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Actions: Laws & Regulations

Enforcement of law to ensure smooth implementation as passed by the Bill, and to act as deterrent to others against the unscrupulous offenders committing such offences to bring them to justice. As such, the laws stated are all derived from U.S. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), in which explanations of each laws are taken from the U.S. EPA's web site in summary.

• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA)

  • to declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment, to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation; and to establish a Council on Environmental Quality

• The Clean Air Act (CAA)

  • comprehensive Federal law that regulates air emissions from area, stationary, and mobile sources

  • to set and achieve NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards authorized by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) in every state by 1975. The setting of maximum pollutant standards was coupled with directing the states to develop state implementation plans (SIPs) applicable to appropriate industrial sources in the state.

• The Clean Water Act (CWA)

  • set the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants to waters of the United States

  • authority given to EPA to set effluent standards on an industry basis (technology-based) and continued the requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters

  • focused on toxic substances, authorized citizen suit provisions, and funded sewage treatment plants (POTWs) under the Construction Grants Program

• Comperehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund)

  • created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment

  • established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites

  • provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites

  • established a trust fund to provide cleanup when no responsible party could be identified

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©2001, Team C0111040, ThinkQuest.