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Vintage photos taken by the EPA reveal what America looked like before pollution was regulatedhttps://www.businessinsider.in/environment/vintage-photos-taken-by-the-epa-reveal-what-america-looked-like-before-pollution-was-regulated/slidelist/60986340.cms2017-10-07T20:55:17+05:30

Vintage photos taken by the EPA reveal what America looked like before pollution was regulated

Oct 7, 2017, 20:55 IST

Without regulation, more companies and manufacturers would be able to dump pollutants into waters and emit them into the air we breathe.

All kinds of trash used to get dumped outside of New York City, like this car at Breezy Point, south of Jamaica Bay. The EPA helped institute regulations for how the city disposed of trash to prevent dumping in the Atlantic.

The Baltimore Harbor was littered by trash and old tires in 1973. The EPA regulates waste disposal now, including in coastal locations. EPA cleanups in the Baltimore Harbor over the years have specifically targeted dangerous chemicals.

The agency currently helps regulate cleanups of particularly polluted sites. Behind the trash heap in the image below, Manhattan's Twin Towers are visible.

This photo shows a burning barge on the Ohio River in May, 1972. A fire on the Cuyahoga River in 1969 (the 13th time that river caught fire) helped inspire the creation of the EPA.

Pollution in industrial cities like Cleveland, Ohio, was particularly severe.

Coal mining companies were far bigger polluters in the 1970s as well. President Trump has pledged to bring a resurgence to the industry, and recently nominated a coal mining lobbyist to be Pruitt's second-in-command at the EPA.

Air pollution that can cause respiratory illness and other health problems was far less regulated before the founding of the EPA. The Clean Air Act, which regulates pollution from industry, has prevented more than 160,000 early deaths, 130,00 heart attacks, and millions of cases of respiratory illness.

The Atlas Chemical Company belches smoke across pasture land in Marshall, Texas, in this image. A local farmer told the photographer that the soot and chemicals had killed several of his cows.

An abandoned car sits in Jamaica Bay in New York City in 1973. Landfills and auto salvage yards fall under the EPA's regulations now, though improper disposal still occurs.

Mary Workman of Steubenville, Ohio, holds a jar of undrinkable water from her well in this photo. She filed a damage lawsuit against a coal company for polluting her water. The EPA now uses the Clean Water Act to keep companies from contaminating drinking water.

Factories burned discarded automobile batteries in the 1970s, releasing pollutants into the air. Current regulations require the batteries to be recycled without contaminating the surrounding area, although some get exported.

Smog, like that seen here obscuring the George Washington Bridge in New York, was a far bigger problem.

Many of these photos simply show life in America at the time, but a number also document concerning environmental issues.

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