The Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States)84–159, ch. 360, 69 Stat.322) was the first United States Clean Air Act enacted by Congress to address the national environmental problem of air pollution. The act declared that air pollution was a danger to public health and welfare, but preserved the "primary responsibilities and rights of the States and local government in controlling air pollution."[1] The act put the federal government in a purely informational role, authorizing the United States Surgeon General to conduct research, investigate, and pass out information "relating to air pollution and the prevention and abatement thereof."[2] The Air Pollution Control Act, therefore, contained no provisions for the federal government to actively combat air pollution by punishing polluters. The next Congressional statement on air pollution would come with the Clean Air Act of 1963.
