Reorganization Plan No. 3 was a United States presidential directive establishing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), effective December 2, 1970. The order, published in the Federal Register on October 6, 1970, consolidated components from different federal agencies to form the EPA, "a strong, independent agency" that would establish and enforce federal environmental protection laws. Background According to EPA author Jack Lewis, the decade of the 1960s fostered a general consensus of the American public to increase protection and betterment of the environment. Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, which is widely credited with helping to launch the environmental movement in the United States. On January 28, 1969, eight days after Richard Nixon became the 37th President, a blowout on the ocean bottom near Union Oil's Platform "A" on the Dos Cuadras field leaked between 80,000 and of oil into the water of the Santa Barbara Channel, near Santa Barbara, California. The oil spill polluted a 60-mile stretch of coastline, harming marine wildlife and damaging the local fishing economy. The event led to widespread criticism of both Union Oil and the offshore oil drilling industry. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day brought millions of Americans together to peacefully demonstrate in support of environmental reform. In April 1969, President Richard Nixon addressed these environmental concerns by establishing the Environmental Quality Council in his cabinet, along with the complementary Citizens' Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality. In December of the same year, Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bill that was intended to "create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony" and to "assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, aesthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings." NEPA required any federal agency planning a project that would affect the environment to submit a report on the likely consequences of its plan. President Nixon signed the bill on New Year's Day 1970, declaring "that the 1970s absolutely must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment." Reorganization plan and the formation of the EPA Establishment Reorganization Plan No. 3 was proposed by President Nixon in a message sent to Congress on July 9, 1970. The plan was authorized by a 1966 amendment to Title 5 of the United States Code (Government Organization and Employees). After conducting hearings during that