Environmental laws in the United States can be traced back to the environmental social and political movement that began during the 1960s and 1970s, when advocacy was guided toward environmental protection and maintenance. However, statutes in regards to environmental concerns in the United States were first introduced during the late 1800s, with the Refuse Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, which were the first environmental laws established in the United States.
Early environmental laws would then begin to evolve in their nature to provide for more specific aspects of environmental protection, particularly with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1948 and the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955. However, the major or most prominent environmental laws and reforms would be introduced between the 1960s and 1980s, with the environmental movement of the 1960s sparking legislative action on behalf on the government.
