WHAT NYC LOOKED LIKE BEFORE THE EPA – ryan

  • Before Environmental Regulation, New York City Struggled with Severe Pollion.
  • The City’s Coastlines were of the Sites of Illegal Dumping.
  • Pollute Regulation Began after the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970.

If you’ve ever spent in new york City, you’ll be familiar with the black bags that form Mountains on its sidewalks.

The City’s Government Last Year Advocated for a “Thick Revolution” that Aimed to Switch Those Thick With Wheeled Thick Cans. And while Mayor Eric Adams Unveiling the Trash AS “Revolutionary” Might’ve Been mocked Widely Online, The Big Apple Has Had It Worsse.

Before the days of regulated dumping, the new York City’s Landscape was littered with waste stretching from the citys to the alleyways of Each Borough.

The Environmental Protection Agency, Which Started Regulating Emissions, Waste, and Water Pollutants AFTER WAS ESTABLIED IN 1970, Once Described Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal As “one of the Nation’s Most extensively contaminated Water Bodies.” SINCE THEN, The Canal Has Undergone a Cleaning Operation Involving the Dredging of Contaminated Sediment on the Canal’s Floor.

Air PolluteComing away from transportation and Construction, Has Also Long Possed A Threat to Residents.

In 1971, The EPA Dispatched 100 Photographers to Capture America’s Environmental Issues, Showing What the US LOOKED LIKE FROM 1971 TO 1977 IN A Photo Project Called Documerica. Of the 81,000 images the Photographers took, More than 20,000 Photos Were Archived, and at Least 15,000 have been digitized by the National Archives.

MANY of the Photos Were taken before the US Regulated Things like Water and Air Pollion.

Take a look at a Few New York City Documerica Photos That Were Bethene 1973 and 1974.

By the start of the 1970s, the new York City was one of the sis polluted cities in the us.

City Residents Faced the Health Effects of Air Pollute During A 1966 Smog Event.

Erik Calonius/Documerica

By the end of the 1960s, the new York City Had Already Been Dealing with the Effects of Its UNREGULATED POLLUTION.

The City Shorelines were seen as “Municipal Chamber pots,” landfills and illegal dumping lineed the City Surroundings, and the Air Quality Had Gotten So Bad That It Was Affecting People’s Lungs, The New York Times Reported.

Oil spills were a common occurrence in the pre-Pa days.

Oil Slicks Surrounded the Statue of Liberty in A 1973 Photo.

Chester Higgins/Documerica/US National Archives

In the first six months of 1973, more than 300 oil spills occurred in the new York City Area, The New York Times Reported.

Acciting to A 1973 Coast Guard Survey Cyped by the NewsPaper, More than 800 Oil Spills Occurred in the Mid-Atlantic Region During the Same Time Period.

The City’s Iconic Landscape was offten obscured by clouds of smog.

Smog Obscured the View of the George Washington Bridge in A 1973 Photo.

Chester Higgins/Documerica

The High Air Pollute Levels Meant Residents often Had their View of the Cityscape Obscured.

The City Updated Its Air Quality Laws AFTER A SMOG EVENT IN 1966.

Smog Events Could City the City in Warm, Polluted Air, Caususg Health Problems.

Will Blanche/Documerica

A HISTORIC SMOG EVENT IN 1966, WEND A MASS OF WARM AIR TAPPED POLLUTANTS FROM VEHICLE, FACTORIES, AND CHIMNODS, Promptted the City to update Its Local Quality Laws in the late 1960s, the Times Reported.

The Clean Air Act of 1970 Set in Place Regulations for Industrial Pollute.

The passage of the Clean Air ACT WAS A MILESTONE MOMENT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POLLUTION IN CITIES.

Will Blanche/Documerica

The Clean Air Act, Passed in 1970, Allowed the EPA to Set Regulation for Industrial Pollute and Authorized The Agency to Create Air Quality Standards to Promote Air Quality Regulation Throughout the Country.

Illegal dumping was Common before regulations.

Sunk Cars Decorated New York City’s Jamaica Bay.

