Clean Water
More than 30 years ago, the United States faced an enormous environmental crisis. At the time, Americans were pumping leaded gas into massive automobiles. Smoke and sludge seeped into our air, groundwater, and soil from industrial sources. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity, as people were unaware of how harmful it was. Some of the worst threats were apparent in our nation's rivers, lakes, oceans, and harbors. Lake Erie was declared dead, oil spills on both coasts posed threats to marine wildlife and human health, and the Boston Harbor seemed more like a cesspool than a waterway. Public outrage at such environmental disasters, empowered by the first Earth Day in 1970, achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting bipartisan support for the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.