Mick Hartley

Think it's bad now? Just remember what the Seventies were like…

In November 1971, in response to increasing concerns about environmental degradation, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a massive photo documentary project, called DOCUMERICA. More than 100 photographers were hired, and by 1974 over 80,000 photographs had been collected. 15,000 of these images have now been made available by the National Archives, and The Atlantic's In Focus editor has been picking through them:

[Photo: Bruce McAllister/NARA]

"A train on the Southern Pacific Railroad passes a five-acre pond, which was used as a dump site by area commercial firms, near Ogden, Utah, in April of 1974. The acid water, oil, acid clay sludge, dead animals, junked cars and other dump debris were cleaned up by several governmental groups under the supervision of the EPA. Some 1,200,000 gallons of liquid were pumped from the site, neutralized and taken to a disposal site."