In July of 1970, the White House and Congress worked together to establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. Prior the establishment of 62. the EPA, the federal government is not structured to make 63. a coordinated attack on the pollutants that harm human health and degrade the environment. The EPA was assigning the task 64. of repairing the damage already done to the natural environ ment and to establish new criteria to guide Americans in making a cleaner environment a reality. Bom in the awake of elevated concern about environmental 65. mental pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors in downtown Washington, D.C., on December 2, 1970. EPA was established to consolidate in one agency the variety 66. of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activity to ensure environmental protection. 67. EPA’s mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the naturally environment-air, water, and land-upon 68. which life depend. For more than 30 years, the EPA 69. has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people. From regulating auto emissions to ban the use of 70. DDT; from cleaning up toxic waste to protecting the ozone layer; from increasing recycling to revitalizing inner-city brown- fields, EPA’s achievements have resulted in cleaner alr, purer water, and well protected land. 71.