Environment

-- Overview --

President Ford is deeply committed to achieving a balance between the needs of the environment and the needs of a dynamic, growing economy.

"I am committed to the Nation's effort to clean up the environment. At the same time, I am concerned about the costs and impact on the economy. We can't do it all tomorrow."

The budget submitted for Fiscal Year 1977 by the President included an outlay of $4.5 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency. Out of this total, 84% was earmarked for use in sewage treatment construction. The policy highlights of this budget include:

On December 4, 1974 the President transmitted to Congress a proposal for 37 new additions to our National Wilderness Preservation System, this would add over 9 million more acres to the Wilderness System. The President has just recently proposed the use of $1.5 billion over the next ten years in order to increase the size of the National Park System.

One of the first bills the President signed upon entering office was the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974. This bill provides a process which should permit better choices to be made in the management of the Nation's vital renewable resources.

On February 27, 1976 the President stated:

"It is a measure of our progress as a Nation that today, in the 200th year of American Independence, we are in the midst of a dynamic movement to restore, protect and preserve our environment and, at the same time, the objective of providing a better life for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren."

Speaking at Yellowstone National Park on August 29, 1976, President Ford unveiled the Bicentennial Land Heritage Act. This program proposes to spend $1.5 billion during the next ten years, and will more than double our present acreage of land for national parks.

" Now it is our turn to make our gift outright to those who will come after us 15 years, 40 years, 100 years from now. What better way can we add a new dimension to our third century of freedom."


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