section_path: Presidency (1977–1981)/Domestic policy/Environment
section_name: Environment
paragraph_text: Environment
  
  During his 1976 campaign, Carter promised to sign into law any bills Congress passed to regulate strip mining. In 1977, Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which regulated strip mining.
  
  In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which was on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation. Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish about 500 houses and two schools built atop the dump, and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous waste. This was the first time such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dump sites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".
  
  In December 1978, Carter used the 1906 Antiquities Act and his executive order power to designate 56,000,000 acres (23,000,000 ha) of land in Alaska as a national monument. This executive order protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge until Congress codified it into law with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges.
  
  During his 1976 campaign, Carter promised to sign into law any bills Congress passed to regulate strip mining. In 1977, Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which regulated strip mining.
  
  In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which was on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation. Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish about 500 houses and two schools built atop the dump, and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous waste. This was the first time such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dump sites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".
  
  In December 1978, Carter used the 1906 Antiquities Act and his executive order power to designate 56,000,000 acres (23,000,000 ha) of land in Alaska as a national monument. This executive order protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge until Congress codified it into law with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges.