An Act to authorize the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to establish educational programs to encourage understanding of policies and support of activities designed to preserve and enhance environmental quality and maintain ecological balance
PL 91-516 (H.R.18260), enacted 10/30/1970

1312 
PUBLIC LAW 91-516-OCT. 30, 1970 
Public Law 91-516 
[84 STAT. 
October 30, 1970 
[H, R. 18260] 
Environmental 
Education Act. 
AN ACT 
To authorize the United States Commissioner of Education to establish education 
programs to encourage understanding of policies, and support of activities, 
designed to enhance environmental quality and maintain ecological balance. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assernbled^ That this Act may be 
cited as the "Environmental Education Act". 
STATEMENT OF FINDINGS AND 
PURPOSE 
SEC. 2. (a) The Congress of the United States finds that the dete-
rioration of the quality of the Nation's environment and of its ecolog-
ical balance poses a serious threat to the strength and vitality of the 
people of the Nation and is in part due to poor understanding of the 
Nation's environment and of the need for ecological balance; that pres-
ently there do not exist adequate resources for educating and inform-
ing citizens in these areas, and that concerted efforts in educating 
citizens about environmental quality and ecological 'balance are 
therefore necessary. 
(b) It is the purpose of this Act to encourage and support the 
development of new and improved curricula to encourage understand-
ing of policies, and support of activities designed to enhance environ-
mental quality and maintain ecological balance; to demonstrate the 
use of such curricula in model educational programs and to evaluate 
the effectiveness thereof; to provide support for the initiation and 
maintenance of programs in environmental education at the elemen-
tary and secondary levels; to disseminate curricular materials and 
other information for use in educational programs throughout the 
Nation; to provide training programs for teachers, other educational 
personnel, public service personnel, and community, labor, and indus-
trial and business leaders and employees, and government employees 
at State, Federal, and local levels; to provide for the planning of 
outdoor ecological study centers; to provide for community education 
programs on preserving and enhancing environmental quality and 
maintaining ecological balance; and to provide for the preparation 
and distribution of materials by mass media in dealing with the 
environment and ecology. 
Environmental 
education office, 
establishment. 
Ante, p. 198-1. 
' ' Environme nt al 
education." 
Grants and 
contracts. 
ENVIRONMENTAL 
EDUCATION 
SEC. 8. (a) (1) There is established, within the Office of Education, 
an office of environmental education (referred to in this section as 
the "office'') which, under the supervision of the Commissioner, 
through regulations promulgated by the Secretary, shall be respon-
sible for (A) the administration of the program authorized by sub-
section (b) and (B) the coordination of activities of the Office of 
Education w^hich are related to environmental education. The office 
shall be headed by a Director who shall be compensated at a rate not 
to exceed that prescribed for grade GS-17 in section 5332 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(2) For the purposes of this Act, the term "environmental educa-
tion" means the educational process dealing with man's relationship 
with his natural and manmade surroundings, and includes the rela-
tion of population, pollution, resource allocation and depletion, con-
servation, transportation, technology, and urban and rural planning 
to the total human environment. 
(b) (1) The Commissioner shall carry out a program of making 
grants to, and contracts with, institutions of higher education, State 
84 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 91-516-OCT. 30, 1970 
1313 
and local educational agencies, regional educational research organiza-
tions, and other public and private agencies, organizations, and insti-
tutions (including libraries and museums) to support research, demon-
stration, and pilot projects designed to educate the public on the prob-
lems of environmental quality and ecological balance, except that no 
grant may be made other than to a nonprofit agency, organization 
or institution. 
(2) Funds appropriated for grants and contracts under this sec-
tion shall be available for such activities as— 
(A) the development of curricula (including interdisciplinary 
curricula) in the preservation and enhancement of environmental 
quality and ecological balance; 
(B) dissemination of information relating to such curricula 
and to environmental education, generally; 
(C) in the case of grants to State and local educational 
agencies, for the support of environmental education programs at 
the elementary and secondary education levels; 
(D) preservice and inservice training programs and projects 
(including fellowship programs, institutes, workshops, sympos-
iums, and seminars) for educational personnel to prepare them 
to teach in subject matter areas associated with environmental 
quality and ecology, and for public service personnel, government 
employees, and business, labor, and industrial leaders and 
employees; 
(E) planning of outdoor ecological study centers; 
(F) community education programs on environmental qual-
ity, including special programs for adults; and 
(G) preparation and distribution of materials suitable for 
use by the mass media in dealing with the environment and 
ecology. 
In addition to the activities specified in the first sentence of this 
paragraph, such funds may be used for projects designed to demon-
strate, test, and evaluate the effectiveness of any such activities, 
whether or not assisted under this section. 
(3) (A) Financial assistance under this subsection may be made 
available only upon application to the Commissioner. Applications ti 
under this subsection shall be submitted at such time, in such form, 
and containing such information as the Secretary shall prescribe by 
regulation and shall be approved only if it— 
(i) provides that the activities and services for which assist-
ance is sought will be administered by, or under the supervision 
of, the applicant; 
(ii) describes a program for carrying out one or more of the 
purposes set forth in the first sentence of paragraph (2) which 
holds promise of making a substantial contribution tow^ard at-
taining the purposes of this section; 
(iii) sets forth such policies and procedures as will insure 
adequate evaluation of the activities intended to be carried out 
under the application; 
(iv) sets forth policies and procedures w^iich assure that Fed-
eral funds made available under this Act for any fiscal year will 
be so used as to supplement and, to the extent practical, increase 
the level of funds that would, in the absence of such Federal 
funds, be made available by the applicant for the purposes de-
scribed in section 3, and in no case supplant such funds. 
