Title: The Clean Water Act & The Clean Air Act | Sutori
Headings: The Clean Water Act & The Clean Air Act
The Clean Water Act & The Clean Air Act
Timeline
MT1221 Signing Ceremony for Clean Air Act Amendments - 15 November 1990

Content: The Clean Water Act & The Clean Air Act | Sutori
The Clean Water Act & The Clean Air Act
Below is a timeline connecting The Clean Air Act (CAA) and The Clean Water Act (CWA). It shows the acts preceding their creation and the amendments done to them. Timeline
1899: Rivers and Harbors Act
Prohibits the construction of any bridge, dam, dike or causeway over or in navigable waterways of the U.S. without Congressional approval
1912: Public Health Service Act
Acknowledged the poor health of the environment was effecting the publics health
1924: Oil Pollution Act
Passed and prohibited vessels from releasing oil unless they were at least 3 miles offshore from any United States territory
1948: Federal Water Pollution Control Act
The first major U.S. law to address water pollution
Federal research and investigations
State and local governments set regulations
Previous failed attempts included over 100 bills in the past 50 years
Fueled by post-WWII industrial and urban growth polluting the US's waters
Achieved little and led to the creation of the CAA
' [I]n consequence of the benefits resulting to the public health and welfare by the abatement of stream pollution, it is ... the policy of Congress to recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of the States in controlling water pollution, to support and aid technical research to devise and perfect methods of treatment of industrial wastes which are not susceptible to known effective methods of treatment, and to provide Federal technical services to State and interstate agencies and to industries, and financial aid to State and interstate agencies and to municipalities, in the formulation and execution of their stream pollution abatement program'
1955: Air Pollution Control Act
The first federal legislation involving air pollution
Provided funds for federal research in air pollution
Signed by President Eisenhower
Precedent to CAA of 1977 and 1990
Provided $5 million over a five-year period for research into the issue
Signaled the federal government’s recognition of air pollution as a growing national problem
1956: Water Pollution Control Act
Authorized federal planning and technical assistance
Research and construction grants for municipal waste-treatment facilities
Encouraged states to set water quality criteria
Federal enforcement assistance to mediate state-polluter disputes
'The new statute: water pollution; (