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The Birth Of The Environmental Protection Agency
The Birth Of The Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an agency in the federal government that is meant to protect human health and the environment. They are responsible for forming and enforcing regulations once laws are passed in Congress. It currently employs 17,000 people in 10 regional offices and 27 laboratories spread throughout the country. Its purpose is to conduct research and education on environmental issues. The EPA is also responsible for enforcing laws, which could include issuing fines and sanctions for violators.
Former President Richard Nixon submitted the Reorganization Plan Number 3 as an executive order to create the EPA on July 9, 1970. In this order, several smaller components of Federal agencies were consolidated to create a stronger organization that would oversee environmental issues. He claimed that this stronger, independent agency would better be able to enforce environmental protection laws. The EPA was later officially established on December 2, 1970.
Factors influencing the birth of the EPA stretch back for years. Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring became a best-seller, responsible for starting the environmental movement. This book caused a great deal of public concern and inspired a more detailed consideration of the health and of the environment. In the next year, a newly formed following of concerned advocates for environmental responsibility came out of the woodwork. For example, Earth Day, founded by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco, was celebrated for the first time on March 21, 1970 in cities around the country. The government could not ignore public concerns any longer, so President Nixon was persuaded to do something impactful. He began by setting up a cabinet level Environmental Quality Council and a Citizen's Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality. Despite these efforts, critics claimed that his attempts were just for show and held no power. President Nixon took the criticism personally and worked further to satisfy his critics. In late 1969, Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which changed the role of government from conserving wilderness to now protecting the earth. The new law ordered Congress to "create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony," and to "assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, aesthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings." President Nixon was dedicated to a new plan to protect the environment, enacting and proposing legislation that would clean up pollution and tighten controls on production.
Even with these efforts, President Nixon was berated still with two arguments against having an environmental protection agency under the jurisdiction of an already existent department. The first complaint was that the main purpose of that particular committee would bias any actions, therefore weakening its power over environmental issues. Secondly and conversely, bringing environmental issues into an already existent group would bias decisions made on a government-wide basis. To prevent these issues, President Nixon created an independent agency to act on its own. Its purpose would be to establish and enforce environmental standards, to conduct research, to help other organizations combat pollution, and to assist the Council on Environmental Quality in recommending new policies to the President.
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