The United States’ Environment Protection Agency (EPA) was born in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution and was established on 2 December 1970 to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection.
It is a timely opportunity to celebrate the successes of the EPA over the past 45 years. the EPA has had to deal with difficult environmental issues, as well as be responsive to changes in political administrations but the United States and the world are a better place for having the EPA in existence.
Although, I am unable to be into the United States to celebrate today, I remember being at the EPA offices in Washington during their 25th anniversary, whilst leading discussions on the cooperation opportunities with the EPA on the management of transfronitier shipment of waste. At that time, there was a sense of achievement and rightly so.
Even the EPA’s seal as you will see from the 25th anniversary plaque was ground-breaking. The official Agency seal has the design of a flower with a bloom, which is symbolic of all the elements of the environment. The bloom is a sphere, the component parts of which represent the blue sky, green earth, and blue-green water. A white circle within the sphere denotes either the sun or the moon. All are symbolic of a clean environment and are superimposed on a disc with a white background, circled by the title, UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, in blue letters.
For those interested to find out more on the establishment of the EPA, I have highlighted some key links on the formation of the EPA covering the Reorganisation Plan No. 3 signed by Richard Nixon on 9 July 1970 established the EPA and a page of links to the origins of the EPA and its early history, which can be found here
Congratulations US EPA on 45 years.