ABSTRACT
During the years following the end of World War II, the United States became a leader in the advancement of both scientific and economic matters. American government at all levels was eventually viewed as the enabler of material progress. However, despite these advances, there was a general lack of scientific information regarding what later became known as ecology, the study of the natural environment. Toward the latter decades of the twentieth century, there was an awakening in the United States to the value of natural ecological systems. The publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 has been credited with the beginnings of the environmental movement in this country. Events such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill added fuel to the fire that culminated in the passing of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (NEPA was actually passed in January 1970). The primary purpose of the act was to ensure that environmental factors were considered in the decision-making processes of federal agencies.
