Environmental Regulations

Reading assignment: Chapter 26, Politics and the Environment

How Laws And Regulations Are Developed

• Laws are passed by congress because

  • The voting public expect, demand, or want a certain law

  • The congress feels it is necessary or correct

  • The President requests the action

  • Other factors

• The congress, through the law, directs US EPA to write regulations to:

  • Protect human health

  • Protect the environment

  • Through the regulations, the US EPA may:

    • Direct the states to enforce the federal standards

    • Allow the states to enforce the regulations

    • State enforcement often results in states "bidding" down enforcement in order to attract/retain industry

Current Major US Environmental Laws

• Water Pollution Control

  • The Clean Water Act (CWA) and its amendments

  • Requires permits to discharge wastewater into waters

  • Requires treatment of wastewaters by cities and industries

  • Regulates both conventional and toxic substances

• Air Pollution Control

  • The Clean Air Act and its amendments

  • Requires cleaner more efficient automobiles

  • Prohibits tetraethyl lead as a fuel additive

  • Requires permits for industries to discharge air pollutants

  • Restricts amount of air pollutants

• Solid Waste Control

  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments

  • Requires landfills to have liner systems to protect the groundwater by collecting leachate

  • Landfill must be "capped" or covered when it is closed to prevent further water from entering

  • Requires collection of contaminated surface water runoff

  • Contaminated waters must be treated to same levels as other wastewaters under CWA

  • Landfill operators must have ability to pay for later problems if they occur

• Hazardous Waste Control

  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments, Clean Air Act and amendments

  • Permits required for generation, transportation, storage, and disposal facilities

  • Storage requirements to prevent environmental contamination

  • Transportation requirements, through US Department of Transportation

  • Liner systems similar to solid waste landfills, but better

  • Prohibition of landfill of many hazardous liquids

  • Standards for incineration facilities

• Hazardous Waste Cleanup

  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

  • Provides money and legal authority to clean up hazardous waste contamination at abandoned sites or sites where the owners cannot or will not perform the clean up

• Other Laws

  • Prohibit or restrict the destruction of some protected wetlands

  • Require an environmental assessment before construction of some facilities

  • Protect some wildlife species

  • The Interaction of Environmental Regulations

• Solid waste regulations require facilities to meet Clean Water Act regulations

  • Leachate collected from landfills must be treated to Clean Water Act levels prior to discharge

  • Surface runoff from landfills must meet CWA standards as well

• Hazardous waste regulations require facilities to meet Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act provisions

Various Methods of Regulation

• Regulations may require certain discharge limits be met . This form of regulation is termed "effluent based standards."

  • The maximum concentration leaving the facility cannot exceed a specified value. Examples:

    • the discharge concentration for chromium in industrial wastewater must not exceed 0.01 mg/l

    • the discharge concentration for organic materials in municipal wastewater must not exceed 30 mg/l

    • the discharge concentration for lead must not exceed 5 µg/m^3 in air discharged from an industry

  • Other regulations may require certain ambient quality standards be met or that ambient concentrations not be exceeded. Examples include:

    • Maximum concentration of a contaminant in a stream, in the air, or in the soil

    • The minimum dissolved oxygen level (dissolved oxygen is necessary for most aquatic life, it is not a pollutant) in a river down stream from an industry must be at least 5 mg/l

    • The maximum level of lead in the soil must not exceed 20 µg/kg

International Environmental Laws and Regulations

• Western Europe and Canada have environmental laws comparable or exceeding our laws for environmental protection

• Japan has significant environmental protection laws

• Mexico, Taiwan, much of Southeast Asia are beginning to develop and enforce environmental protection

Environmental ethics and corporate profit

• The primary function of a corporation is to make a profit

• If one company arbitrarily decides to spend more on pollution control, i.e. "do better," their costs relative to the competition will rise

  • Few customers are willing to pay additional for goods and services

  • The "good" company's market share decreases, then their profits decrease

  • If their profits turn into losses, they cease to exist

• If a company is able to become more efficient, do more with less, then they are truly accomplishing a good deed

• In general, uniform, industry wide (federal) standards and uniform, equal enforcement results in the best environmental quality

• Selective enforcement of environmental regulations

  • States tend to enforce environmental regulations stringently only when public concern is widespread and publicized

  • States often "bid down" environmental regulations in order to keep industry "happy"

The effect of public pressure

• Public pressure, where it occurs, often causes stricter enforcement of existing regulations

• Public pressure can often cause Congress to act

  • The original Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act were passed during the "environmental awareness" era of the late 1960s and 1970s

  • Superfund was passed after much publicity about Love Canal

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