349. Editorial Note
During the Reagan administration’s first term, policymakers were ambivalent about negotiating an international agreement to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). While the linkage between CFCs and ozone depletion was theorized as early as 1974, and the United States banned certain CFCs in 1978, many Reagan officials were skeptical of the environmental cost. On March 31, 1981, Danny Boggs, Office of Policy Development, Executive Office of the President, wrote to Director of the Office of Policy Development Edwin Gray about a draft Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report regarding CFCs and the ozone layer that was to be included in a larger Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development document, stating “the science in the draft report is questionable at best.” (Reagan Library, Boggs, Danny: Files, Environment—CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons)) The report was eventually included with several revisions. (Telegram 327406 to Paris, December 10, Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D810588–0751)
From 1982 to 1985, Reagan officials gradually moved toward pursuing an international agreement regarding the use of CFCs. On January 18, 1982, Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs James Buckley approved a request from Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs James Malone to begin exploratory discussions with other governments concerning a convention on protection of the ozone layer. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, P820177–0186) Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology William Schneider approved further negotiations on November 23, 1982. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, P820177–0181) In a December 7, 1984, memorandum to Schneider, Malone stated that, from November 1982 to September 1983, the U.S. Government “did not think that the state of scientific knowledge on the ozone layer warranted at that time a protocol that would require international controls.” Malone added that an EPA position paper from September 1983 “generally supported the idea proposed by the Nordic countries that would put into effect a world-wide ban on nonessential aerosol uses of CFCs.” Malone wrote that the EPA’s position was accepted by Department of State officials in an October 7 meeting. (Department of State, Chronological Files, 1984–1985, Lot 86D362, December 1984 #1 Completed Items)
In a January 31 memorandum to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Economic and Social Affairs Richard Kauzlarich, Michael Paulson of the Office of Technical Specialized Service, Bureau [Page 997] of International Organization Affairs, summarized a January 31 meeting, chaired by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment, Health, and Natural Resources Richard Benedick, in which the attendees discussed the U.S. position for the upcoming Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, favoring a “protocol to control the production and/or use of chlorofluorocarbons.” (Department of State, Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, Ozone, 1981–1990, Lot 92D207, SENV—Ozone—Diplomatic Conference 1985)