Shifting Paradigms-A Look into the History of the Growing Relationship Between Environmental Science and Politics
By golatias
-
Federal Water Pollution Control Act
This Act authorized the Surgeon General of Public Health Service and other government entities to create programs to reduce pollution in water sources. It emphasized improvement of surface and underground waters with the intentions of conservation of wildlife and maintaining both recreational and industrial uses. Future amendments allowed for work on the Great Lakes, eastuaries, and set standards for sanitation devices. It also authorized research on the impacts of pollution. -
National Air Pollution Control Act
Granted $5 million anually to Public Health Services to study the effects of air pollution on public health, agriculture, and property.The first federal attempt at such an effort, it restricted the right to control how air pollution was dealt with to Congress. It also brought attention to air pollution's threat to society and the environment. -
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act created the National Wilderness Preservation System and provided an official description of what should be deemed wilderness. The purpose was to prevent the settlement of and industrialization of all land area. This left land for preservation of their natural states. The National Park Service determines whether or not an area is "wilderness" or not. This also sets restrictions for what can be done in wilderness with its preservation in mind. -
National Emissions Standard Act/Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act
This act seeked to regulation noncommercial vehicle pollution by setting emission standards. The then Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare was called upon to create standards that would reduce hydrocarbon emissions by 72%, carbon dioxide emissions by 56%, and crankcase carbons by 100%. This act also created the Ntional Air Pollution Control Administration to handle future control efforts. -
Solid Waste Disposal Act
This act addressed how to safely dispose of large quantities of solid waste. The goal was to protect publc health, environmental health, ad reduce the overall generation of sold waste. It was later amended with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which exapnded the act to acquiring money for waste management and provided additional protection to areas contaminated by waste. -
California Air Resources Board
A board established by California's State Legislature that aims to attain and maintain healthy air quality, research causes and solutions for air pollution, and address problems created by the onslaught of motor vehicle emissions. The board consists of 12 members: 5 experts with backgrounds in science, law or business, 6 members from California's largest and most dominant regions and a final member that represents the remaining regions in California. -
Air Quality Act
An amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1963 that gave the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare the authority to designate "Air Quality Control Regions". States in each region had to set up and enforce pollution control standards through "State Implementation Plans". Unfortunately, it was deemed a failure as less than 3 dozen Air Quality Control Regions were assigned in contrast to the over 100 expected in spite of the $428.3 it was granted over the course of 3 years. -
Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act
Designed to establish health and safety standards for coal mines, this act provided money for disabled coal-miners and other compensations. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Department of Labor admisnistered the cash provisions, focusing on providing money to the families of those afflicted with black lung disease. This was the first act governing mine safety. -
National Environmental Policy Act
Requires federal agencies to consider environmental consequences of their actions. If possible, it requires them to choose alternative routes that minimize environmental impacts. Agencies are required to submit an Environmental Impact Statement, showing that they are aware of potential risks to the environment and have taken all the necessary measures to keep them at a minimum. -
Clean Air Act (extension)
Succeeded the Air Quality Act of 1967 due to its failure. Authorized the development of regulations to reduce emissions as a whole. This includes stationary pollutant generators, commercial and noncommercial vehicles, and anything else that may contribute to the degradation of air quality. 4 regulatory programs were created for stationary sources and enforcement was greatly magnified. -
Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act
Established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to create and enforce safety standards in the workplace. This act also created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to conduct research on workplace hazards as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to handle employers challenging the institutes enforcement. The goal of this act was to reduce workplace injuries and health risk mainly through education and outreach. -
Environmental Quality Improvement Act
Congress delcared that humans caused changes in the environment, that these changes may affect how we interact with out environment, and that the increasing population contributes to pollution and the degradation of the environment. State and local governments are responsible for implementing policies for the prevention, abatement, and control of pollution, natural resources, transportation, and development. An Office of Environmental Quality was made to make sure policies are implemented. -
Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Act
This act required the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to ban lead-based paint in government housing. These included structures constructed or rehabilitated by the federal government. Done to prevent lead-poisoning in children rather than curing it, it defined paint chips as the main cause of poisoning and attempted to address it. The act also came up with a standard that determined when paint was considered to be lead-based. -
Clean Water Act
Public awareness of and concern for water quality was growing in the early 1970's. As a result, the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act was amended so that the EPA had authority to implement pollution control programs and set regulations and water standards. This made it illegal to dump pollutants and funded the construction of sewage treatment plants. -
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
The goal of this FIFRA is to provide federal control over pesticides. All pesticides are required to be licensed by the EPA and labeled appropriately. This act also ensures tht licensed pesticides will not damage the environment when used properly. The EPA also manages the sale and use of pesticides to protect public health and the environment. Moderm forms of this act shift the blame to manufacturers of pesticides. -
Endangered Species Act
The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to protect and recover damaged and threatened species and ecosystems. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for freshwater and terrestrial organisms while the National Marine Fisheries Service focuses on marine organisms and anadromous fish. The Endangered Species Act also has each species' vulnerability status listed under it. -
Safe Drinking Water Act
Crated to protect public health, the Safe Drinking Water Act regulates the drinking water supply and its freshwater sources including rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells. It sets the standards for drinking water and for the suppliers who are required to implement the standards. It originally focused on the treatment of water, but now focuses on the water's original sources. -
Hazardous Materials Transportation Act
The purpose of this act is to ward against the potential damage that hazardous materials can cause to life and property during transport. Under the Secretaryof Transport's authority, hazardous material is given a broad definition and those who recklessly move such materials about are subject to enforcement. -
Toxic Substances Control Act
