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National Environmental Policy Act signed creating the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to give the President advice on environmental issues and review Environmental Impact Statements
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Earth Day celebration in San Francisco, organized by John McConnell
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Environmental Protection Agency proposed by President Richard Nixon
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Whale product imports banned by Interior Department in one of Walter Hickel’s last acts as secretary
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Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) bill passed by Congress. OSHA would be formed within the Department of Labor. Responsibilities include setting standards for employee exposure to hazardous substances
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Clean Air Act signed into law. The act sets a six-year deadline for the automobile industry to develop a 90% pollution-free engine. Within two years the deadline would be pushed back and standards watered down by the Nixon administration
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The Phyllis Cormack, renamed Greenpeace, sets out from Vancouver to protest US nuclear testing on the Aleutian Island of Amchitk. A few months later, greenpeace is created.
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US whaling ends, after US Secretary of Interior Walter Hickel put whales on the endangered species list
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Tuskegee syphilis study exposed by Associated Press and whistleblowers inside the Public Health Service.
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First bottle recycling bill passes in Oregon
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Nationwide ban on the pesticide DDT takes effect
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Endangered Species Act passed by US Congress
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Congress passes Safe Drinking Water Act to be administered by EPA
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Congress passes Hazardous Waste Transportation Act
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Federal court says EPA has authority to regulate leaded gasoline
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U.S. Department of Energy is created by President Jimmy Carter
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Energy Tax Act creates federal ethanol tax incentive of 5 cents per gallon, expanding use of ethanol in US. By the mid-1980s the idea of community based ethanol plants proves impractical as major grain processing companies move in to soak up the incentive
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Three Mile Island nuclear power plant loses coolant and partially melts down. This is a telling blow for the nuclear power industry, already under fire for safety problems in other plants, construction cost overruns and lack of planning for radioactive waste disposal
