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
10701 Views
David Dominick, Commissioner of the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (1969-1970)
David Dominick relates his coming to Washington from Cody, Wyoming as a young man and being appointed by Interior Secretary Wally Hickel to be the Commissioner of the Water program in the Department of the Interior, and his experiences there.
Chapter 2: How EPA was Created using Reorganization Plan #3
(10 minutes) From Behind the Scenes at the Creation of EPA in 1970Chuck Elkins tells why certain programs were chosen to be moved to the new Agency and why others were left behind.
Chapter 4: Factors that Led to Successes and some Lessons Learned
(17 minutes) From Early Implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act Panelists reflect back on success and posit some lessons learned.
Chapter 2: Chernobyl's Radiation Emergency
(8 minutes) From Interview with Lee Thomas, EPA's 6th AdministratorLee Thomas describes his being put in charge of handling the consequences for the United States of the Chernobyl Radiation Emergency in the Soviet Union.
Chapter 3: Working Against an Immovable Deadline
(8 minutes) From The Anthrax Cleanup on Capitol HillWorking seven days a week and 18 hours a day while overcoming obstacles ranging from hidden rooms to sudden breaches in containment, the response team begins the clean-up. Among the big...
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."
Drinking Water: A Half Century of Progress
From Drinking Water: A Half Century of ProgressCategories: Water: Drinking
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 SUGGECTED ARTICLES FOR YOU TO SAMPLE
A New Sense of Environmental Responsibility by Lee M. Thomas
From Toward a Conserving Society, Jul. 1985
A Forum: Will the U.S. Recycling Approach Work?
From Recycling: Closing the Loop, Jul. 1992Categories: Solid Waste
Inquiry: Would You Rather Work in a Regional Office or Headquarters and Why?
From Protecting Clean Air, May. 1975Categories: Regions
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 10. Living with Toxic Risks
From Borrowed Earth, Borrowed Time: Healing America's Chemical Wounds by Glenn E. SchweitzerCategories: Toxics
Cleaning up America: An Insider's View of EPA by John Quarles
From Cleaning up America: An Insider's View of EPA by John Quarles
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
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.
Reorganization Plan that Created EPA
From Reorganization Plan that Created 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
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 EPASearch all history files.
SEARCH BY WORD
SEARCH BY CATEGORY
Search for information by typing a keyword in the box above or select a general category from the pull-down menu.
Website Design Team:
Headline Media, Bob Bell (Developer), Nicole Lane (Developer), and Chuck Elkins & Barry Gilbert (Members)
Headline Media, Bob Bell (Developer), Nicole Lane (Developer), and Chuck Elkins & Barry Gilbert (Members)