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for electric power generation and railroad power plants, the United States remains the largest in both categories, and has been increasing slowly in recent years, after declining somewhat 1950-1960.

With respect to natural gas, there is general discussion about possible reserves in the northern regions of the globe and in the Middle East, and some speculation about the potential for liquid natural gas. In the United States, after phenomenal growth 1950-1970, the U.S. growth curve appeared to have "moderated". Expanded production in other producing countries is growing more rapidly in aggregate volume than that of the United States. [The two-page discussion of reserves provides no figures, nor any sense of the depletion of U.S. reserves except for the observation that "production from the proved reserves has already been overtaken by 'demand' and in three of the past four years, total production has exceeded additions to reserves. Reserves have fallen accordingly."]

Characteristic of that country's growth pattern, Japan's consumption of petroleum rose nearly 100-fold between 1950 and 1970, from 15 million barrels to 1,373 million. The report also notes that China and India were beginning to creep up in consumption, and that the potential oil requirements of these "two most populous countries of the world" and the requirements

of other developing countries "cannot be overlooked."

The report also notes

that the use of petroleum in such developing countries is of "great importance

to the people" even though small in quantity.

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 1, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS-MAN, MATERIALS, AND ENVIRONMENT, A REPORT FOR THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON MATERIALS POLICY

1.1 A NEW MATERIALS POLICY

The mandate of the National Commission on Materials Policy (under Title II of the Resource Recovery Act of 1970) is "to enhance environmental quality and conserve materials by developing a national materials policy to utilize present resources and technology more efficiently, to anticipate the future materials requirements of the nation and the world, and to make recommendations on the supply, use, recovery and disposal of materials."

A national materials policy must start with recognition that materials, energy, land and water, population, environmental degradation, and pollution constitute a web of intersecting elements, none of which can be viewed in isolation. Moreover, the web ignores national boundaries as materials move over the land, through the atmosphere, and in the waters of land and sea. A national materials policy is, therefore, a single element of the larger task of conserving the earth for the sustenance of man's physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being.

A national materials policy must furthermore take into account that governments everywhere begin to accept the concept of "Only One Earth" as a new determinant in the making of national policy. At the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972 they declared that: "A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences." They charged the nations assembled there: to safeguard the natural resources of the earth, and, to that end, to maintain, restore or improve the capacity of the earth to produce renewable materials, and in employing the nonrenewable resources of the earth to guard against the danger of future exhaustion. It is within this complex of changing international attitudes and values that domestic materials policy should be fashioned.

The study committee believes that the charge to the National Commission on Materials Policy can and must be met. The committee believes that in meeting this charge the United States will be confronted by a decision of utmost gravity, a decision that certain other countries must face as well.

If we extrapolate over the next thirty or forty years, the view commonly held in the United States that two cars in the garage mean a better level of living than one will increasingly collide with our interest in protecting the health and well-being of our fellow citizens.

Given the present level of technology and what may reasonably be expected to evolve over the next decades, and given the prevailing view that materials consumption is the way to a better life, the facts indicate (1) materials throughput will double, and then double again, over the next thirty or forty years, (2) the quality of ores and other natural resources will decline and readily available sources be exhausted, (3) only by increased use of energy per unit of output and per capita will the intensity of materials throughput be maintained, and (4) the environmental stress per unit of production will increase correspondingly.

Given the growth in population, the growth in per capita product, and the growth in environmental stress per unit of product implied by sustained movement on our present track, the environmental ills presaged for the United States cannot be completely avoided by available technology.

The study committee believes that the threat to environmental quality and resource availability, caused and compounded by our treatment and use of materials, poses a real problem and a vital national issue which calls urgently for an open-minded reexamination of certain commonly held beliefs. These beliefs are: (1) that natural resources can be used in whatever amount is evoked by public demand for goods and services as stimulated and guided by producers' efforts to enlarge their markets; (2) that improved well-being of society is adequately measured by aggregate volume of the production of goods, increased per capita use of goods, and aggregate consumption of materials and energy;

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and (3) that technological development should and will continue to contribute to and accelerate the increased throughput of materials per person as it has in the past.

The committee recognizes that dissents to these commonly held beliefs can be found, but they constitute a relatively small voice within the prevailing views of consumers, business, labor, and governments. First corrective steps have been taken by the Congress and other legislative bodies, but without full recognition of the profound change in values that is called for. That is a clear assertion of each person's right to an environment that is not only healthful but possess a beauty that reflects regard for, and insistent action to cherish and preserve its natural qualities.

This right must be given full status with other basic assumptions by the nation as it seeks to provide for the physical health, intellectual growth, economic and social well-being, and security of all citizens. The study committee believes that consideration of environmental costs should be anchored in all relevant national policies and laws having as their objective the conservation or development of any sector of the national economy, including renewable and nonrenewable materials. The study committee recognizes that there are a number of laws designed to bring a balanced consideration of environmental values with economic and social objectives. In particular, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, in Sec. 101, addresses the crucial conflict which we have identified: material abundance vs. environmental quality. In addition, major pollutant control laws such as the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, and the Noise Control Act of 1972 all include strong provisions for citizen suits. These laws have been enacted only recently; their success in redirecting public policy is yet unknown; they must be strongly supported by all sectors of society.

