From Stratton to USCOP: Environmental Law Floundering at Sea
14 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2008
Abstract
In the late I960s the environmental movement was budding in the United Stales, and a land ethic was quickly emerging. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1961 ushered in a decade of environmental legislation addressing numerous areas of the human environment. In the midst of this environmental awakening, a report entitled "Our Nation and the Sea" was issued in January 1969 by a presidentially-appointed commission. This report of the Commission on Marine Sciences, Engineering, and Resources, commonly known as the Stratton Commission Report, provided the first comprehensive review and assessment of U.S. ocean policy. Because of its timing, people looking back often presume that the health of the nation's seas was the primary focus of the Stratton Commission Report. This was not the case.
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