Happy Earth Day, 50 years on!
To mark the day, the Department of Environmental Conservation has put together a timeline of 50 years of protecting our natural resources in New York State.
Below we share highlights from the 1970s. It’s amazing how many things we take for granted today — like identifying endangered species or banning on the use of lead paint, DDT and other harmful pesticides — were legislated into existence during that decade.
It’s hard to imagine what Shelter Island, with its iconic ospreys and thousands of acres of preserved land, might have looked like without these and other thoughtful measures.
For the full list, visit dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/dectimeline.pdf.
The 1970s
“The decade begins with the creation of the DEC on the first Earth Day,” the timeline says. “During the 1970s, the agency not only assumed responsibility for existing water quality programs, such as water treatment plants, but began creating programs to handle emerging issues like air pollution and solid and hazardous waste.”
“Important steps were taken to acquire and protect vital lands, and DEC facilitated stronger relationships among government agencies and between government and the private sector to work cooperatively to improve the environment. Important legislation was passed and long-term funding sources for environmental purposes were developed”
1970
• On April 22, the first Earth Day, legislation is signed, merging the duties of the existing Conservation Department with some programs of the State departments of Health, and Agriculture and Markets, and certain state commissions under the newly created New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
• DEC officially opens its doors on July 1, and immediately begins to wrestle with urgent problems like the health risks of pesticides, mercury pollution, solid waste management and recycling, flood protection, and recreational access to wilderness areas.
• DEC begins to develop air quality plans to comply with national, health-based standards for air pollutants and auto emissions under the federal Clean Air Act
• DEC creates the first New York State endangered species list
• New York State bans the use of lead paint in schools and the interiors of homes, building on an earlier lead paint ban in New York City. A federal ban is not enacted until 1978.
1971
• New York State bans DDT, a widely used pesticide that was found to cause cancer. DEC’s pesticide controls are the most comprehensive in the country. EPA follows New York’s lead one year later with a nationwide ban on DDT.
• New York State establishes the Adirondack Park Agency.
• DEC’s Division of Law Enforcement is created, and legislation upgrades the newly named Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) to be granted police officer status, providing them the authority to enforce all New York State laws. The first 240-officer force is trained at the State Police Academy.
1972
• The federal government passes the Clean Water Act, which delegated a number of new responsibilities to DEC, including wastewater discharge permitting
• New York begins to allocate billions of dollars through DEC’s Construction Grants Program to build an advanced network of sewage treatment facilities to reduce raw sewage flowing into rivers, lakes, and streams. These projects will serve a major part of the state’s wastewater infrastructure
• The U.S. and Canada sign the binational Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to begin cleanup of the Great Lakes, which contain 95 percent of the nation’s freshwater
• New York voters approved the Environmental Quality Bond Act to fund land acquisitions, solid waste projects, sewage treatment, air pollution control, and resource recovery
1973
• New York State bans phosphorus in all cleaning products, except dishwashing detergents, to reduce water pollution (prior to the ban, high levels of phosphates led to green water — caused by excessive aquatic growth — especially in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario)
• The Federal Endangered Species Act was enacted to protect habitat for plants and wildlife — DEC works closely with federal partner agencies to protect and restore listed species found within the state’s borders
• State controls are established on the use of tidal wetlands to protect the delicate ecological balance of these important areas which provide: marine food production; wildlife habitat; flood, hurricane, and storm control; recreation; and other benefits
• EPA begins to phase out the use of lead in gasoline, resulting in a 98 percent reduction in lead levels in the air (the phase-out protects millions of children from serious, permanent learning disabilities)
1974
• New York passes the Rare and Endangered Plants Act, protecting rare and endangered native state plants
• The Forest Tax Law passes, providing tax breaks to landowners who actively manage land for wood production
• Under the new Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA begins work to protect public health by setting health-based standards governing the quality of the public water supply, including requirements for physical and chemical treatment of drinking water
• EPA sets the first national standards limiting industrial water pollution
1975
• The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) passes, requiring expanded environmental review of projects undertaken by state and local governments.
• DEC partners with Cornell University to begin a seven-year survey of hundreds of mountain lakes and streams to evaluate their vulnerability to acid rain
• Both the Tidal and Freshwater Wetlands Acts pass, providing important protection for wetlands, which play a vital role in surface and groundwater quality, flood and erosion control, and fish and wildlife habitat
• New York passes the Mined Land Reclamation law, requiring restoration of land after mining ceases
• DEC takes steps to prevent discharge of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River from General Electric industrial plants
1976
• New York beings Bald eagle restoration efforts
• DEC initiates action to prevent General Electric Company from discharging PCBs into the Hudson River
• New York places controls on aerosol cans containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which destroy the Earth’s ozone layer that protects life from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun
• Responding to public concern over “midnight dumping” of toxic wastes, EPA starts to establish controls over hazardous waste from the time it is generated, through transportation, treatment, storage and disposal, under the new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
• DEC works with state and federal partners under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act to protect public health through controls on toxic chemicals
1977
• The federal government amends the Clean Air Act, adding more stringent requirements to clean up air pollution with DEC involved in implementation, leading to marked improvements in air quality
• DEC begins Osprey restoration efforts on Long Island
1978
• New York State declares a public-health emergency when toxic pollutants seep into homes in the Love Canal development in Niagara Falls
• Legislation is enacted giving DEC the authority to regulate hazardous wastes and the location of future hazardous waste facilities, and to oversee inactive hazardous waste sites
• DEC’s Division of Law Enforcement creates a K-9 Program with one officer and one German shepherd; now there are nine K-9 teams stationed throughout the state, helping officers to locate lost individuals and apprehend poachers
• EPA and other federal agencies ban the use of chlorofluorocarbons as a propellant in most aerosol cans due to the damage they cause to the earth’s ozone layer
1979
• The first female Environmental Conservation Officer is appointed.
• Because of their potential for causing cancer and other adverse health effects, EPA bans two herbicides containing dioxins
Other 70s milestones
• The State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System is created to help control discharges of wastewater into New York’s streams, rivers, lakes, and marine waters
• DEC works with Vermont and Quebec to restore trout and salmon fisheries in Lake Champlain
• Sport falconry is legalized in New York
• Fisher are reintroduced into the Catskills
• New York State purchases or otherwise protects approximately 134,000 acres of land, including the 12,500-acre Santanoni Preserve; 7,100 acres in the Long Island Pine Barrens; and 9,182 acres in the Adirondacks (including 12 mountain peaks), with an easement on another 7,000 acres
• The statewide Urban and Community Forestry program is established, promoting education and tree plantings in urban areas
• DEC begins a new era of Great Lakes fisheries management with the enactment of major clean waters legislation, long-term research and monitoring of fish communities, broader international cooperation, and intensive trout and salmon stocking efforts