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Congress passes the first federal regulation of water quality called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. This act allows the government to expand their authority on water pollution.
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20 people died and 600 are hospitalized due to sulfur dioxide emissions which originated from a nearby steel and wire plant. This incident lead to the 1st US conference on air pollution in 1950. -
In Washington, D.C. the National Conservancy is created. It is a nonprofit organization and its purpose is to protect important land and waters around the world.
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President Eisenhower discusses the problem of air pollination and calls on the Public Health Service to find “effective methods of control”
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Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring and it is acclaimed as the catalyst of the modern environmental movement. This work condemns the overuse of pesticides. -
One of the first laws regrading the broad national framework for protecting our environment. It establishes requirements when airports, buildings, military complexes, highways, parkland purchases and other federal activities are proposed.
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A comprehensive federal law that places regulations on air emissions on stationary and moving sources.
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Created the basic foundation for regulation the spreading of pollutants into the waters of the US and also regulated the quality for surface waters.
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This movement was started as a reaction to discriminatory environmental practices scutch as toxic dumping and land use decisions which negatively affected communities of color.