After a reasonable period of time, if administration and adjudication of these laws do not produce the necessary readjustment, an additional anchoring of the principles of environmental protection in the fundamental law of the land may be necessary. To this end we recommend the examination of the need for and the development of both an amendment to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and to the Constitution of the United States declaring that the right of an individual citizen to a safe, healthful, productive, and aesthetically and culturally pleasing environment shall not be abridged.

The proposed amendment or its legislative counterpart is based on the assumption that the nation is capable of a measured and gradual transformation of its production machinery, away from concentration on scarce materials and on accelerated use of energy, and of adjusting it to standards set by our new environmental policies. These changes in production do not imply loss of economic revenue or employment, although there may be considerable shifts within the labor market. On the contrary, the promotion of economic growth in sectors selected because of low risk of environmental disruption, will safeguard the economic substance of the nation and, in the long run, enhance the quality of life. Discrimination and restraint in the use of critical materials coupled with intensified efforts to recycle or to substitute materials in short supply, will in the long run diminish our dependence on foreign resources, reduce the volume of imports and prevent escalation of economic competition with other nations for scarce materials.

The study committee assumed that a materials policy designed to protect the environment will be accompanied by a compatible population policy. Population pressures being a factor contributing significantly to our environmental problems, a population policy would seem to be essential, if indeed not an indispensable complement of policies, such as a materials policy, dealing with other urgent environmental problems. The fact that the committee does not address itself to population thus is not an indication that the topic is of less importance but only that it falls beyond the committee's mission.

Consistent with and supporting the first conclusion the committee reached nine additional conclusions of immediate concern to the national leadership:

1. A revised policy on materials will require the use of all available instruments and innovations in government administration: taxes; environmental standards; standards of behavior and design; pricing and output regulations: licenses and permits; leasing conditions on public lands; and education and persuasion. The application of these instruments of policy, alternatively or cumulatively, should be decided solely on grounds of the merits and effectiveness of each.

2. Economic growth should be guided along a path consistent with policies designed to improve the environment. Sectors that impose minimum stress on the environment should be encouraged, those that impose severe stress should be discouraged. This guidance is achieved in part by the practices described in paragraphs #3 and #4, below, but additional steps are needed as well. Such steps will have to include a deliberate redirection, using and augmenting the market system, of the nation's productive capacity as well as a prudent, selective redirection of certain categories of demand. The net effect of such guidance will be to give durability preference over planned obsolescence, to stimulate use of materials and production methods that facilitate recycling, and to stimulate interest in sources of satisfaction that reduce environmental stress. Educational and public information programs should be used much more generously than at present.

3. A national materials policy must incorporate the principle that environmental costs, measured as the aggregate of social losses suffered as a consequence of impairment of the environment, are taken into account in the computation of benefits and costs of any action to extract, transport, process, use, or dispose of any material. In order to evaluate all environmental costs, especially those that are inadequately reflected in market prices, a practice of full disclosure of the environmental effects of private as well as public activity should be mandatory. The approach taken by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the Technology Assessment Act of 1972 should be broadened, strengthened, and applied to all stages in the flow of materials through the economy.

4. Although some exceptions might occasionally be justified, efficiency in the use of materials is most likely to be achieved when the costs of environmental damage are borne by those who are responsible for the impairment. Costs are to be charged to those who contribute to environmental damage by the levying of taxes, fines or other penalties, or by otherwise enforcing compliance with an environmental or design standard.

5. When environmental effects are taken fully into account certain uses of materials will be perceived as yielding benefits that are trivial in comparison with their costs. This realization will be amplified by recognition of the finite dimension of a high quality environment and anticipation of the growth in its value relative to other things.

6. Land use planning and the imaginative and discriminating use of a variety of devices, including appropriate incentives, are essential instruments for a policy designed to protect the quality of the atmosphere, rivers, lakes, coastal zones and oceans, as well as the land; and are also essential in the formulation of an energy policy which, in turn, is a major component of a national policy. Such land use planning must also take account of the need to relieve congestion in megalopoles, and to foster the spread of community development adapted to sound environmental standards.

7. In fulfilling the international and global obligations that go with a national materials policy the United States should take the initiative in adopting the best available practices, in stimulating the attention of others to environmental problems, in providing technological assistance to the best of its ability, and in joining with other nations in agreements to protect the air, the seas, the world's pool of genetic materials, and important landmarks and treasures of civilization that are threatened by environmental decay. In adjusting to the measures taken in this and other countries to protect the environment, the United States should not tolerate a growth in protectionist trade policies, to the detriment of its own and the world's efficient use of scarce resources.

8. As far as compatible with the national interest, the United States should embark without delay on a course that will steer clear of collision with other industrial powers bidding for environmentally attractive resources in short supply, such as low sulfur petroleum and liquid natural gas. It should seek jointly with major producers and consumers corrective multilateral solutions providing for orderly and equitable marketing arrangements and, at the same time, intensify the development of new technologies to ensure availability of needed

resources.

9. The present state of knowledge about the origins and effects of environmental deterioration is so incomplete that it is impossible to assert with certainty how close or remote a crisis may be. In recognition of the complex forces that drive the ecosystems of the world, the committee urges the allocation of funds for expansion of research with all deliberate speed, immediate adoption of a broad program for the acquisition of base-line data, and creation of national