This gives the EPA the authority to require reports on and create restrictions for specific chemical substances. Though food, drugs,pesticides, and cosmetics are excluded, any entity that manufactures or distributes substances that are potentially hazardous must inform the EPA. This focuses on addressing the protection, use, and disposal of specifically dangerous chemicals. -
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Gives the EPA the authority to monitor and control hazardous materials throughout their entire existence. From the moment it is created to when it is disposed, the EPA has dominion over it. The EPA is responsible for managing the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials. This was meant to reduce the health and environmental risks brought on by improper management. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
This act established a program under the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement that regulates surface mining and reclamation of land razed by the mining of coal. The intentions behind the creation of this act was to minimize consequences of coal mining on the environment with an emphasis on restoring land and water resources. This also focuses on regulation mining and exploration techniques. -
National Energy Conservation Policy Act
This gave the United States Department of Energy the authority to set minimum energy performance standards. This changed energy standards from being optional to being mandatory. It also gave federal standards more power than the standards set by individual states. State authorities are now required to get approval from the Department of Energy for their energy conservation plans. -
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act
Authorized financial and technical assistance to states for creation and management of conservation programs for nongame fish and wildlife. US Fish and Wildlife Service was required to study and report to Congress of such programs. The act set aside money to aid in the development of the programs. This is based more on ethical arguments, but Fish and Wildlife Service states that fish and wildlife are important to humans in nearly all aspects. -
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act
Through this, a tax on chemical and petroleum industries was created and federal government authority to enforce the relese of hazardous materials into the environment. In addition, this created requirements for closed hazardous waste sites and made those who dispose of hazardous wste responsible for damage inflicted. Funds were assigned to finance clean ups for when no entity can be found to blame. -
Nuclear Waste Policy Act
Supports the underground storage of nuclear waste. the repositories must be evaluated using protocols set by the act in which the hydrology, natural resources, geophysics, location to water supplies and other important factors are taken into account. This act shows that the government acknowledges that radioactive waste has risks to public health and the environment and needs to be properly managed. -
Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act
This act passed in response to conerns of the risks involved with toxic chemical storage. These concerns were triggered by the release of methylisocyanate in India that result in the severe injury or death of over 2000 people. Public concern was generated when they considered the possibility that something similar could occur in the United States. This imposed requirements on the government and industry to inform the public of toxic chemicals and where they're found. -
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
Amended the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act by stressing the necessity of permament and modern solutions to dealing with hazardous wasste sites. This required Superfund decisions to consider other environmental laws and regulations as well as increase state involvement. The authors wanted more citizen involvement in making decisions regarding clean ups. -
Water Quality Act
This amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act by authorizing appropriations for research and training programs in pollution control, grants for waste treament plan development a, more pollution control programs (especially in agricultural areas) and grants to states to look at lake pollution, The Administator of the EPA is directed by this to award grants toward new techniques regarding the management of pollution. -
Montreal Protocol
Agreed on in 1987 and employed in 1989, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was designed to reduce the creation and use of ozone depleting substances to protect the planet's deteriorating ozone layer. It has an adjustment provision that allows for it to be modified quickly in response to new scientific findings. -
Basel Convention
Increasing public awareness and concern with toxic waste disposal due to global events led to the Basel Convention. This treaty's goal was to protect humans and environments in developing countries and 1st world nations by imposing restriction on the trade and movement of hazardous materils between countries and regions. Wastes can only be transported if they possess no major ecological threat at its destination. Antarctica and nations not part of this treaty may not receive waste. -
Residential Land-Based Paint Haard Reduction Act
Congress passed this to protect citizens from harmful lead found in paint chps, dust and soil. It required that housing must have its lead-based hazards disclosed before it is sold. This mostly applies to housing constructed before 1978. Sellers and landlords were required to inform potential buyers what lead-based hazards are and provide an EPA pamphlet to them. -
North American Free Trade Agrement Implementation
An act to implement NAFTA, an agreement to strengthen international bonds between Canada, the US, and Mexico. To accomplish this, cross-border movement of goods was expedited by the elimination of trade barriers in North America. This wuld lay the foundatons for economic growth for all countries within it. -
Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice
The purpose of this executive order was to address a lack of environmental justice for minority and low-income populations. The mission was to extend environmental protection and care to all communities for the sake of human health. This came about due to disproportionately high prevalence of poor health environments near these populations. -
Kyoto Protocol
An agreement extending upon the United Nations Framework on Climate Change by recognizing that developed nations are the most responsible for emissions into the atmosphere. These countries are expected to create and implement policiies enhancing energy efficiency, enhancement of greenhouse gas sinks not managed by the Montreal Protocol and promote sustainable forms of agriculture. -
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
Authorized federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit. The purpose of dong this was to improve road safety as traffic levels continue to rise. It was also meant to address the issues and threats this increass posed to the natural environment. This invested in research on transport safety and its applications. It also strengthened rules and regulations on drunk driving. -
California AB 1493
Requires the California Climate Change Registry and the State Air Resources Board to make records on greenhouse gas emission results available to the public and to adopt protocols for reporting them so that the state board can grant emission reduction credits. The state board was also required to achieve maximum feasible reduction of emissions by noncommercial vehicles by 2005. -
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act
The goal of this act was to authorize funds for highways, their safety programs, and transit. This was meant to meet future transportation need, including access access to employment, goods and services, and reduce costs to public agencies. This assisted state and local governments to achieve national environmental goals and improve response to crashes and disasters. -
Energy Independence and Security Act
This act's mission was to make the United States more independent regarding energy and security and increase production of renewable fuels. It was also made to improve the energy efficiency of federal government action, research and apply greenhouse gas capture and storage plans. This essentially reinforces energy reduction goals for federal agenciesby applying more aggressive regulations.
