Since the beginning of the 20th century, environmental issues have become the sphere of interest of many developed countries. It was then that the United States of America began to pursue an active environmental policy and served as a guide for other countries. The purpose of this article is to analyze the development of environmental policy in the United States in the 20th century. This article is devoted to determining the main trends and directions characteristic of the formation of American policy in the field of environmental protection. The paper highlights the main stages and characteristics of the development of environmental legislation in the United States. As a result, it was determined that despite the fact that the formation of environmental legislation in the United States began at the end of the 19th century, most of the laws in the field of environmental protection were adopted during the 60-80s of the 20th century.