flight and air traffic control procedures. “Unless land use planning in the vicinity of the airports is completed and effected, all other noise abatement efforts will fail to produce the desired results,” he warned. “Although flight procedures are only one of several parts of a n effective noise abatement program, they are the only part over which N B A A members, 2 s aircraft operators, have direct control.” he continued. “NBAA urges their pilots to utilize these flight procedures whenever, in their judgment, beneficial community relations will result,” Wcods concluded. Assessment
Factors such as frequency of operation. time of day, ambient noise level, and the like-all in addition to aircraft noise levels per se, complicate the total noise picture with respect to community reaction. “Future generations will likely be better adjusted to aircraft noise,” Capt. Brunelle observed. “Only four generations ago, our forefathers resisted the steam locomotive, and a bit later the autoniobile, as an unnecessary noise adjunct to the transportation system,” he remarked. In the same vein is Boyd’s remark last month. “I do not believe there will ever be such a thing as a quiet airplane,” Boyd said. “Despite our far longer experience with the problems of truck noise and railroad noise, we have not been able to produce quiet vehicles in those modes of transportation. But I am convinced that we will be able, by technological and regulatory means, to reduce the impact of aircraft noise exposure for the majority of Americans who are now, or will potentially be, subject to excessive aircraft noise exposure,” Boyd concluded. “In all events, certification for noise will afford no magic results,” Stephen noted. “Certification can yield n o more than technology can produce.” And he added that the extent of noise reduction through technological improvement of aircraft and engines is limited by our present knowledge. N o short term or instantaneous areas of substantial improvement are likely. O n the contrary, at most locations aircraft noise nuisance will become even more aggravated before the condition starts to improve.
QUOTE We will no longer abide pollution To conserve our resources and to maintain our capability t o meet not only our domestic but also our international food commitments, we must move ahead boldly and decisively t o halt the sweeping deterioration of our environment and the senseless squandering of our natural resources. No nation on earth has been more abundantly blessed with bountiful natural resources than the United States. No nation on earth has abused and squandered its resources at such an astonishing pace as we have. Our country was once covered with beautiful forests and rolling prairies; many of our states were dotted with beautiful fresh, clear lakes, and a myriad of streams meandered across the land. Much of this is gone. A major portion of our forests was carelessly if not wantonly harvested by the lumberman, much of our fertile soil was allowed t o erode away, and our fabled, priceless streams and lakes are rapidly becoming polluted. Even the quality of our air has deteriorated t o the point that metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles are constantly flirting with a major environmental disaster. Perhaps the best known, and certainly the most widely discussed, resource problem is that of water pollution. Every major river sys. tem in this country is polluted to some degree-most of them seriously. We have all stood by and watched the virtual destruction of Lake Erie and are now seeing Lake Michigan in the early stages of its death throes. Municipalities and industries along the shores of these lakes and on the rivers which feed into them are dumping each day millions of gallons of untreated wastes into their waters. This nation is losing the equivalent of 400,000 acres of good land each year from erosion and other forms of soil deterioration. Flood damages in upstream watershed areas still amount to $1 billion every year. It is estimated that the accumulation of sediments in reservoirs and ponds throughout the country totals at least 850,000 acre feet annually. Each year it costs us an estimated $250 million t o remove soil deposited in stream channels, harbors, and reservoirs. We are told that air pollution does some $12 billion worth of damage each year. Damages t o crops alone amount t o about $325 million a year, while depressed growth of livestock due t o air pollution costs an estimated $175 million a year. Today, we have at our disposal the technology required to stem the tide of pollution i n this country. We know how to improve the quality of our water and our air. All of this is not enough. If we are ever going t o win this war against the deterioration of our environment, we must mount a massive effort that has the support of everyone from the citizen on the street to the local, state, and federal officials right up t o the White House. The decision must be made at all levels of government that we will no longer abide pollution i n any way.
GAYLORD NELSON U. S. Senator (D.-Wis.) a t t h e annual m e e t i n g of t h e American Society of Agronomy, Washington, D.C., Nov. 7, 1967
Volume 1, N u m b e r
12, December 1967 983
