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Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
The purpose of this law was to have federal control over pesticide distribution, sale, and use. They must be approved and registered by the EPA. Regulations will ensure the pesticide is properly labeled and ensures its contents will not harm the environment. EPA maintains a strict and very specific requirement of what chemicals are used in the product. -
Air Pollution Control Act
This act was created to address the nations environmental problem of air pollution in hopes of being able to control air pollution. The act declared that the air was a danger to public health and therefore put the federal government in charge to inform the public. The United States Surgeon General was to conduct research, investigate and pass out information relating to air pollution and the prevention and abatement thereof. -
Clean Air Act
This act was designed to control air pollution on a national level. This act provided funds for the federal government to research air pollution. In 1963, one of the accomplishments of the act was the federal government establishing a program in the US public health service to authorize and control air pollution. -
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act protects 9.1 million acres of federal land. This act created a way for Congress and Americans to designate “wilderness areas,” preventing the formation of roads, no vehicle access or permanent structures to be built in designated wilderness areas. These areas are used for hiking, camping and backpacking. -
National Emissions Standards Act
This act works in relation to the US Clean Air act, which set the first federal vehicle emissions standards. This act helped to reduce the emission of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and complete reduction of crankcase hydrocarbons. The impact on the potential characteristics of the vehicle fleet can be analyzed with the use of roadway air dispersion models. -
Water Quality Act
It directed states to create better water quality standards. Federal involvement was necessary since most watersheds and waterways crossed state lines. The water standards improved statewide in the 1970’s. All states accepted these developed standards. Since scientific development, revisions have been necessary to follow modern studies. The Clean Water Act followed the framework of this law a few years later. -
Solid Waste Disposal Act
This was the first federal law to require environmentally friendly-disposal processes of household, commercial, and industrial wastes. The reason was to protect human health and environment from the exposure to these wastes. The Environmental Protection Agency was assigned to develop safe standards for disposing wastes. It finally identified solid waste management was an issue. -
Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act
The act allowed the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to establish federal mandates on emission standards. This came into effect with the 1968 car models and light0duty vehicles. The National Air Pollution Control Administration (NAPCA) was established as a result. The desired result of the law was a total reduction of crankcase hydrocarbons, including a 72% decrease in hydrocarbons and 56% decrease in carbon monoxide emissions. -
California Air Resources Board
The board serves as the clean air agency for the state government of California. Its goal is to maintain healthy air quality, research causes and solutions to air pollution, and attack those issues. A board of 11 scientific experts are appointed by the governor to represent regional pollution control agencies. These branches work with the public and businesses for a healthier, pollution free future. -
Air Quality Act
An amendment to the Clean Air Act, it pushed for stronger national emissions standards. It was more regional, than a national focus. The federal government was expected to establish an “Air Quality Control Regions.” In these areas the Secretary determined control over public protection. It failed because the layout of the regions was expected to be at 100 when there were only 36 established. -
Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act
Also known as the Coal Act, it required underground mines to be inspected four times a year to test health and safety standards. This was after the unfortunate mining disaster in Farmington a year before. Surface mines were required to be inspected twice, which was a first. If violated, the violators were penalized with a maximum $10,000 fine. -
National Environmental Policy Act
NEPA required federal agencies to account for environmental factors for decision-making processes in regards to their actions that may impact the environment. They must prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and submit to EPA for reviewing. By setting up environmental procedural standards for all federal government branches, EPA is able to save the assessment in case of alternate decisions needed. -
Environmental Quality Improvement Act
NEPA was amended by this law. It lists the responsibilities of the Council of Environmental Quality. Each council member ensures each Federal department complies with policies that consider environmental factors for public works activities. The president appoints the Deputy Director of the Office of environmental quality. He will assist the President as an environmental advisor to him. -
Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act
Every employer is required to ensure their employees are free of death or serious physical harm from obvious hazards. They must comply with the health and safety standards set by the act. The Department of Labor is authorized to conduct inspections and may fine and penalize offenders. The standards may be reviewed if there is opposition towards a policy by employer, employee, or representative or workplace -
Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act
This act prohibits the use of lead-based paint. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to take necessary steps to prevent the application of lead-based pain to any cooking, drinking, or eating utensil. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is also authorized to impose conditions in production of toys or furniture in relation to lead-based paint. -
Federal Water Pollution Control 5Act
The first major law that was enacted by Congress was to address the problems of water pollution in the United States. This act served to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. One of the mandating commands was not to grant a license for a hydroelectric power project to regulate stream flow for the purpose of water quality unless absolutely necessary. -
Clean Water Act
The law established basic conditions for regulating discharged pollutants into the waters. It also regulated quality standards for surface waters. A series of pollution control programs were implemented. Any discharge is unlawful without a proper permit, according to the act. Residential housing connected to a municipal or septic system do not need one. -
Endangered Species Act
EPA was designated in the protection and recovery of species under the threat of extinction. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is tasked with the responsibility of monitoring freshwater and terrestrial organisms; the National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for marine life. Species are listed as either endangered or threatened. Any plant or animal can become either one. -
Safe Drinking Water Act
The law was created to protect the quality of drinking water in the US. This concentrates on any waters designated for drinking. EPA is authorized to create simple conditions all public water system companies must comply with. Drinking water safety is a serious issue because millions of people will be exposed if not regulated. -
Hazardous Materials Transportation Act
The act was passed with the intent of providing satisfactory protection against risks of life and property due to the transportation of hazardous material. Regulations and enforcement policies will improve in accordance to the acts by the Secretary of Transportation. In addition, the Federal Highway, Railroad, and Aviation administrations enforce all regulations in regards to their respective carriers. -
Toxic Substances Control Act
This law requires the reporting, record-keeping, and testing of chemical substances by the power of the EPA. Specific inputs are excluded such as food, drugs, and cosmetics. It addresses the issue regarding the production, importation, use, and disposal of harmful chemicals like lead-based paint. EPA was allowed testing new commercial products before entering the market and restricting specific conditions. -
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
By this law, EPA is granted control of hazardous waste from generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal. It set standards for management of non-hazardous solid wastes. Overall it protects the health and environment from potential hazards not within EPA control. Recent amendments to the law focused on the storage of petroleum underground. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
Congress created the Office of Surface Mining to establish federal regulations for states to meet. It would alleviate the burden from the states to the federal government. The OSM would conduct site inspections, review permits in accordance to state regulations, and analyze statistical mining data. The state would be responsible for creating minimum regulatory conditions for mining operations and procedures. -
National Energy Conservation Policy Act
The US Department of Energy is assigned to set minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) to replace the current policies set in 1975. It changed energy standards to mandatory. Department of Energy was in placed in charge of establishing procedures for energy conservation plans. Federal agencies were required to survey energy consumption; as a result it allowed the allocation of loans to families to afford energy efficient equipment. -
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act
States were given financial and technical assistance for conservation and protection of wildlife. It granted $5 million every fiscal year. The law also declared fish and wildlife are of economic and scientific value to the nation. All federal departments were encouraged to promote conservation of non-game fish and wildlife. The identification of these species were necessary to study trends and effects that have pertaining to environmental changes and human activity. -
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
Also called Superfund, the government taxed chemical and petroleum industries. It provided federal authority to respond to threats or releases of hazardous materials that can harm the public or environment. With $1.6 billion collected over time, Superfund mostly cleaned up abandoned or uncontrolled waste sites. From here they had two removal processes, short and long term. Short-term removals required immediate response whereas long-term removal is used in situations where the substance is serio -
Nuclear Waste Policy Act
It was passed to provide for repositories for disposal of high-level radioactive waste¬¬. This established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management to handle these repositories. They became in charge of building, operating, and monitoring them. In addition, they needed to develop a transportation system to connect the plants with the repositories. -
