EPA Alumni Association: History of the EPA

Below we serve up glimpses of EPA's history in five different "flavors":

Oral History Videos

Alumni have recorded videos on a variety of subjects. Most videos are 45 to 60 minutes in length but are broken down into chapters for easier viewing. Transcripts and podcast versions of these videos are also provided. HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS TO PEEK YOUR INTEREST.

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Interview with Lee Thomas, EPA's 6th Administrator

Lee Thomas, EPA's 6th Administrator, served during one of the most critical periods in the agency's history A member of the Ruckelshaus "save EPA" management team, Thomas discusses his service as OSWER AA and then as successor to Ruckelshaus as Administrator. He talks at length about the issues that marked his tenure, including Chernobyl, Superfund reauthorization, Stratospheric Ozone, and Climate Change. In explaining his core values and management style, Lee offers encouragement to current EPA employees.

Chapter 1: A New Approach to a Large Mission but a Small Budget

(14 minutes) From The Underground Storage Tank Program's Early Management Challenges

Ron Brand describes the environmental challenges facing the new program and how they chose a franchising approach for dealing with their large management challenge.

Chapter 4: Leadership at the New Agency

(12 minutes) From Bill Ruckelshaus and some of his closest aides recall the Opening Months of the New Agency in 1970

Bill Ruckelshaus's assistants talk about the leadership challenges of those opening months and how Bill Ruckelshaus's leadership style made a big difference in how the Agency operated then ...

Chapter 2: EPA's Relationship with the Private Sector

(8 minutes) From Former Deputy Administrator Hank Habicht talks about management at EPA

Hank Habicht's views of the relationship between EPA and the Private Sector, then and now.

Chapter 3: State Implementation Planning

(12 minutes) From Early Implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970 in California

John Wise lays out the setting for the litigation by the public interest firm. He later discusses how the litigation drove EPA into looking at land use and transportation as a source of measu...

Half Century of Environmental Progress

High school and college students as well as others may not know about the major environmental problems and issues encountered in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century, how they were addressed, and the importance of continued vigilance in attacking remaining and evolving issues. This history of EPA has been written for them."

Waste Management: A Half Century of Progress

From Waste Management: A Half Century of Progress
Categories: RCRA

EPA Journals

For many years, EPA published the "EPA Journal" with interesting articles on a very wide variety of topics. The Association is slowly digitizing and categorizing these Journals. To date we have digitized 3034 articles. HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTED ARTICLES FOR YOU TO SAMPLE.

EPA Newsline: Joint Study of Forest Health

From The New Clean Air Act: What It Means to You, Jan. 1991
Categories: Air: General, Climate

The Next Decade: An Interview with Douglas M. Costle

From Decade of the Environment, Nov. 1980
Categories: International, Management of Agency, States

How Refrigerators Works

From Earth Day, Jan. 1990
Categories: Climate

Update

From Toward a Conserving Society, Jul. 1985
Categories: Air: General, Air: Mobile, Enforcement, Health, Pesticides, Policy and Planning, States, Superfund, Toxics

Books & Articles by Alumni

Some of the most detailed history of EPA is contained in books and articles written by alumni.

Historical Documents

Some documents have made a big difference in the direction that EPA has taken through the years. Here we present some of them.

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History of the EPA — As Only We Alumni Can Tell It!