. The Gaia Atlas of Planet Management. London: Pan

Books, 1985.

Southwick, C. H. Global Ecology. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, 1985.

St. Lawrence Seaway

The St. Lawrence Seaway is a series of canals, locks, and

lakes giving ocean-going ships of the Atlantic access to the

Great Lakes

and dozens of inland ports, including Toronto,

Cleveland, Chicago, and Duluth. A herculean engineering

project built jointly by the Canadian and United States gov-

ernments, the St. Lawrence Seaway has become an essential

trade outlet for the Midwest. It has also become an inlet

for exotic and often harmful aquatic plants and animals,

from which the landlocked Great Lakes were historically

protected. The seaway’s canals and locks, completed in 1959

after decades of planning and five years of round-the-clock

construction, bypass such drops as Niagara Falls and allow

over 6,000 ships to sail in and out of the Great Lakes

every year.

The initial impetus for canal construction came from

the steel industries of Ohio and Pennsylvania. During the

first half of this century, these industries relied on rich ore

supplies from the Mesabi iron range in northern Minnesota.

The end of this source was in sight by the 1930s; mining

engineers pointed to remote but rich iron deposits in Labra-

dor as the next alternative. Lacking a cheap transport method

from Labrador to the Midwest, steel industry backers began

lobbying for the St. Lawrence Seaway. Midwestern grain

traders and manufacturers joined the effort, promoting the

route as a public works and jobs project, an economic booster

for inland states and provinces, and a symbol of joint United

States and Canadian cooperation, power, nationalism, and

progress.

Unfortunately the seaway and its heavy traffic have

also brought modern problems to the Great Lakes. Aside

from the

petroleum

and chemical leaks associated with

active shipping routes, the seaway opened the Great Lakes

to aggressive foreign animal and plant invaders. The world’s

largest freshwater

ecosystem

, the Great Lakes, had been

isolated from external invasion by steep waterfalls and sheer

distance until the canals and locks opened. Since the 1960s,

an increasing number of Atlantic, European, and Asian

spe-

cies

have spread through the lakes. Some arrive under their

own power, but most appear to have entered with ocean-

going ships. Until recently, ships arriving at Great Lakes

ports commonly carried freshwater ballast picked up in Eu-

rope or Asia. When the ships reached their Great Lakes

destinations they discharged their ballast and loaded grain,

ore, automobiles, and other goods. A profusion of

plankton

Environmental Encyclopedia 3

Kirkpatrick Sale

and larvae riding in the ballast water thus entered a new

environment

; some of them thrived and spread with

alarming speed.

One of the first

introduced species

to make its mark

was the lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), an 18–in (45.7 cm)

long, eel-shaped Atlantic species that attaches itself to the

side of a fish with its circular, suction-like mouth. Once

attached, the lamprey uses its rasping teeth to feed on the

fish’s living tissue, usually killing its host. After the lamprey’s

arrival in the 1960s, Lake Superior’s commercial whitefish

and trout fisheries collapsed. Between 1970 and 1980, Great

Lakes trout and

salmon

populations plummeted by 90%.

The region’s $2 billion per year sport fishery nearly disap-

peared with

commercial fishing

. Since the 1970s, innova-

tive control methods such as carefully-timed chemical spray-

ing on spawning grounds have reduced lamprey populations,

and native game fish have shown some recovery.

However, many other invaders have reached the Great

Lakes via the seaway. Tubenose gobies (Proterorhinus marm-

oratus), a bottom-dwelling fish from the Black Sea, compete

for food and spawning grounds with native perch and scul-

pins. The prolific North European ruffes (Gymnocephalus

cernuus, a small perch) and spiny water flea (Bythotrephes

cederstroemi, a tiny crustacean) also compete with native fish,

and having hard, sharp spines, both are difficult for other

species to eat. Asian invaders include the Asiatic clam (Corbi-

cula fluminea), which colonizes and blocks industrial water

outlets.

Most threatening to the region’s businesses and econo-

mies is the

zebra mussel

(Dreissena polymorpha). Originat-

ing in the Baltic region, this tiny, extraordinarily prolific

bivalve colonizes and suffocates industrial water pipes, docks,

hard lake-bottom surfaces, and even the shells of native

clams. Ironically, the zebra mussel has also benefited the

lakes by raising public awareness of exotic invasions. Alarmed

industries and states, faced with the enormous cost of clean-

ing and replacing zebra mussel-clogged pipes and screens,

have begun supporting laws forcing incoming ships to dump

their ballast at sea. Although reversals of exotic invasions

are probably impossible, such remedial control measures may

help limit damages. See also Biofouling; Exotic species; Intro-

duced species; Parasites; Water pollution

[Mary Ann Cunningham Ph.D.]

ESOURCES

OOKS

Cunningham, W. Understanding Our Environment: An Introduction. Du-

buque, IA: William C. Brown, 1994.

Mabec, C. The Seaway Story. New York: Macmillan Co., 1961.

1236

ERIODICALS

Raloff, J. “From Tough Ruffe to Quagga: Intimidating Invaders Alter the

Earth’s Largest Freshwater Ecosystem.” Science News 142 (July 25, 1992):

56–8.

THER

St. Lawrence Seaway: 1991 Navigation Season. Ottawa: Saint Lawrence

Seaway Authority.

Kirkpatrick Sale (1937 – )

American environmental writer

Kirkpatrick Sale is an influential environmental writer whose

work has focused on the threat that a growing, resource-

hungry population poses to the

environment

Sale was born in Ithaca, New York. His father was an

English professor at Cornell University who was considered

something of a campus rebel. Sale attended Swarthmore

College for one year before transferring to Cornell in 1955,

where he majored in history and edited the student newspa-

per. By the time he graduated in 1958, writing had become

more important to him than history and he decided to pursue

a career in journalism.

Sale first worked as an editor for the New Leader,an

important leftist journal. During the early 1960s, he spent

time in Africa, which he believed would become the center

of world attention, and then worked briefly at the New York

Times Magazine. By 1968, he had given up journalism and

begun a career as a freelance writer. His first book, SDS,

dealt with the radical Vietnam-era organization, Students

for a Democratic Society. Working on the book, Sale later

said, “radicalized me in a way beyond where I’d been.” After

SDS was published in 1972, Sale began work on Power Shift,

an analysis of shifting political themes in America, published

in 1975.

Power Shift was published at the height of the environ-

mental movement in the United States. Like many, Sale

had grown concerned about the future of a world in which

an ethic of continuous progress and development required

the continued consumption of

natural resources

at a terri-

fying rate. In Human Scale (1980) and Dwellers in the Land

(1985), Sale focused on a concept that he defined as

bioregi-

onalism

. He used the term to describe an ethic of living

within the limitations of the environment. Society, he be-

lieved, must be a part of

nature

; human ends and means

must accommodate nature, not the reverse.

The approaching quincentennial celebration of Co-

lumbus’ arrival in the New World gave Sale the inspiration

for his next book. For more than four years, he immersed

himself in rereading source documents about the discoverer

and his voyages. He began to think about the ways in which

the transplantation of European culture and

environmental