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.
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The Anthrax Cleanup on Capitol Hill
This documentary tells the story of how EPA, the National Institutes of Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Center for Communicable Diseases (CDC), and other federal military and civilian agencies, working under severe time pressure and in the full glare of intensive media coverage, collaborated to solve a scientific and engineering challenge never before faced -- the decontamination of an entire building contaminated with deadly anthrax spores.
Chapter 2: Early Days of Environmental Enforcement
(8 minutes) From Interview with James (Jim) SeifSeif describes his experience as a young Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting steel companies for water pollution before the Clean Water Act existed and his first tour at EPA as one of the agency&rs...
Chapter 5: Management & Core Values
(23 minutes) From Interview with Lee Thomas, EPA's 6th AdministratorLee Thomas describes his management style and the core values that have served him well both in government and the private sector. Lee closes with some encouragement for 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 ChallengesRon Brand describes the environmental challenges facing the new program and how they chose a franchising approach for dealing with their large management challenge.
Chapter 3: Program Management & Public/Private Partnerships
(18 minutes) From Former Deputy Administrator Hank Habicht talks about management at EPAHank Habicht describes his approach to program management within EPA and the importance of Public/Private Partnerships, including specific program examples.
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 ProgressCategories: 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.
The Situation: What the Public Believes, How the Experts See It by Frederick W. Allen
From Environmental Risk, Nov. 1987Categories: Climate, Public, The
Thinking Ecologically in Lakes Protection by Lee Botts
From The Great Lakes, Mar. 1985Categories: Toxics, Water: General
EPA Newsline: EPA's Budget Upped to $6.2 Billion
From The New Clean Air Act: What It Means to You, Jan. 1991Categories: Air: General, Budget, Economic Impact, Lead, Pesticides
Environmentally Speaking: Environment, Education, and Technology by Douglas M. Costle
From Education and the Environment, Jan. 1981Categories: Education, Management of Agency
Books & Articles by Alumni
Some of the most detailed history of EPA is contained in books and articles written by alumni.
A History of the U.S. National Ambient Air Quaity Standards by John Bachmann
From A History of the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards by John Bachmann
Chapter 5: Cleaning Up the Wastes of an Industrial Economy
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 10. Living with Toxic Risks
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.
White House Fact Sheet re Creation of EPA
From White House Fact Sheet re Creation of EPA
Creation of EPA: Message to Congress
From Creation of EPA: Message to Congress
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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