A Chronology of Environmental Laws in the United States

1963 Clean Air Act.

1964 Wilderness Act.

1969 National Environmental Policy Act.

1970 EPA established; Water Quality Control Act; Occupational Safety and Health Act; National Industrial Pollution Control Council established.

1971 Vermont Bottle Bill.

1972 Water Pollution Control Act; Marine Mammal Protection Act; Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (Pesticide Act); Coastal Zone Management Act.

1973 Endangered Species Act; Oregon Bottle Bill.

1974 Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act; Safe Drinking Water Act.

1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act; National Forest Management Act; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act;

Fishery Conservation Act.

1977 Clean Air Act amended; Clean Water Act amended; Ocean Dumping Act amended.

1978 Port and Tanker Safety Act; Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund); Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act; Alaska National Interest Lands Act; Low-Level Radioactive Waste Act; Alternative Motor Fuels Act.

1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

1984 Resource Conservation Act amended.

1986 Safe Drinking Water Act amended; Community Right-To-Know Act (Superfund amendment).

1987 Montreal Protocol (on chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs); Clean Water Act amended; National Appliance Energy Conservation Act; Marine Plastic Pollution Control Act.

1988 Alternative Motor Fuels Act.

1990 National Environmental Education Act; Clean Air Act amended.

1994 California Desert Protection Act.