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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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 4: The California Federal Implementation Plan
(19 minutes) From Early Implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970 in CaliforniaDavid Souten and William Ruckelshaus discuss the challenges of preparing a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to meet the court mandate to develop a plan within 9 months to attain the standards by 1...
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 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.
Chapter 4: Stratospheric Ozone & Climate Change
(19 minutes) From Interview with Lee Thomas, EPA's 6th AdministratorLee Thomas discusses his role in negotiating the Montreal Protocol to deal with Stratospheric Ozone and the relevance of this experience to today's challenge of Climate Change.
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."
Toxic Substances: A Half Century of Progress
From Toxic Substances: A Half Century of ProgressCategories: Toxics
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.
EPA's Role in a Global Information System by Fitzhugh Green
From The Endangered Sea, Jul. 1975Categories: International
Agriculture: Two Views: Green Subsidies? by Ken Cook
From Post-Rio: The Challenge at Home, Sep. 1992Categories: Conservation
The Stars Take on the Environmental Crisis by Roy Popkin
From Earth Day, Jan. 1990Categories: Public, The
What Is "Hazardous Waste?" The RCRA Definition
From Emergency Response in the Gulf and Hazardous Waste Cleanup at Home, Jul. 1991Categories: RCRA
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
Driving the Future: Combating Climate Chagne with Cleaner, Smarker Cars by Margo Oge
From Driving the Future: Combating Climate Change with Cleaner, Smarter Cars by Margo T. Oge
Chapter 2. Controlling 3000 chemicals: One by One
From Borrowed Earth, Borrowed Time: Healing America's Chemical Wounds by Glenn E. Schweitzer
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.
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 EPA
White House Fact Sheet re Creation of EPA
From White House Fact Sheet re Creation of EPA
First Presidential Environmental Message (Nixon) 1970
From First Presidential Environmental Message (Nixon) 1970Search all history files.
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