(v) provides for such fiscal control and fund accounting pro-
Prohibition. 
Funds, avail-
ability. 
Financial as-
sistance, applica-
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PUBLIC LAW 91-516-OCT. 30, 1970 
[84 STAT. 
Reports and 
recordkeeping. 
Federal share, 
limitation. 
Advisory Coun-
cil on Environ-
mental Education; 
establishment; 
membership. 
cedures as may be necessary to assure proper disbursement of 
and accounting for Federal funds paid to the applicant under 
this title; and 
(vi) provides for making an annual report and such other 
reports, in such form and containing such information, as the 
Commissioner may reasonably require and for keeping such 
records, and for affording such access thereto as the Commissioner 
may find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of 
such reports. 
(B) Applications from local educational agencies for 
financial 
assistance under this Act may be approved by the Commissioner only 
if the State educational agency has been notified of the application 
and been given the opportunity to offer recommendations. 
(C) Amendments of applications shall, except as the Secretary 
may otherwise provide by or pursuant to regulation, be subject to 
approval in the same manner as original applications. 
(4) Federal assistance to any program or project under this section, 
other than those involving curriculum development, dissemination of 
curricular materials, and evaluation, shall not exceed 80 per centum of 
the cost of such program for the first fiscal year of its operation, 
including costs of administration, unless the Commissioner deter-
mines, pursuant to regulations adopted and promulgated by the Sec-
retary establishing objective criteria for such determinations, that 
assistance in excess of such percentages is required in furtherance of 
the purposes of this section. The Federal share for the second year shall 
not exceed 60 per centum, and for the third year 40 per centum. Non-
Federal contributions may be in cash or kind, fairly evaluated, includ-
ing but not limited to plant, equipment, and services. 
(c) (1) There is hereby established an Advisory Council on Envi-
ronmental Education consisting of twenty-one members appointed by 
the Secretary, The Secretary shall appoint one member as Chairman. 
The Council shall consist of persons appointed from the public and 
])rivate sector with due regard to their fitness, knowledge, and experi-
ence in matters of, but not limited to, academic, scientific, medical, 
legal, resource conservation and production, urban and regional plan-
ning, and information media activities as they relate to our society and 
affect our environment, and shall give due consideration to geographi-
cal representation in the appointment of such members: Provided^ 
however, That the Council shall consist of not less than three 
ecologists and three students. 
(2) The Council shall— 
(A) advise the Commissioner and the office concerning the 
administration of, preparation of general regulations for, and 
operation of programs assisted under this section; 
(B) make recommendations to the office with respect to the 
allocation of funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (d) 
among the purposes set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection 
(b) and the criteria to be used in approving applications, which 
criteria shall insure an appropriate geographical distribution 
of approved programs and projects throughout the Nation; 
(C) develop criteria for the review of applications and their 
disposition; and 
(D) evaluate programs and projects assisted under this sec-
tion and disseminate the results thereof. 
84 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 91-516-OCT. 30, 1970 
1315 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
SEC. 4. The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, in coop-
eration with the heads of other agencies with relevant jurisdiction, 
shall, insofar as practicable upon request, render technical assistance 
to local educational agencies, public and private nonprofit organiza-
tions, institutions of higher education, agencies of local. State, and 
Federal governments and other agencies deemed by the Secretary 
to play a role in preserving and enhancing environmental quality 
and maintaining ecological balance. The technical assistance shall 
be designed to enable the recipient agency to carry on education 
programs which are related to environmental quality and ecological 
balance. 
SMALL GRANTS 
SEC. 5. (a) In addition to the grants authorized under section 3, 
the Commissioner, from the sums appropriated, shall have the author-
ity to make grants, in sums not to exceed $10,000 annually, to non- 
Limitation. 
profit organizations such as citizens groups, volunteer organizations 
working in the environmental field, and other public and private non-
profit agencies, institutions, or organizations for conducting courses, 
workshops, seminars, symposiums, institutes, and conferences, espe-
cially for adults and community groups (oiher than the group 
funded). 
(b) Priority shall be given to those proposals demonstrating inno-
vative approaches to environmental education. 
(c) For the purposes of this section, the Commissioner shall require 
evidence that the interested organization or group shall have been 
in existence one year prior to the submission of a proposal for Federal 
funds and that it shall submit an annual report on Federal funds 
Report. 
expended. 
(d) Proposals submitted by organizations and groups under this 
section shall be limited to the essential information required to evalu-
ate them, unless the organization or group shall volunteer additional 
information. 
ADMINISTRATION 
SEC. 6. In administering the provisions of this Act, the Commis-
sioner is authorized to utilize the services and facilities of any agency 
of the Federal Government and of any other public or private agency 
or institution in accordance with appropriate agreements, and to pay 
for such services either in advance or by way of reimbursement, as may 
be agreed upon. The Commissioner shall publish annually a list and 
description of projects supported under this Act and shall distribute 
such list and description to interested educational institutions, citizens' 
groups, conservation organizations, and other organizations and indi-
viduals involved in enhancing environmental quality and maintaining 
ecological balance. 
AUTHORIZATION 
SEC. 7. There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1971, $15,000,000 for the fiscal year ending 
June 30,1972-, and $25,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30,1973, 
for carrying out the purposes of this Act. 
Approved October 30, 1970.