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Abstract

Extraterrestrial exploration and a historic lunar success have helped give modern man a unique perspective on the earth and his natural environment. We have looked on our planet from the reaches of outer space and have seen how small, how alone, and how vulnerable we are. We have travelled to the moon and photographed Mars, but we have finally realized that no matter how far or how fast we grow, no matter how far afield our explorations take us, and no matter how great our vision, we must always return to earth. This is a discomfiting realization for a civilization which had come to believe that the strength of its technology could overcome the limits of its natural state. In some future time, we may find another environment in which we can live without artificial assistance. But for the foreseeable future, we have but one home and one natural environment. We have discovered that if we do not begin to repair the damage we have caused as we have flexed our technological muscle, we shall soon be ecological orphans—faced with an environment which cannot support human existence. The Congress, stimulated by this realization, has written legislation to protect the environment and prevent its deterioration. That legislation pledges America to a national policy of enhancing environmental quality, a policy based on the concept that man and his environment are interrelated, and that a safe environment is necessary to the maintenance and improvement of acceptable living standards for all men. Public recognition of the depth of the environmental crisis is relatively recent. Although warning signals have been evident, particularly in our burgeoning urban areas since the 1920's, Congress first responded to these signs in the late fifties and early sixties. The problems and questions cannot be satisfactorily solved solely on one level of government or the other. The traditional jurisdictional boundaries of municipalities and states have become blurred in the face of metropolitan growth, and the jurisdictional boundaries of many state and local agencies have become lost in the complexity of environmental and technological problems. Furthermore, the states and cities often find themselves without the expertise or the funds necessary to deal with site selection or operating problems of growing electric generating systems. Regulation of these activities and achievement of the environmental quality desired should be left to the public in the communities and the areas which will be affected. No set of national standards will ever take into account the many unique and local considerations which should be a part of the basis for these decisions. At the same time, the reliability and adequacy of the electric power supply are the legitimate objects of national performance standards. Therefore, we have begun to recognize the unique intergovernmental issues posed by the necessity of insuring an adequate, reliable, and efficient supply of electric energy on the one hand, and insuring environmental protection on the other.

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