Earth Day and the EPA

If President Nixon is to be remembered for just doing one right thing while he was President of the United States, the one accomplishment that stands out is the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency during the second year of his presidency.

Created in 1970, the EPA has had many accomplishments from making us aware of lead-based paints, the treatment of hazardous wastes and the banning of sewage sludge into the ocean. It now monitors radioactive fallout after the Three Mile Island’s nuclear plant accident in 1979. It banned DDT in 1970 and consequently in 1996, our national bird, the Bald Eagle was removed from the endangered species list allowed to live its life.

This agency strives to protect the Earth for all of us. It is concerned about the air that we breathe, our waters, rivers, lakes and oceans as well as the land on which we live.

We have one Earth.