Dec. 2016 President Obama announces that 98 percent of U.S.-controlled Arctic waters (115 million acres) and 3.8 million acres of underwater canyon along the Atlantic coast will be permanently withheld from any future oil and gas leasing under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act President Obama noted that “[These actions] reflect the scientific assessment […]
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The Trump transition team announces a plan to strip NASA of funding for its Earth Science Division The Earth Science Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration works on temperature, ice, clouds, and other climate phenomena; the Trump transition team wants to shift efforts to exploration of deep space. Senior Trump campaign official Bob […]
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The Reagan Administration cuts energy R&D funding by more than half; numerous battles erupt in Congress over the Department of Energy’s attempts to reduce its climate research budget and the content of climate research programs; the Reagan Administrative is supportive, however, of two major developments related to climate policy: the international treaty to protect the […]
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President Jimmy Carter climbs to the roof of the White House to mark the installation of 32 solar panels to heat water for the White House At the dedication ceremony for the White House solar panels on June 20, 1979, President Carter announces a “new solar strategy,” to reach a goal to obtain 20% of […]
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The National Climate Program Act increases federal funding for climate research, under the National Climate Program Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The law includes a Congressional finding that: “(1) Weather and climate change affect food production, energy use, land use, water resources and other factors vital to national security and human welfare. […]
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President Jimmy Carter sends Congress a comprehensive National Energy Plan with 113 legislative proposals, including new taxes on automobiles, on utilities that burn oil or natural gas instead of coal, and a gasoline tax intended to create a floor on gasoline prices President Carter’s National Energy Plan is called “as ambitious and complex as any […]
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1971 Development of supersonic transport raises concerns about impacts on climate, and the Climate Impact Assessment Program is created under the Department of Transportation Described as “the first major project in integrated assessment of an environmental issue,” the mission statement of the Climate Impact Assessment Program (CIAP) states that “in order to determine regulatory constraints […]
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1970 Congress enacts the Clean Air Act, in a near-unanimous endorsement of strong environmental protections In a remarkable show of bipartisanship, the Senate vote for the Clean Air Act is unanimous, the House vote 374 to 1. The New York Times describes the legislation as “far broader in its reach, far tougher in its deadlines […]
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1970 President Richard Nixon establishes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 takes effect President Richard Nixon’s Special Message to Congress in establishing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opens by noting that “[a]s concern with the condition of our physical environment has intensified, it has become increasingly clear […]
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1965 President Lyndon Johnson states in a Special Message to Congress, “This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through … a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels” President Johnson’s “Special Message on Conservation and Restoration of Natural Beauty” begins with the observation that “modern technology, […]
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