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Page 31

Wednesday, March 4, 1981

Hie Herald and The Lantern

Quality of Life Resumes Downward Trend

After a year in which the "quality of life” remained virtually unchanged in the United States, halting a iO-year decline, four environmental indicators resumed their downward trend in I960, the National Wildlife Federation reported in its 12th annual Environmental Quality Index (EQljVurvey. Among Jhe seven natural resources measured — water, wildlife, living space, and soil — all suffered losses during the past year. The other three — mineral, air, and forests — remained unchanged. For the first time in five years, none of the indicators showed any improvement. THUS. THIS YEAR’S REPORT, covering 1980, was gloomier than that for 1979, a year in which four of the indicators — water, wildlife, soil, and forests — held their own, while one — air quality showed an iniprovement, and the remaining two — minerals and living space — declined. Air quality is the only environmental indicator that is higher today than when the first survey was thade in 1970, the National Wildlife Federation noted. The EQI study is published in NWF’s bimonthly magazine, National Wildlife, each February. The EQI li an estimate of the quality of life in the U.S. 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 Quality, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, and the Soil Conservation Service — now cooperate with the Federation in the collection of resource data. ACCORDING TO THE 1981 EQL last year conservationists anticipated the new decade with a "growing sense of trepidation." A nunfber of factors, including double-digit inflation, expensive energy supplies, urban decay, and soaring unemployment caused the growth of popular sentiment against .•“overregulation,” including some environmental rules and restrictions. Conservationists worried that many of their hardwon gains of the past ten

years might be rolled back overnight. "There were positive developments on a number of fronts in 1980,” the EQI report notes. "But the thunderclouds are still building. The nation’s current political climate may well signal even more stormy weather for environmental programs in the months and years ahead." Summaries of the 1981

EQI reports on the seven resources follow; WILDLIFE . Down. While 1979 was U.S. wildlife’s best year in a decade, last year the long downward slide resurtied. The main reason: habitat loss. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that up to 2 million acres of habitat will disappear annually^ between now and the year 2000. The implications fir wildlife are staggering. We’re already down ttf nearly half of the 200,000 square miles of wetlands that once existed in the Lower 48, and wo’ve lost 20 million of the 25 million acres of hardwood bottomlands along the lower Mississippi River. In some parts of the country last year manmade and natural disasters caused a decline in wildlife populations. Water tables in the Dakotas, western Minnesota and southern Canada were so low that waterfowl had a poor nesting year. And in the Pacific Northwest, the eruption of Washington’s Mt. St. Helens killed.about

1.5 million wild animals. The country’s worsening economic situation didn't help wildlife last year. Congress appropriated little cash for new refuges — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s special fund for acquiring wetlands was slashed from a proposed $31 million to $18.5 million. On the bright side, Congress passed and the president signed a bill authorizing up to $5 million annual-

ly to help states pay for nongame and other wildlife conservation plans. MINERALS No Change. As it has every year since the 1973 Arab embargo, oil dominated the minerals scene in 1980. With only 6i per cent of -the world’s population, the U.S. continued to gobble up fully a third of all oil consumed last year — around 40 per cent of it imported from other countries, which are steadily depleting their own reserves One encouraging sign is that more and more Americans'began making energy conservation an important part of their daily lives. Here and there, entire communities waged war on waste last year, possibly heralding the advent of a nationwide conservation crusade. But last year's passage by Congress of a costly ($20 billion for the first five years) "synthetic fuels” program worries some conservationists who points out that extraction of a relatively small amount of oil and gas from shale, sand, and coal could cause

