298 The Environmental Debate
1997 Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, resulting from United Nations Conference on
Global Change. Not ratified by U.S. Senate.
1998 Nick Steinberg develops hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technique for releasing oil
from shale..
1999 Invasive Species Council established; brings together departments of Interior,
Transportation, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense and EPA to prevent and
control invasive species.
Seven species of Pacific salmon added to endangered species list, the largest
regional group of species ever added to list simultaneously.
Appeals court rules, in American Trucking Association v. Environmental Protection
Agency, that standards for permissible levels of ozone and fine soot set by the EPA
in 1997 are invalid because in setting those standards the EPA exceeded the powers
granted to it under the Clean Air Act.
2000 Human genome sequence draft announced.
U.S. Green Building Council establishes its Leadership in Energy and Environmen-
tal Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
2001 Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deter-
mines that some types of wetlands previously viewed as covered by the Clean
Water Act are excluded.
58.5 million acres of national forest (one-third of nation’s forest land) protected
from new road building and commercial logging by executive order promulgated
by Bill Clinton.
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) phases out 12
long-lived pesticides and other chemicals, including DDT, PCBs, and dioxins. Not
ratified by U.S. Senate.
2004 Mendocino County, California, bans genetically modified organisms from farms.
Google Earth makes satellite imagery of the Earth available to public and provides
bird’s-eye view of nation’s wildlands.
2005 Energy Policy Act provides tax incentives and loan guarantees for energy produc-
tion of various types, including biofuels, and exempts oil and gas producers from
certain provision of Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974/1986.
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement
restricts extraction of water from Great Lakes.
National forest road-building ban (the Roadless Rule) of 2001 rescinded.
Hurricane Katrina devastates coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi.
2006 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument, largest marine sanctuary in
the world, is created.