Lynton Keith Caldwell: An Environmental Visionary and the National Environmental Policy Act

15. The Final Years

399 Since . . . 1970 . . . the distinctive Caldwellian exhortation to think and act on an environmental grand design before it is too late to save ourselves and the world we love has lost none of its gentility, eloquence, or disquieting power. Geoffrey Wandesforde-Smith, “Environmental Politics at Thirty: Caldwell, Churchill, and an Unruly World” The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses In January 1997, following the successful reelection of Clinton and Gore to a second term, the CEQ finally released its major report on NEPA: The National Environmental Policy Act: A Study of Its The Final Years fifteen 400 Lynton Keith Caldwell Effectiveness after Twenty-Five Years. In a renewed period of hope within environmental circles that a progressive agenda could at last be initiated –and then expanded should Gore win the presidency in 2000–the reportconcluded:“NEPA iscriticaltomeetingtheenvironmental,social, and economic goals this Nation has set for itself. . . . With this study in hand, CEQ is embarking on a major effort to reinvent the NEPA process. Over the next several years, CEQ will be proposing specific actions to strengthenstrategicplanning,publicinformationandinput,interagency coordination, interdisciplinary and place-based decision-making, and science-based and flexible management approaches. . . . What we have learnedwillcarryusintothenextcenturyofenvironmentalstewardship for the benefit of our Nation’s communities.”1 Caldwell, who had been among those academics, scientists, and NEPA practitioners selected to contribute his thoughts and ideas to the two-year study, now undertook to spread the word in his upcoming series of speeches and lectures. On March 10 he lectured at the University of Arizona, Tucson, where the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy had already “proudly announce[d] a special presentation by Dr. Lynton Keith Caldwell on Revitalization of the National Environmental Policy Act.” The University of Arizona, Flagstaff, then circulated news of “A Rare Evening with Lynton K. Caldwell” to be held on October 17.2 On June 18, in Washington, D.C., Caldwell took part in a workshop on revitalization of NEPA sponsored by the CEQ and attended by federal NEPA compliance officials. The following evening, during a Natural Resources Council of America banquet, he was honored with a National Environmental Quality Award in recognition of his considerable contributions . During Caldwell’s stay in the capital, Kathleen McGinty presented him with a special letter of thanks from the CEQ: Twenty-eight years ago, our nation’s environmental policy was enacted under the title, the National Environmental Policy Act, marking the beginning of a new era in American environmental policies. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) changed the way government officials think about the environment in federal decision making. After its enactment, federal agencies began actively reviewing their procedures and exploring alternatives which incorporate environmental as well as social and economic factors. These activities have had a profound effect on the health and protection of our environment. The Final Years 401 Dr. Lynton Keith Caldwell, you led the efforts to create this legislation which was far ahead of its time. In an act barely three pages long, NEPA not only implemented the national consensus to protect and improve the environment with a new vision of collaborative planning, but also anticipated contemporary issues such as sustainable development, “reinventing government,” and protecting future generations. At this critical juncture in the history of NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality is in the process of rediscovering the roots of NEPA. With each investigation, we better appreciate the real strength of its eloquent language and adaptiveness to contemporary environmental and national policy. We thank you for your efforts in ensuring a cleaner and healthier world for all of us.3 Since the beginning of the year, with the help of a grant from the Henry Jackson Foundation in Seattle, Washington, Caldwell had devoted much of his time to writing his final book on NEPA, The National Environmental Policy Act: An Agenda for the Future. Now in his mideighties, he wanted to leave behind him a volume that would be his personal testament to the statute and to what he had consistently declared to be its vision for the future...