With U.S. EPA taking intense criticism from Republicans and businesses, Administrator Lisa Jackson said today her 40-year-old agency is battling a new problem: Americans are taking a healthy environment for granted. When EPA was created in 1970, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught fire. Pittsburgh and Los Angeles were choking on smog on a daily basis. And the widespread use of DDT and other toxic chemicals was killing off bald eagles — the very symbol of the United States.
The nation’s rivers aren’t burning anymore, Jackson said. The air is clean enough that many people don’t notice it. Struggling species have rebounded. But because younger people have no memories of those days, they might not realize why the agency was created in the first place, she said.
Critics say EPA has already picked all the low-hanging fruit in the Clean Air Act and other statutes. But Jackson said there are still ways for the agency to address public health and the environment — especially by imposing more rules on electric utilities.