http://www.chron.com/news/science-environment/article/What-America-looked-like-before-the-EPA-stepped-in-10963475.php
What America looked like before the EPA stepped in
Updated 5:51 am, Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Original caption: Off-shore oil wells in Galveston Bay, off the Texas shore.
Date: June, 1972.
Original caption: Off-shore oil wells in Galveston Bay, off the Texas shore.
Date: June, 1972.
Original caption: Day becomes night when industrial smog is heavy in North Birmingham, Alabama, as on this day in July of 1972. Sitting adjacent to the U.S. Pipe plant, this is the most heavily polluted area of the city.
Date: July, 1972.
lessOriginal caption: Day becomes night when industrial smog is heavy in North Birmingham, Alabama, as on this day in July of 1972. Sitting adjacent to the U.S. Pipe plant, this is the most heavily polluted area
... moreOriginal caption: A train on the Southern Pacific Railroad passes a five-acre pond, which was used as a dump site by area commercial firms, near Ogden, Utah, in April of 1974. The acid water, oil, acid clay sludge, dead animals, junked cars and other dump debris were cleaned up by several governmental groups under the supervision of the EPA. Some 1,200,000 gallons of liquid were pumped from the site, neutralized and taken to a disposal site.
Date: April, 1974.
lessOriginal caption: A train on the Southern Pacific Railroad passes a five-acre pond, which was used as a dump site by area commercial firms, near Ogden, Utah, in April of 1974. The acid water, oil, acid clay
... moreOriginal Caption: View North From Swanson And Catherine Streets, August 1973
Date: August, 1973.
Original Caption: View North From Swanson And Catherine Streets, August 1973
Date: August, 1973.
Original Caption: Mary Workman Holds A Jar of Undrinkable Water That Comes from Her Well, and Has Filed A Damage Suit Against the Hanna Coal Company. She Has to Transport Water from A Well Many Miles Away. Although the Coal Company Owns All the Land Around Her, and Many Roads Are Closed, She Refuses to Sell.
Date: October, 1973.
lessOriginal Caption: Mary Workman Holds A Jar of Undrinkable Water That Comes from Her Well, and Has Filed A Damage Suit Against the Hanna Coal Company. She Has to Transport Water from A Well Many Miles Away.
... moreOriginal Caption: Rusty Oil Cans Pile Up near Home in Broad Channel, a Jamaica Bay Community with Numerous Pollution Problems
Date: 1973.
Original Caption: Rusty Oil Cans Pile Up near Home in Broad Channel, a Jamaica Bay Community with Numerous Pollution Problems
Date: 1973.
Original Caption: Trash and Old Tires Litter the Shore at the Middle Branch of Baltimore Harbor.
Date: January, 1973
Original Caption: Trash and Old Tires Litter the Shore at the Middle Branch of Baltimore Harbor.
Date: January, 1973
Original caption: Chemical plants on shore are considered prime source of pollution. Marc St. Gil, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Date: June, 1972.
Original caption: Chemical plants on shore are considered prime source of pollution. Marc St. Gil, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Date: June, 1972.
Original caption: A mountain of damaged oil drums lies in a heap in an Exxon refinery near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Date: December, 1972.
Original caption: A mountain of damaged oil drums lies in a heap in an Exxon refinery near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Date: December, 1972.
Original Caption: The Atlas Chemical Company belches smoke across pasture land in foreground. The plant is referred to as "Old Darky" in the community because black soot from the plant covers everything near-by. One farmer claims he lost several cows due to soot and chemicals from Atlas
Date: June, 1972.
lessOriginal Caption: The Atlas Chemical Company belches smoke across pasture land in foreground. The plant is referred to as "Old Darky" in the community because black soot from the plant covers everything
... moreOriginal Caption: Abandoned Car in Jamaica Bay
Date: June, 1973.
Original Caption: Abandoned Car in Jamaica Bay
Date: June, 1973.
Original Caption: Illegal dumping area off the New Jersey turnpike, facing Manhattan across the Hudson River. Nearby, to the South, is the landfill area of the proposed Liberty State Park
Date: March, 1973.
Original Caption: Illegal dumping area off the New Jersey turnpike, facing Manhattan across the Hudson River. Nearby, to the South, is the landfill area of the proposed Liberty State Park
Date: March, 1973.
Original caption: Water cooling towers of the John Amos Power Plant loom over Poca, WV, home that is on the other side of the Kanawha River. Two of the towers emit great clouds of steam.
Date: August, 1973.
Original caption: Water cooling towers of the John Amos Power Plant loom over Poca, WV, home that is on the other side of the Kanawha River. Two of the towers emit great clouds of steam.
