The Clean Air Act as implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency has been one of our nation’s most successful laws – a jewel in the crown of American Democracy. Before the EPA there was no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our air or our water – and filthy industry practiced treated our skies and water as cesspools.
The photos below taken from the fifties through the mid-seventies remind us vividly why the EPA serves a crucial purpose. The idea that we would dismantle clean air and water protections is scandalous – and one need only look back to see what a future without environmental protections would look like.