Gaylord Nelson, Father of Earth Day - MINDS@UW Home

and programs should be recommended to ensure that the needs…were
adequately and efficiently met…” 65 The composition of the ORRRC was very
interesting. Sitting members included “…representatives from mining, timber,
grazing, business, conservation, and recreation groups…” in addition to federal
bureaucrats. 66
Ultimately, the ORRRC influenced the creation of the Outdoor Recreation
Advisory Council. According to Webber, it also contributed to the passage of
three important pieces of environmental legislation: the Wilderness Act (1964),
the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1965), and the Land and Water Conservation
Fund Act (1965). 67
In 1965, the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference (SHPC) won a
lawsuit against the Federal Power Commission, in which the court held that
environmental factors must be given consideration in the planning of federal
construction projects. This lawsuit, in particular, was very interesting at the time
because it established standards which later seemed to be reflected in the NEPA
legislation that passed in 1969. 68
According to Neimark and Mott, Consolidated Edison (ConEd) proposed a
reservoir on Storm King Mountain which was approved by the Federal Power
65 David J. Webber, “Earth Day and Its Precursors: Continuity and Change in the
Evolution of Midtwentieth Century U.S. Environmental Policy,” Review of Policy
Research 25, no. 4 (2008): 322.
66 David J. Webber, “Earth Day and Its Precursors: Continuity and Change in the
Evolution of Midtwentieth Century U.S. Environmental Policy,” Review of Policy
Research 25, no. 4 (2008): 322.
67 David J. Webber, “Earth Day and Its Precursors: Continuity and Change in the
Evolution of Midtwentieth Century U.S. Environmental Policy,” Review of Policy
Research 25, no. 4 (2008): 324.
68 Peninah Neimark and Peter Rhodes Mott, 4.
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