February 24, 1967
Page 4475
AIR POLLUTION
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, President Johnson has proclaimed the week of February 19-24 as National Engineers Week. To observe this week the National Society of Professional Engineers conducts numerous programs in every State, including career conferences for high school students, guided tours through industrial and research facilities, scholarship awards, and talks before various civic groups.
This year Vernon G. MacKenzie, Assistant Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, has written an article on air pollution for National Engineers Week. I ask unanimous consent that Mr. MacKenzie's article, entitled "Air Pollution Challenges Engineers to Restore Quality of Atmosphere," be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
AIR POLLUTION CHALLENGES ENGINEERS TO RESTORE QUALITY OF ATMOSPHERE (By V. G. MacKenzie)
Air pollution touches us all. Whether you live in a very small town or in a city of 50,000 or more, chances are that the air you breathe is polluted. Even some completely rural areas are subject to the hazards of air pollution.
Modern technology has poured into our atmosphere quantities of potentially harmful substances, and now we are challenged to restore the quality of the air we breathe before it is too late. Through engineering applications, for example, in breadth and depth, these pollutants can be brought down to controllable dimensions.
Anyone who knows the recent history of this country is aware that we have been perilously late in recognizing the need to halt the rising contamination of our environment. In the past few decades, we have been so intent on reaping the benefits of the American industrial revolution that we have failed to give enough attention to the byproduct problems our successes have created.
The pollution of the very air we breathe, ironically enough, is an indirect result of our pursuit of an even higher standard of living.
Air pollution derives from the burning of fuel for heat and power, from the processing of materials, and from the disposal of wastes. Air pollution, in short, comes from those everyday activities which are so integral a part of a modern technologically advanced Nation.
SERIOUS EFFECTS
The effects of air pollution are serious now. Through injury to vegetation and livestock, corrosion and soiling of materials and structures, lowering of property values, and interference with transportation, air pollution costs this Nation billions of dollars each year.
Of greater significance are the effects of air pollution on health. Episodes of extreme pollution have resulted in immediate illness and death. Further, a growing body of scientific evidence indicates that long term exposure to ordinary levels of air pollution is associated with the occurrence and worsening of chronic respiratory disease and with premature death.
The problem of air pollution is steadily worsening. The forces of economic expansion, urban growth, and technological progress, and the increasing use of motor vehicles all contribute to the problem's growth. And in spite of the fact that we have available today the technological means of controlling most sources of air pollution, the problem continues to grow.
IMPROVED WEAPONS
The Clean Air Act of 1963 and its 1965 Amendments have given all levels of government improved weapons for fighting air pollution. Under this legislation several Federal interstate abatement actions have been initiated which will ultimately benefit millions of people. Federal standards have been published which will bring all new automobiles under control during the 1968 model year. Progress has been made toward the control of sulfur oxides, oxidants and other gaseous pollutants that were once clearly beyond our reach. Through the matching grants provision of the Clean Air Act, State and local control programs have been able to increase their budgets by roughly 65 percent nationally.
We are encouraged by this progress. But we are aware that we have only scratched the surface of a problem whose growth accelerates with each passing year.
The Federal government cannot alone arrest the problem of air pollution. State and local governments and the private sector must assume a greater share of the task than they have in the past.
ENGINEERS ACTIVE
It is encouraging, also, that the activities of the 1967 National Engineers' Week will focus on the need for applying our engineering skills to the restoration of the environment.
Engineers, who can be justifiably proud of their contribution to our technological progress, are now beginning to help solve the byproduct problems progress has brought with it. Engineers know that the longer we delay in applying all the techniques of control in our possession, and the longer we wait to remedy the deficiencies in our technical knowledge, the higher the costs of control will be.
In dealing with air pollution, preventive measures cost far less than corrective ones. So the challenge to produce these preventive measures is being faced squarely by our country's engineers, who realize that human survival dictates that this challenge must and will be met.