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Report For '70's Of Life1 Study Ends 1980 EQ SUMMARY The "quality of life" in the United States-as measured by seven environmental indicators-remained vir­ tually unchanged last year as the nation wound up a decade marked by the enactment of many en­ vironmental protection laws, the National Wildlife federation reported in its eleventh annual study of environmental trends. NWF, the nation's largest non-profit citizens con­ servation organization, found in its 1980 En­ vironmental Quality Index (EQI) study that four of the seven resources that go into the index-wildlife, water, soil, and forests-remained unchanged in quality over the past year. Another component of the . EQI-air quality-improved in 1979, while two others- minerals and living space- declined in quality. Last year was the first time since 1970 that the majority of the seven natural resources did not register a decline on the EQI. During 1979 there was "progress on a number of fronts", from pollution abatement and solar research to wetlands protection and wildlife management," explains the EQI report, which is published in the February issue of National Wildlife magazine. But while many past gains were con­ solidated, "at the political level, environmental programs and priorities suffered setbacks from which they may not soon recover," the report con­ cludes. The EQI is an analysis of the state of the nation's natural resources based on a combination of objective measurements and the subjective judgments of the NWF staff in consultation with government experts and academic researchers. Five federal agencies-the Bureau of Land Management, the Council on Environmental Qualitv. the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest service, and the Soil Conservation service-now cooperate with the federation in the collection of resources data. Summaries of the 1980 EQI reports on the seven resources follow: Wildlife No Change- For the first time in more than a decade, the EQ trend-line for wildlife stopped going down in 1979. This was the result of years of hard work in wildlife management, habitat protection, and pollution abatement. But con­ servationists worry about the future. Little was done last year to improve vast acreages of badly abused rangeland in the West. And in Congress, there was a fierce backlash against all environmental constraints on development. There were other ominous conflicts between energy and wildlife in 1979: While Congress debated relaxing air standards so more coal can be burned, acid rain containing pollutants from industrial smokestacks and car exhaust began showing up in Wisconsin and Michigan. Last fall, the Interior department okayed oil exploration on the Georges bank off Cape Cod, one of the world's most productive fisheries, while U.S. crews were mopping up a monumental leak from an offshore Mexican oil well. Minerals Down - Of the seven resources analyzed in the EQI, minerals are perhaps the easiest to squander and the hardest to retrieve. This underlines the seriousness of the fact that in 1979, the U.S. moved one year closer to the end of the petroleum era without a comprehensive energy conservation program. Instead of em­ phasizing conservation, President Carter proposed a massive and expensive program to develop "syn­ thetic" fossil fuels, to locate and produce more domestic oil, and to create an almost dictatorial "energy mobilization board" that could bypass many en­ vironmental safeguards. In the year of Three Mile Island, gas lines, and doubled fuel prices, all of the energy news was not bad. Energy efficiency in U.S. homes and apartments in­ creased and industrial use decreased. Improved auto mileage last year produced the first drop since 1974 in gasoline demand, which accounts for 40 percent of all. oil used. Air Up - All across the country last year, millions of Americans were breathing air that was cleaner than it had been in a decade. Also last year, there was relen­ tless pressure on the En­ vironmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower its air standards, because many 66 Is your home insured for what ills . worth, or just for what it cost you ?*» • •• See me to find out if your iiomeowners insurance covers you for increased value due to inflation. I'll explain State Farm's low-cost Homeowners Insurance with automatic inflation coverage. D«nnU Conway 3319 W. Elm St. Melton ry 395-7111 Like a good neighbor, U.S. policy- and auto-makers claimed that antipollution costs are inflationary. What are the costs and benefits of air pollution laws? Ac­ cording to the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the U.S. spent $13 billion in 1978 to clean up the air. But, CEQ added, cleaner air may be saving Americans as much as $22 billion annually in damages. Water No Change - Many in­ dustries and communities are now moving toward, rather than away from, the Clean Water act's goal of "fishable, swimmable" waters by 1985. Industry is responsible for much of the cleanup progress that has been made. About 85 percent of the nation's major in­ dustrial polluters are complying with the law. But there are rising problems. Many en­ vironmentalists claim that conventional sewage treatment plants use too much energy and don't really get the water clean. Nearly 800 industrial polluters have failed to meet EPA's 1977 cleanup deadline and fewer than 200 have been taken to court. And every day, vast amounts of urban and' agricultural poisons enter the nation's water supplies from "nonpoint" sources. Soil No Change - The outlook for America's hard used soil may be better these days. For one thing, erosion in many areas apparently isn't as bad as many experts once feared. For another, there's a good chance that the use of harmful pesticides can be drastically curtailed, due to a strategy called integrated pest management. IPM could reduce crop losses to pests more effectively than today's pesticides-without harming human health or natural ecosystems. On the negative side, the massive runoff of fertilizer and pesticides into streams and rivers remains one of the nation's most stubborn pollution problems. And the conversion of cropland to suburbs continues unabated. Living Space Down - Even with a lower birthrate, the U.S. population is expanding rapidly (it passed 220 million last year), and the strain on living space is relentless. Despite the suggestions of an urban renaissance in many of the nation's largest cities, the 35-year-old migration to the suburbs continues, ac­ companied by development in scores of agricultural areas. Fortunately, some states have passed their own land use laws, and last year Congress passed an Om­ nibus Parks bill, which designates two million acres as wilderness. But benefits from these efforts will be limited as long as the primary cause of the living- space crunch-population growth- continues. Forests Same - Last year the U.S. grew more timber than it cut (except in the West). The U.S. Forest service proposed to set aside more than 15 million additional acres as wilderness, and to open up another 36 million acres to timber and other kinds of development. While some environmentalists said that was not enough wilderness, developers complained of a lockout. But the USFS's new five-year management plan provides for more public say-so on how forests are run. Most important, the plan gives higher priority to watershed protection, wildlife habitat and recreation. But American forests may face increased pressure from the energy shortage. Spot shortages of firewood are already showing up in parts of the U.S. Commenting on the report, Thomas L. Kimball, NWF executive vice-president, warned that the existing "quality of life" is threatened by present trends in Congress. "As we enter the 1980's the overriding question is this: Will we let energy and inflation wipe out our environmental gains?" Kimball said. (A free copy of the 1980 EQ Index report can be obtained by writing Educational Services, National Wildlife Federation, 1412 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036) PAGE 5 - PLAINDEALER - WEDNESDAY. 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