Why we need a strong EPA

In April 1970, millions of Americans came together for the first Earth Day, gathering in their communities to call attention to environmental concerns.

There was toxic lead in gasoline. Smog choked cities, making the air so dirty that you could see it. Industrial pollution filled waterways like Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, which had famously caught fire — over a dozen times.

But many people believed the country could do better, and their advocacy made a difference. In late 1970, President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The agency’s 1972 decision to ban DDT in response to legal action by EDF was among the first of countless vital EPA actions to protect human health and the environment.

Let’s look back at what the EPA has helped accomplish — and ahead at how we can ensure the next generation enjoys these protections, too.

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What is the EPA?

The EPA is a federal agency whose mission is to protect human health and the environment. This includes working to make sure people across the country have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink and communities that aren’t contaminated by toxic pollution.

The EPA implements environmental laws passed by Congress. The agency’s responsibilities include setting and enforcing limits for many types of pollution that harm people, wildlife and the environment.

What does the EPA do?

Historically, it was the EPA that banned DDT, implemented bedrock clean air and water protections, and phased out leaded gasoline. The EPA has also been crucial to global environmental progress, like protecting the ozone layer and cutting the pollution that drives climate change.

Today, the EPA funds cleanups of many brownfields — properties like former factories, gas stations or dry cleaners where hazardous substances may be present. And it’s the EPA that oversees cleanups of some of the most highly polluted sites across the country — places where hazardous waste has been dumped or poorly managed.

The agency also continues to be responsible for protecting people against exposure to toxic chemicals in air, water and more.  

In recent years, EDF has helped secure a host of vital EPA protections: We fought to protect children from lead in drinking water, for example, and helped win a near total ban of methylene chloride — supporting the advocacy of families who lost loved ones to this deadly chemical.

Crucial EPA protections are under attack

Since the EPA was created in 1970, it has made the country’s air, land and water cleaner, protecting people’s health and keeping the places we cherish beautiful — all while the United States enjoyed a growing economy and expanding population.

But under the Trump administration, the agency has changed course, putting the interests of irresponsible polluters first.

The Trump EPA is working to weaken protections that were in place to keep people safe. These attacks have included undermining limits on mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, and inviting hundreds of industrial facilities to apply for a free pass to pollute more. The agency has also proposed stripping protections from wetlands.

Actions like these come with a real cost. No one wants more pollution in their air and water, or to lose the natural places they love — and EDF is fighting back.

Environmental protections are under attack. Join us in defending them