A Retrospective: Three Decades of Top Environmental Stories

Source: "EPA at 30: Top Environmental Stories, 1970-2000." USEPA News Release: December 28, 2000.

1970: Earth Day On April 22, 20 million Americans, including a crowd of over 200,000 in Washington, D. C., participate in U. S. Senator Gaylord Nelson's national environmental teach-in. Organizer Denis Hayes tells the crowd at the Capitol: "It will be a difficult fight. Earth Day is the beginning." Clean Air Act Strengthened Congress amends the 1955 Clean Air Act to set national air quality and auto emission standards.

1971: Oil Tanker Collision, Spill Beneath Golden Gate Bridge On January 19, two Standard Oil tankers collide beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at 2:00 a.m. in a dense fog, spilling 840,000 gallons of oil that fouls shores from Angel Island to Pacifica and Bolinas. Volunteers collect 4,318 live, oil-soaked birds. Of these, 3,419 die despite efforts to save them. Congress Restricts Lead-based Paint In Homes New law also bans lead paint on cribs and toys. Lead poisoning from ingestion of paint chips retards brain development.

1972: EPA Bans DDT An EPA regulation bans use of this long-lived pesticide, which is believed to build up to toxic levels as it passes up the food chain, poisoning birds and animals that eat fish from contaminated waters. Congress Passes Clean Water Act New law requires secondary sewage treatment; restricts other pollutants in rivers, lakes, and streams. In 1972, only 30% of U. S. waters are safe for fishing and swimming. The EPA issues billions of dollars in construction grants to local governments for secondary treatment facilities over the next 20 years.

1973: Endangered Species Act: Congress approves, and President Nixon signs (on December 28), a new law to strengthen and expand the weaker 1966 endangered species law.

1974: CFCs Shown To Harm Ozone Layer University of California scientists Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland publish their finding that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in spray cans, styrofoam, and in air conditioners and refrigeration equipment, is damaging the earth's stratospheric ozone layer, which protects life from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

1975: Catalytic Converters On All New Cars To meet auto emission standards under the 1970 Clean Air Act, automakers install smog-busting catalytic converters on all 1975 model cars, which run on unleaded gasoline only. As a result, smog levels gradually decrease, and lead levels in urban air decrease by 99% over the next 20 years.

1976: Congress Passes National Hazardous Waste Law The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act mandates phaseout of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and better hazardous waste disposal practices.

1977: Clean Air Act Strengthened Again Congress passes, and President Jimmy Carter signs, a bill to further strengthen air quality standards to better protect human health.

1978: Toxic Waste Disaster in Love Canal, New York Residents of Love Canal, near Niagara Falls, find buried toxic waste seeping into their homes and yards. Ozone-Killing Spray Cans Banned The federal government bans use of CFCs as propellants in aerosol cans because these chemicals harm the stratospheric ozone layer.

1979: Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident Partial meltdown cripples nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; spurs evacuation of nearby towns.

1980: Congress Passes Superfund Law New federal law requires polluters to clean up hazardous waste sites; imposes wholesale tax on certain chemicals to create a "Superfund" to pay for cleanups when responsible parties cannot pay.

1981: Acid Rain A report by the National Research Council shows acid rain worsening in the northeastern U. S. and Canada, making lakes too acidic for frogs and fish.

1982: Toxics Found In Silicon Valley Groundwater Two drinking water wells in Silicon Valley are found to be polluted with toxic chemicals from leaking underground tanks at a semiconductor factory. Sampling at other locations reveals widespread groundwater pollution stemming from leaking tanks and hazardous waste disposal at two dozen more high-tech sites. The discovery leads to Santa Clara County's UST controls, which lead to California's controls, and which are adopted later for USEPA. Dioxin In Times Beach, Missouri Widespread dioxin contamination is discovered in Times Beach, Missouri. The EPA buys out homes to permanently evacuate the town. The federal government and responsible parties share cleanup and buyout costs. [When you are in St. Louis at the 9th Section Fall Meeting you can visit this infamous site which is now called Route 66 State Park http://168.166.196.21/route66.htm.] Selenium Poisoning At Kesterson NWR (Regional) Scientists studying dying and deformed waterfowl and decreased fish populations at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in California's western San Joaquin Valley trace the problem to elevated selenium levels. Intensive irrigation in the area picks up selenium from local soil, then carries it into ponds at Kesterson.