massive environmental degradation. /-AIR No Change. Air quality continued to improve in many parts of the country last year, but pollution in some rural areas worsened as a result of a rapidly increasing phenomenon: acid rainfall. Meanwhile, to head off mounting pressure to softeh air-pollution regulations, EPA rolled back several deadlines, giving the slumping U.S. auto industry more time to meet exhaust standards and granting Ohio's utilities more time to burn local supplies of high sulfur coal without installing costly scrubbers. These decisions were made despite evidence that acid rain — which occurs *hen coal or auto pollution combines in the air with water — has increased fiftyfold in the last 25 years over the eastern half of the country. WATER, Down. Over much of the country, polluters have stopped dumping wastes directly into rivers and lakes and as a result many U.S. <%Aterway8 have become swimmable and fishable again. 'But now there’s an appalling new threat: Unable to dump their toxic wastes into rivers and lakes, many industrial polluters have illegally buried or stored them on land. This has increased the flow of dangerous chemicals into the'earth, and pollution of the ground water people use in their homes is increasing. Last fall, a House sub- - committee released a list of 2,100 places around the nation where industrial wastes may be contaminating the- water. Even pecan water is not safe these days. Right now poisoned dredge spoils are regularly dumped in 130 places off the coasts of 15 states. In Some parts of the U.S., ground water depletion, rather than pollution, is the main problem. Thirty years ago. Americans were using about 20 billion gallons per day from underground supplies. By last year, the amount had increased to nearly 90 billion gallons. FORESTS No Change. For the fourth consecutive year, the EQ trend for forests re-

1981 EQ SUMMARY

I i i i ii h ii 71 72 73 -74 73 73 77 73 73 80 i

mains level, but the situation is far from stable. As world timber shortages grow, there’s mounting pressure to cut more wood. And although a depressed U.S. construction industry is keeping domestic demand low for now, consumption is expected to leap from 13.3 billion cubic feet in 1978 to 20.3 billion in 1990 and 28.3 billion in 2030. There were some heartening developments in 1980. The federal government proposed to reserve about 15.4 bullion acres of national forest as wilderness, with possible future additions of as much ks another 10.6 million acres. And the government also pledged its support for less dependence on national forests for commercial timber, more incentives to increase production on private timberlands. LIVING SPACE Down. Conservationists became alarmed last year over a new grass-roots movement out West, called the Sagebrush Rebellion. This revolt against landuse controls on about 400 million acres of public western lands is more than a regional-conflict. In some ways it’s a symptom of nationwide discontent with government regulations. What the rebellion boils down to is an attempt by special-interest groups in Nevada, Arizona, and elsewhere to transfer federal lands to state ownership. But conservationists point out that while federal management of our public lands is far from perfect, states would find the cost of properly managing the land unbearable. As if the “rebellion”weren’t "nough, U.S. living space ieclined further . in both qualify and quantity last year. The National Park Service reports that already overburdened parks are deteriorating because of overcrowding and pollution. Meanwhile, wasteful water projects continue to destroy pristine areas. On the positive side: passage in 1980 of an Alaska lands bill which reserves 104.3 million acres of Alaska as public land and a Coastal Zogjt Management Improvement Act, which budgets $71 million in incentives for states to protect coastlines.

SOIL Down. Last year, the U.S. exported more than $40 billion worta of food, and as the world's population continues Vita rapid climb, foreign demands on U.S. agriculture could reach staggering) proportions. Unfortunately, the U.S. is losing valuable farmland at an alarming rate Each year, about a million acres of prime farmland are permanently lost to urban sprawl, highways, and other development. To offset these losses, about 1.3 million acres of new cropland are brought into production annually by draining swamps, Irrigating deserts, and clearing woodlands - land being - • converted to agriculture at the expense of forests and other valuable wildlife habitat. And these new lands are subject to more serious erosion losses than prime acreage. Currently, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service estimates that about four billion tons of American'topsoil are lost annually to erosion.

Art League To Reopen CAPE MAY - The County Art League will reopen for the 1981 season Saturday, March 14, with an exhibition of paintings by Leslie Collins on display in the galleries at 1Q50 Washington St The opening reception will be from 7:30 to 9:30 that evening. with refreshments, and the public is invited COLLINS, A former member of the league, spent his Summers in Cape May and painted many oils of local scenes while here Seascapes, private homes and public buildings are among the collection and familiar scenes will be recognized. Following the March 14 reception the League will be open on a regular schedule, from 11 a m to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m Sundays.

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