On this episode, we cover the Ruckelshaus Restoration of the Environmental Protection Agency during the mid-1980s, which featured the reauthorization and strengthening of several major pieces of environmental law.

Culminating in that effort was the passage of the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act of 1986, which reauthorized funding for the Superfund program and greatly overhauled its system of cleanup standard and remediation procedures.

The act, however, was not without its criticisms and failures, and some aspects of its implementation fell short of expectations. Included in its passage was the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act, which worked to fill the gaps between the federal government and the local communities impacted by toxic waste pollution.