1984: Chemical Disaster at Bhopal, India A catastrophic leak at a chemical plant kills 2,500 people and sparks an international outcry for stricter regulation and public disclosure of toxic chemical use. Congress responds by strengthening the 1976 law regulating hazardous waste storage, transportation, and disposal. Most U. S. hazwaste dumps will shut down over the next decade because they cannot meet the new standards.

1985: Antarctic Ozone Hole Scientists report that a giant hole in the earth's stratospheric ozone layer opens each Spring over Antarctica.

1986: California Voters Approve Proposition 65 New law requires disclosure to consumers about toxics in products they buy. Toxics Right-To-Know Law Passed Congress passes, and President Reagan signs, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act, to prevent Bhopal-like disasters and require annual disclosure of toxics use in each zip code throughout the nation.

1987: Ozone Treaty Signed The U. S. signs the Montreal Protocol, along with 23 other nations, agreeing to phase out use of CFCs and other chemicals that destroy the earth's threatened stratospheric ozone layer.

1988: Carquinez Strait Oil Spill On April 23, more than 365,000 gallons of crude oil spills into Carquinez Strait adjacent to San Francisco Bay, from Shell Oil's Martinez Refinery. The spill, attributed to a valve improperly left open inside an oil tank, kills hundreds of birds and mammals. The spill damages 200 acres of wetlands and washed up on 52 miles of shorelines. Ocean Dumping Ban Congress passes legislation to ban ocean dumping of sewage sludge and industrial waste. This action follows a summer in which large volumes of medical and other wastes wash up on beaches in New York and New Jersey.

1989: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Oil tanker spills 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, harming fish and wildlife along hundreds of miles of shoreline.

1990: Clean Air Act Amendments Congress passes, and President George Bush signs, Clean Air Act Amendments including provisions to reduce hazardous air pollutants, tighten controls on industrial emissions, and require cleaner-burning gasoline in urban areas with unhealthy air. Most oil companies plan to meet that requirement by adding MTBE.

1993: Cryptosporidium Sickens 400,000 In Milwaukee The water-borne microorganism cryptosporidium in the Wisconsin city's drinking water sickens 400,000 people, and causes the death of 100 people with weak immune systems.

1994: Environmental Justice Policy President Clinton signs Executive Order 12898, ordering all federal agencies to abolish and prevent policies that led to a disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards to low-income communities of color. Brownfields Program The EPA launches its Brownfields grant program to revitalize abandoned industrial sites.

1996: Safe Drinking Water Act, Food Quality Protection Act Congress passes Safe Drinking Water Act and Food Quality Protection Act, mandating use of stricter new standards to limit contaminants in water and food. The new standards are based on new technology that allows technicians to measure minute traces of contaminants - as low as a few parts per trillion.

1997: EPA Joins Santa Monica MTBE Enforcement Action Responding to Santa

Monica's request for assistance, EPA takes enforcement action against oil companies potentially responsible for polluting local drinking water wells with the gasoline additive MTBE from underground tank and pipeline leaks. The L. A. Regional Water Board orders oil companies to pay for replacement water. South Lake Tahoe shuts down several wells due to MTBE. EPA Adopts Stricter Health Standards for Ozone, Particulates After more than a decade of reviewing scientific evidence, EPA adopts stricter ozone (smog) and particulate (dust and soot) standards to protect the health of 125 million Americans, including 35 million children. Opponents delay the new standards, appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court by 2000.

1998: Safe Drinking Water Act Takes Effect New law requires water purveyors to disclose violations to consumers in annual consumer confidence reports; bans use of untreated irrigation canal water for drinking. After years of resistance, California's Imperial Irrigation District finally provides bottled water to customers using canal water.

1999: L. A. Smog Litigation Settled; Houston Smoggier The South Coast Air Quality Management District, settling 25 years of litigation, amends its smog plan with measures that the EPA and environmental groups agree will keep the Los Angeles area on track to meet the national health standard for ozone by 2010. For the first time, another U.S. city (Houston) is smoggier than L. A. U.S./Mexico Border Hazwaste Pact The EPA and Mexico's National Institute of Ecology signs a bi-national agreement to exchange information on hazardous and radioactive waste management sites in the border region. For the first time, both nations share information on existing waste facilities, as well as proposed new ones.

2000: EPA To Cut Pollution From Trucks, Buses The EPA approves new emission standards for new heavy duty trucks and buses, which will cut their pollution 95% by the year 2010. Cleaner diesel fuel,with 97% less sulfur, must be sold by 2006. Announced Dec. 21, this action comes one year after EPA approves tougher emission standards for new SUVs.