15 vintage photos show what New York City looked like before the US regulated pollution

Before environmental regulation, New York City struggled with severe pollution. Pollution regulations began after the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970. In 1971, the EPA dispatched 100 photographers to capture America’s environmental issues. Of the 81,000 images the photographers took, more than 20,000 photos were archived, and at least 15,000 have been digitized by the National Archives. In the early 1970s, the city shorelines were seen as “municipal chamber pots,” landfills and illegal dumping lined the city’s surroundings. The city updated its air quality laws after a smog event in 1966, when a mass of warm air trapped pollutants from vehicles, factories, and chimneys. Today, the US government is working to improve the environmental conditions in Jamaica Bay, which was heavily affected by solid waste from cars and auto salvage yards in the 1960s and ’70s. The EPA has spearheaded mass trash removal efforts that focus on toxic chemicals that removals from the bay’s shoreline are banned.

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