50 years and one day today, president Richard Nixon officially signed the EPA into existence. Since then, the agency has successfully combatted water pollution, reduced smog, and cleaned up contaminated mines. But the partisan fight over federal action against climate change has turned into a modern battle for the agency’s future, and what its mission should be. POLITICO’s Alex Guillen explains. Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter for POLITICO and host of POLITICO Energy. Alex Guillen covers the EPA and environmental issues for POLITICO. Carlos Prieto is a Politico podcast producer. Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio.