by Sharon Wilke

The Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970 because we needed it — desperately. The air and water in parts of the United States had become so polluted that it was impossible to ignore.  

Today, in 2026, with the Trump administration doing all it can to decimate the EPA and its protections of our air, water and health, we are on the cusp of a return to a pre-1970 environment — unless we act. 

Here’s a quick history of why we cannot go back and why we need to fight Trump’s elimination of our environmental protections — and protect our environment in the meantime.

The 1960s: Our environment before the EPA

In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, calling attention to the dangers of pesticides — especially DDT — to the environment and to the people living in it. Over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1966, New York City was covered with thick pollution, a suffocating smog that was enveloping more and more cities across the country, resulting in severe asthma and other respiratory illnesses. 

In 1969, more than 4 million gallons of crude oil from a Union Oil spill six miles off Santa Barbara’s coast devastated marine life for years, killing thousands of seabirds and sea mammals and covering the coastline for miles — and there were other spills. 

That same year, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, polluted with chemicals and debris, burst into flames that reached five stories high before being extinguished. This was at least the 10th time the Cuyahoga had caught on fire over the years — and there were many other river fires in U.S. cities prior to the 1970s, all with extremely harmful impacts on public health. 

In 1960 in Boston, the Charles River was “foul,” according to then Harvard Crew Coach Harry Parker, who knew the river well. In 2018, the Harvard Gazette reported that in 1960, “a fetid smell still draped the Charles River from upstream industries. Tires and other debris washed downstream after heavy rains. A simple fall into the water required a tetanus shot.” 

Cataclysmic events like these helped draw attention to the connections between the human impact on our environment and the resulting impact on our health and quality of life. 

The resulting environmental movement led to the 1970 passage of the Clean Air Act and the establishment of the EPA to carry out the act’s requirements.  

1970: A landmark year for the environment

While it may be hard to believe today, most people in 1970, including the Republican president and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, believed in doing what was necessary for clean air and water — and better health — in the U.S. In his 1970 State of the Union address, President Richard Nixon said, “Clean air, clean water, open spaces — these should once again be the birthright of every American.” 

But despite Nixon’s enthusiastic support for the Clean Air Act in 1970, he vetoed the Clean Water Act two years later, claiming it was too expensive. Despite the veto and industry pressure, Congress overrode the veto and passed the Clean Water Act with significant Republican support. 

The Clean Air Act authorized the EPA to regulate substances that cause or contribute to air pollution and may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. The Clean Water Act charged the EPA with regulating discharges of pollutants and creating quality standards for surface waters.  

Since its creation in 1970 — and until the Trump administration — the EPA has carried out its charge. We can thank the EPA’s scientific research and studies, its establishment and enforcement of science-based air and water quality standards and regulations, and its collaboration with municipalities and other entities for the increasingly clean air and water we have been taking for granted in the years since 1970. 

In Massachusetts, the EPA has played a vital role in the cleanup of both the Charles River and Boston Harbor, working with multiple municipalities and state and local agencies, as well as environmental and citizen action groups. With consistent impetus and monitoring from the EPA, the Charles River is now generally ranked A and B for fishability and swimmability 

2009: The EPA’s critically important Endangerment Finding 

In 2009, the EPA took another vitally important step forward in protecting our health and environment with its Endangerment Finding. 

A landmark Supreme Court case in 2007 (Massachusetts v. EPA) ruled that greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act. The Court said the Clean Air Act obligates the EPA to curb pollutants that it finds endanger public health and welfare by contributing to climate change. As a result — with overwhelming scientific evidence — the EPA in 2009 issued its Endangerment Finding, stating that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels drive global climate change and harm people. 

With the legal backing of the Endangerment Finding, the EPA began taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as regulating vehicle, industrial and power plant emissions. The finding also provided justification for numerous federally funded grant programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions for health and environmental reasons. 

2026: Killing the Endangerment Finding could take the U.S. back to pre-1970 pollution levels

On February 12, 2026, the Trump EPA rescinded the Endangerment Finding — one of many anti-environment directives recommended by Project 2025. In announcing the move, Trump-appointed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said, “This is the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history and will save Americans over $1.3 trillion.” Zeldin had written in the Wall Street Journal a year earlier that the EPA would continue actions to roll back environmental regulations and would be “driving a dagger through the heart of climate change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age.”

The EPA’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding, while not unexpected, was a devastating blow to the nation’s — and the planet’s — health, and it was met with immediate condemnation and court filings.  

Today: Rallying the troops in states and local communities 

Within days of Zeldin killing the Endangerment Finding, dozens of environmental and health organizations sued the EPA over its “illegal determination that it is not responsible for protecting us from climate pollution and its elimination of rules to cut the tailpipe pollution fueling the climate crisis and harming people’s health.” 

On March 19, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell led a coalition of 24 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 12 cities and counties to challenge the EPA’s unlawful attempt to rescind its 2009 Endangerment Finding.

Former EPA Administrator and Massachusetts resident Gina McCarthy isn’t waiting for the lawsuits to bring back the EPA’s protection. While the government has clearly dropped the ball, she notes that the states also have legal authority regarding environment and climate issues and need to use it. “We have to rally the troops in state and local communities,” she told PBS News. 

McCarthy, who currently chairs America Is All In, a coalition of leaders from cities, states, tribal nations, businesses, schools, and institutions of faith, health and culture, issued a statement following the EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding: “This EPA would rather spend its time in court working for the fossil fuel industry than protecting us from pollution and the escalating impacts of climate change…. State, city, community, university, and business leaders across the country will not let this Administration’s dangerous decisions stop them from following the science, driving down pollution, and protecting public health.” 

We Indivisibles are among those who can help rally and support our state and local communities in doing everything possible to protect our air and water and fight climate change. We can use our “power of the people” to make sure Massachusetts legislators do not roll back our 2030 climate goals. We can keep ourselves informed about proposed actions in our towns, as well as the state and nation, and use our group pressure to help keep the EPA ball rolling until we get the real EPA back. 

We must fight against a return to the unregulated, dangerous environmental conditions of pre-1970 America. Our lives literally depend on it. 

Sharon Wilke is a writer for Indivisible Mass Coalition’s IndivisiBlog and a member of Indivisible LAB. 

IndivisiBlog posts reflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policy positions of Indivisible Mass Coalition.