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.
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 2: Move to Washington
(22 minutes) From David Dominick, Commissioner of the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (1969-1970)David Dominick describes the interesting days at the beginning of the Nixon Administration with the appointment of Wally Hickel, Governor of Alaska, as the Secretary of the Interior, and environmen...
Chapter 1: The Public and Social Context for the Creation of EPA
(16 minutes) From Behind the Scenes at the Creation of EPA in 1970Chuck Elkins describes events leading to President Nixon's decision to create EPA and details the status of environmental programs at time of EPA's creation.
Chapter 2: The Scientific, Technical and Political Challenges
(21 minutes) From Early Implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act
Chapter 4: Crossing the Finish Line
(9 minutes) From The Anthrax Cleanup on Capitol HillSurviving challenges ranging from hidden rooms to sudden containment breaches to emergency, middle-of-the-night forays to Home Depot, the clean-up team delivers and the Senate office buildings reop...
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."
Water Quality: A Half Century of Progress
From Water Quality: A Half Century of ProgressCategories: Water: General
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.
Newsline: Sludge Dumping Finally Ends
From Recycling: Closing the Loop, Jul. 1992Categories: Water: General
Hidden Gas: Another Alternative
From Energy and the Environment, Apr. 1979Categories: Policy and Planning
The East Baltimore Way by Dr. Robert Burke
From Cities and the Environment, Feb. 1978Categories: Local Programs, Public, The
Books & Articles by Alumni
Some of the most detailed history of EPA is contained in books and articles written by alumni.
Chapter 4. Explaining Risks to an Aroused Public
From Borrowed Earth, Borrowed Time: Healing America's Chemical Wounds by Glenn E. SchweitzerCategories: Toxics
Chapter 9. The Power and Limitations of Science and Technology
From Borrowed Earth, Borrowed Time: Healing America's Chemical Wounds by Glenn E. SchweitzerCategories: Toxics
Chapter 3. The Uncertainty of Risk but the Reality of Cost
From Borrowed Earth, Borrowed Time: Healing America's Chemical Wounds by Glenn E. SchweitzerCategories: Toxics
Chapter 8. Exceeding the Absorptive Limits of the Global Commons
From Borrowed Earth, Borrowed Time: Healing America's Chemical Wounds by Glenn E. SchweitzerCategories: Toxics
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.
First Presidential Environmental Message (Nixon) 1970
From First Presidential Environmental Message (Nixon) 1970
White House Fact Sheet re Creation of EPA
From White House Fact Sheet re Creation of EPA
Interview with Alvin Alm in 1993
From Interview of Alvin Alm January 1994Categories: Congress, Economic Impact, Enforcement, Management of Agency, OMB, Other Federal Agencies
Reorganization Plan that Created EPA
From Reorganization Plan that Created EPASearch all history files.
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