Abstract
It is ironic that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970 by a Republican President (Nixon). Also, that the first congressionally confirmed agency director (William Ruckelshaus, a Justice Department attorney and a Republican) made it a top priority to abate the rampant industrial water and air pollution occurring across the country. He did this by using his authority to fine polluters and regulate industrial discharge. The Clean Water Act of 1972 and Clean Air Act of 1970 gave Ruckelshaus the political cover and statutory tools he needed to develop regulations to hold industry accountable for new and legacy pollutants. Ruckelshaus and his colleagues’ contributions to improving public health still stand as models of successful policy frameworks and regulation strategies to rein in profit motive at the expense of human health. Fast forward to the Trump administration, and we have evidence that progress previously made on all manner of environmental and health protections has deteriorated under the leadership of Trump’s political appointees. Take, for example Scott Pruitt’s controversial oversight of the EPA (see the PBS documentary War on the EPA for an overview), when over 85 regulations that support clean air and water and protect biodiversity across many ecosystems have been reversed. Coupled with these regulatory reversals are similar activities by political appointees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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