Council on Environmental Quality Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report.

To the Congress of the United States:

In 1977, we took together a number of important measures to protect and improve .our environment. Most notable were the "mid-course correction" amendments that strengthened the basic goals of our air and water pollution control laws; a strong stripmining bill; and our selection, with Canada, of the least damaging route for a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48 states.

The Administration began reviews of traditional policies on our use and development of natural resources, especially water and non-fuel minerals; put into effect new policies to reduce .oil spills and regulate development of oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf; proposed expansions of wilderness and park areas; started work on a coherent Federal strategy for the control of toxic substances; and advocated measures to curb nuclear proliferation. On some of these matters we submitted legislative proposals to Congress.

We share a record of solid accomplishment in the environmental area, and we have set out worthwhile plans for the future.

In June, 1977, the Council on Environmental Quality convened a series of meetings at my direction. The purpose was to develop recommendations for improving National Environmental Policy Act procedures, including the familiar "environmental impact statement". CEQ solicited testimony from corporations, state governments, labor unions, environmental groups, other Federal agencies, and the public.

Virtually every witness criticized some aspect of the Government's procedures for translating environmental policy into practical action. But, remarkably, not a single witness called for the repeal or serious weakening of the National Environmental Policy Act. On the contrary, all agreed that the goals of NEPA were sound, and that its procedures—while needing improvement—should be retained.

Such unanimity on the value of NEPA indicates to me how far we have come in those few years since we first began to see the damage we were doing to our surroundings. Not long ago, environmental awareness was frequently seen as an emotional excess and an economic disaster. But now, concern for the integrity of our natural systems has become an accepted criterion for judging our actions.

We have not yet learned, of course, to balance all our environmental objectives against the other social goals that must concern us. But it is now clear that the American people believe our needs for food, for shelter, and for the necessities as well as the amenities of civilization, can be met without continuing the degradation of our planet. It is clear that they wish, as Congress stated in the National Environmental Policy Act, "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 Americans."

In less than a year, this Administration and this Congress have substantially advanced the American search for "productive harmony" with our earth. I pledge to continue this search with you.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

February 28, 1978.