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The problems of cleaning up pollution, managing public lands and water resources wisely, and encouraging the development of safe clean energy for the Nation's future cannot be resolved by private self interest alone. Government has a crucial role in protecting the natural world we all share—and on which our survival depends. That is why President Theodore Roosevelt built and protected our National Forest System in the early years of the century. It is why the Congress passed the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act in 1960, the Wilderness Act in 1964, the Clean Air Act in 1970, the Clean Water Act in 1972, the National Forest Management, Hazardous Waste, and Toxic Substances Control Acts in 1976, the Surface Mining Act in 1977, and others.

In 1969 the Congress declared a "national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man" (National Environmental Policy Act). The Reagan Administration has turned its back on that goal, although the great laws Congress passed to fulfill it remain unchanged, and the public support that led to their enactment has not diminished but grown stronger.

We think the Administration's environmental policies have harmed the Nation, and that the harm grows steadily worse. We believe President Reagan should be called to task.

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