Nixon's View

In his annual state of the environment report, President Nixon last week was almost rhapsodic: "I can report that we are well on our way to winning the war against environmental degradation, well on the way to making our peace with nature." While some progress has been made, the nation's battle for ecological health has hardly been won, as the multitude of proposals put forth by Nixon himself proved.

All told, Nixon cited 27 proposals, including 19 bills left unpassed by Congress last year, which he said needed to be enacted. They would affect almost every area of the nation's environment. His highest priority, said Nixon, was to promote "more effective and sensible use of our land." The President therefore exhorted Congress to heed a bill that would make states take an inventory of their most ecologically valuable land (coastal zones, estuaries, flood plains) and identify areas that might be harmed by building power plants, highways or airports. The penalty for noncompliance: the Government would annually withhold 7% of federal funds for highway and airport projects until the states act.

Other Nixon bills would:

> Use the Highway Trust Fund, which now finances only highway construction, to provide money for new mass transit systems.

> Protect coastal wetlands, which are the nursery of most (80%) marine life.

> Set national standards to ensure the purity of drinking water.

> Prevent disposal of "extremely hazardous wastes" on land.

> Provide $20 million to expand the nation's system of wild and scenic rivers.

> Tax industries according to the amounts of sulfur dioxides they discharge into the air.

> Create more wilderness areas in the Eastern U.S. so that the "majority of our people are to have the full benefit of our natural glories."

There is little in Nixon's message to arouse heated opposition. As in the past, the real question is whether the Administration's performance will match its rhetoric. Critics maintain that the White House has often failed to press vigorously enough for passage of its own environmental bills. Whatever the fate of his legislative package, Nixon made it clear that he is determined to tackle two key issues. "The costs of pollution," he stated, "should be met more fully in the free marketplace, not in the federal budget"--meaning that cleanup costs will be reflected in higher prices for goods and services. As to the dilemma involving the exploitation and use of energy resources, which are needed in today's society but account for most of the nation's environmental problems, the President vowed to treat the subject fully in a later special message to Congress.

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