In 1916 Congress created the National Parks Service to manage the national parks. Today there are 378 national parks and 155 national forests in America. In 1970 both the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency were created. The Clean Air Act gives the task of reducing automobile emissions to the Department of Transportation and the EPA is the government agency that is responsible for enforcing all environmental legislation.

In 1972 Congress passed the Water Pollution Control Act in reaction to the fact that only one third of U.S. lakes and rivers were safe for fishing and drinking at the time. Today two thirds of all lakes and rivers are safe for fishing and drinking. In 1973 Congress passed the Endangered Species Act. This gave government protection to any of the species listed as endangered. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone as part of this act. In 1980 Congress created the Superfund. Chemical products are taxed and placed into this fund; the money is then used to pay for the clean up of toxic wastes.

The Creation of the Clean Air Act by the federal government was a reaction to the growing pollution in the United States and the growing protest movement of citizens who were concerned with the pollutants created by U.S. industry and automobiles. The act was passed in both houses of Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon. The responsibility of enforcing the act was given to the newly created Environmental Protection Agency. Many environment related laws are created as a result of pressure from interest groups and the American public.

Many interest groups influence government environmental policy. Greenpeace is a well known group that advocates the cease of deforestation, protection of whales, anti-nuclear issues, and the end of overfishing. Groups like Greenpeace lobby the federal government to push environmental issues.

Since the creation of the Water Pollution Control Act the amount of clean fresh water in America’s lakes and rivers has doubled. The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act allowed utility companies to start emission trading. This allowed them to buy the right to pollute on the open market. This has since been proven to reduce emission rates. The Endangered Species Act protected 398 animal species and 599 plant species as of In July 2002 President Bush and Congress agreed that Yucca Flats in Nevada would be the site for all the country’s nuclear waste disposal. This effectively permanently causes high radiation in the area but concentrates all of America’s nuclear waste in one desolate piece of land instead of spread out locations.

Works Cited l-protection-agency l-protection-agency