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
Because of the amendments to Superfund, it helped solve problems of dangerous waste sites. Similar to EPCRKA, the disaster in India brought forward concerns to protect the health and environment. Its trust fund increased to $8.5 billion and enforced the importance of human health, community cooperation with state and local authorities. -
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRKA)
Because of a fatal accident in India, the US Congress decided to pass this act in order to prevent such a disaster. This resulted in the requirement of emergency planning and need-to-know reporting on hazardous chemicals. It will inform the public about how to access this information on these toxics. With this plan, the public can protect themselves and report any hazards in their communities. -
Montreal Protocol
The protocol was developed to reduce production and consumption of ozone depleting substances in order to reduce amount in atmosphere. When scientists noticed the ozone layer thinning over Antarctica, action needed to be taken. 191 countries signed the treaty and it has been successful. The US has followed its promise by authorizing the EPA to handle the toxic depletion of the ozone layer. -
Basel Convention
The Basel Convention is an international treaty to reduce hazardous waste between nations. Prior to the convention, the discovery of deposits of toxic waste imported around third-world nations led out a public outcry. Businesses pushed their problems onto developing nations while everyone turned their heads away until it became a problem. The objective of this convention was to protect the environment and public health from dangerous wastes. -
Clean Air Act (extension)
The President decided to revise the 1963 Clean Air Act by focusing on new threats of acid rain, urban air pollution, and toxic air emissions. This expanded programs for controlling toxic air pollutants. For example, a program was created to control 189 toxic pollutants. These programs were allowed to control acid deposition, establish permit program requirements, and modified enforcement. -
Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act
This law developed a national strategy to eliminate lead-based paint hazards in all housing. Congress desired to push the public away from using lead-based paint. They were strongly for preventing childhood lead poisoning; this became a priority in enforcing this act. The public was to be educated concerning these hazardous wastes in order to prevent deaths or physical damages to themselves. This would allow them to cooperate with the government in monitoring health and environmental safety. -
North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
This was a trade agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada. They each promised to remove any tariff or import taxes between each nation. The Implementation Act literally implemented the agreement by almost entirely eliminating trade barriers between Canada and US. The disadvantage of the agreement was each country followed its own environmental laws that didn’t coincide with the trade contract. -
Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice
The president focused the government’s attention to low-income and minority populations with goal of spreading environmental protection for all communities. The executive order focused on identifying high human health and environmental effects in these neighborhoods. Clinton uses environmental justice to name the time and effort dedicated in improving these conditions. -
Kyoto Protocol
The treaty was an international agreement by setting emission targets. They recognized third-world countries were primarily at fault for these high emission levels. The rules of the agreement were developed and finally became effective in 2005. The signing nations agreed to decrease their emissions by 5.2%. Their targeted emissions were carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride, methane, PFCs, and HFCs. -
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
The Public law authorized federal highway, highway safety, and transportation programs. It is the largest public works bill in history with $218 billion in funding for a period of 6 years. There was a 42% increase in funds. Each state was guaranteed a minimum return on gas taxes contributed to fund. -
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA)
Bush signed this into law with the duty to authorize funds for highways and transportation programs. This was similar to the TEA-21. The investment would reduce traffic congestion, improvement movement of traffic, and protect the environment. With a $286.4 billion fund t was able to improve and maintain surface transportation. -
Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA)
The goal of the law was to improve energy independence and security in the US. It would also produce cleaner, renewable fuels, protect consumers, and increase efficiency of products. It considered to cut out petroleum industry’s subsidiaries to promote alternative energy, but was prevented by the Senate. The EPA committed itself in increasing average fuel economy standards, renewable fuel standards, and carbon capture of the EISA. -
California AB 1493
The Board would adopt amendments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in newer vehicles from 2009 to 2016. These were a part of a nationwide program to reduce GHGs. It was the first congressional decision to regulate GSGS from passenger vehicles in the world. The law corresponds with California’s Air Resources Board.
