Early Forms of Env Policy

While there have been regulations and guidelines for environmental protection for many years before, the first act of Environmental Policy in the U.S. was in 1899, with the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act. The act bans the dumping of any waste into a navigable body of water without a permit. It also makes illegal the modification of any port. harbor, channel, or navigable body of water or its floor without a permit. Earlier forms of policies are the Royal Anti-Coal Proclamation of 1306, and Benjamin Franklin's efforts to stop the dumping of waste in Philadelphia's central districts, as well as removing tanning factories that caused pollution and health issues, as well as bad smells and the lowering of local property values.