Date: August, 1973.
Original Caption: Clark Avenue and Clark Avenue Bridge. Looking East from West 13th Street, are obscured by smoke from heavy industry.
Date: July, 1973.
Original Caption: Clark Avenue and Clark Avenue Bridge. Looking East from West 13th Street, are obscured by smoke from heavy industry.
Date: July, 1973.
Original Caption: Walt Whitman bridge crosses the Delaware River At South Philadelphia, leads to New Jersey suburbs.
Date: August, 1973.
Original Caption: Walt Whitman bridge crosses the Delaware River At South Philadelphia, leads to New Jersey suburbs.
Date: August, 1973.
Original Caption: Burning discarded automobile batteries
Date: July, 1972.
Original Caption: Burning discarded automobile batteries
Date: July, 1972.
Original Caption: Children play in yard of Ruston home, while Tacoma smelter stack showers area with arsenic and lead residue.
Date: August, 1972.
Original Caption: Children play in yard of Ruston home, while Tacoma smelter stack showers area with arsenic and lead residue.
Date: August, 1972.
Original Caption: Garbage is dumped in the marshes of Spring Creek on Jamaica Bay because of ecological damage, EPA plans to stop garbage disposal within the next few years.
Date: Circa, 1973.
Original Caption: Garbage is dumped in the marshes of Spring Creek on Jamaica Bay because of ecological damage, EPA plans to stop garbage disposal within the next few years.
Date: Circa, 1973.
Original Caption: White foam contaminates Mill Creek. The waste water from the Calcasieu Paper Mill in Elizabeth, La. Flows into the creek where the effects of pollution can be seen 30 miles South.
Date: June, 1972.
lessOriginal Caption: White foam contaminates Mill Creek. The waste water from the Calcasieu Paper Mill in Elizabeth, La. Flows into the creek where the effects of pollution can be seen 30 miles South.
Date: June,
... moreOriginal Caption: Log boom holds back oil polluted water part of EPA supervised clean-up of the San Juan River oil spill. 285,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a burst pipeline and flowed 200 miles downstream before it was contained by a log boom.
Date: 1972
lessOriginal Caption: Log boom holds back oil polluted water part of EPA supervised clean-up of the San Juan River oil spill. 285,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a burst pipeline and flowed 200 miles
... moreOriginal Caption: The polluted Schuykill River and center city in background.
Date: August 1973
Original Caption: The polluted Schuykill River and center city in background.
Date: August 1973
Original Caption: Chemical plants near swimming area
Date: 1973
Original Caption: Chemical plants near swimming area
Date: 1973
Original Caption: Oil seepage in pond (foreground), Olin-Mathieson plant in background.
Date: 1973
Original Caption: Oil seepage in pond (foreground), Olin-Mathieson plant in background.
Date: 1973
Original Caption: Polluted androscoggin river in the "Shelburne Birches" area near the Maine - New Hampshire Boundary.
Date: June, 1973.
Original Caption: Polluted androscoggin river in the "Shelburne Birches" area near the Maine - New Hampshire Boundary.
Date: June, 1973.
Original Caption: Abandoned automobiles along the Mississippi River,
Original Caption: Abandoned automobiles along the Mississippi River,
Trump recently announced a major increase in military spending that would draw its revenue by cutting the budget of agencies Republicans have been trying to clamp down on for years, namely the Environmental Protection Agency.
It's hard to fathom that environmentalism was once a bipartisan issue, pushed enthusiastically into law by Republican President Richard Nixon.
In his 1970 State of the Union Address, Nixon asked Congress, "shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land and to our water?"
LONE STAR STATE: EPA photos show Texas life in the 1970s
Shortly after, the Environmental Protection Agency was created. To help foster support for the newly created agency, Nixon sent out 70 photographers tasked with documenting "subjects of environmental concern" all throughout the United States.
At the time, environmental laws were only just beginning to be formed and regulate the environment.
Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump's controversial appointment to head the EPA, spelled out his vision for the agency at a key gathering of conservatives outside Washington, D.C. on Saturday. (Feb. 25)
Media: BrandpointKnown as "The Documerica Project," the photographers captured thousands of images of rural and urban life. Back then, the images demonstrated the toll that unchecked manufacturing and energy industries had on the environment.
Today, they continue to serve as a reminder of what Nixon called the "price tag" on pollution: "Through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature, and now that debt is being called."
RISING TEMPERATURES: 26 before and after images of climate change
Click through above to see images of pollution in 1970's America.