Arthur Tres/Documerica

Today, The EPA Regulates Landfill and Auto Salvage Yards, Protecting Shores from Becoming Junkyards.

JAMAICA BAY WAS HEEVILY AFFECTED BY SOLID WASTE.

Today, Government Entities Are Working to Improve the Environmental Conditions in Jamaica Bay.

Arthur Tres/Documerica

Over the years, the ep hass spearheaded mass obtical removals that focus on toxic chemicals. Acciting to the Agency, Some New York City Residents World About Pollute and Ecological Damage from the Jamaica Bay Landfill in the Early 1970s.

In 2011, The City of New York and the US Interior Department Reached an aggrement for a collaborative effort to improve the Bay’s Environmental Conditions.

EFFORTS to Continue Improving the Shore have continued into the 2020s.

Outside the City, Waste Management Wasn’t Controlled.

The View of the Twin Towers were outlined by the trash in an illegal dumping area in new jersey.

Gary Miller/Documerica

In the 1970s, New Jersey Begin to Crack Down on Illegal Dumping AFTER toxic Waste Being Being Detected on the Marses of Newark, as Reported by The New York Times.

Toxic was was offten found in landfill Surrounding the City.

Young City Children Often Played in Landfill Where Toxic Waste Was Dumped.

Arthur Tres/Documerica

A landfill in staten Island, Called Fresh Kills, was the Larest in the World. In 2023, The First Phase of Its Restoration Into A Park was Completed and North Park opened.

In 2013, The New York Daily News Reported That A New York City Sanation Department Study Found High Concentrations of Two Toxins Banned by the EPA on the womensend bay landfill, where the children in the Picture played.

Marshes and Wetlands Near the City Weres Wounded by Trash.

Efforts to regulate waste and restore the Wetlands and Shores Begin by the 1990s.

Arthur Tres/Documerica/US National Archives

By 1992, regulations to prevent was on the dumped dumped on the shores Around the City and Efforts to Clean I UP HAD BEGun, with The New York Times Reporting the End of the Era of “Using the ocean as a munical chamber pot.”

UNIL 1992, The City Discarded Sewage into the Ocean.

Before the 1990s, the New York Shores were polluted by sewage from the city.

Will Blanche/Documerica

The 1992 EPA Mandate Meant That Processing Plants for Raw Sewage Begin Popping Up Around the City.

Before Regulation, the Oil and Gas industries weren’t regulated on where they are disposed of waste.

Waste from the Oil and Gas industries often affected residency communities.

Arthur Tres/Documerica

Today, The EPA Sets standards On waste produced by Oil and Gas Industries, with the Goal of Limitting Public Health Hazards.

Ongoing Construction in the City Also Meant Increated Waste.

Before Regulation, Construction Sites Dumped Industrial Waste on Any Land Avilaable.

Will Blanche/Documerica

Building Construction Has Long Contributed to Air Pollute in Nyc, THOUGH The EPA Now Regulations Emissions from Construction Equipment.

Improvements to Air Quality Promoted A Healthier Quality of Life for City Residents.

People affected by Air Pollute Wauld Often Suffer Side Effects from Expander to Smog.

Will Blanche/Documerica

In 2010, the EPA estimated That the Clean Air Act Prevented Over 160,000 Early Deaths, 130,000 Heart Attacks, and Millions of Cases of Respiratory Illness.

Without epa regulation, cits coulud return to high levels of pollution that once defined say.

People Living in Cities Often Faced the Harsh Reality of Unregulated Pollute.

Will Blanche/Documerica

The Trump Administration has announced plans to cut back on EPA Funding and Staffing, with The New York Times Reporting in March that the administration planned to eliminate the Agency’s Research Branch.

As the current administration’s ePa leadership launches The “Biggest delegulatory Action in US History,” As Called by the agencyRegulation for How industries EMIT WASTE INTO The Air, Water, and Soil Will Begin to Change.

Soma reports Suggest that if the Trump Administration Dismantles More of the EPA, Americans Could Return to the Environmental and Health Conditions that predated the agency’s regulations.