Creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency

Cuyahoga River Catches Fire (1969)
Described in a Time magazine article as a river that "oozes rather than flows" and a waterway in which a person "does not drown but decays,” Ohio's Cuyahoga River used to be so heavily polluted that it actually caught fire on a number of occasions. The river fire of 1969, which received national media attention, helped spur the environmental movement of the late 1960s and prompted the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency. What sparked a 1936 fire on the river?

For more details: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Cuyahoga River Area of Concern, June 20th, 2007.