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What are the key federal environmental laws?
There are many federal laws that significantly restrict what industries and government agencies are able to do. They cover air, water, toxic substances, noise, endangered species, nuclear power, pollution, wetlands protection, and solid wastes. The following is a partial list of federal laws that directly address the environment:
(1) National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA): the flagship of the federal environmental program, this act requires the Federal government to consider the environmental impacts of, and alternatives to, major proposed actions in its decision-making processes. Its purpose is to monitor, discover, and disclose the impact of federal projects on the environment.
(2) Federal Water Pollution Control Act: This law regulates discharge of wastes, especially from industry, municipal sewage plants, and agricultural feedlots. It also has authority over spills of oil and other hazardous substances.
(3) Clean Water Act: a 1977 amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, this act set the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants to waters of the U.S. The act protects fish, shellfish, and wildlife, establishes operating permits for all major sources of air pollution, and stops the discharge of pollutants or toxins into water.
(4) Clean Air Act: this comprehensive law regulates air emissions from area, stationary, and mobile sources. The EPA must hold federal, state, and local agencies to set up programs to inspect and regulate motor vehicle emissions, to control on-street parking in order to discourage the use of automobiles in congested areas, to regulate vehicle idling, to set up bicycle storage facilities and cycle lanes on roads, and to encourage employer-sponsored car pooling.
(5) Noise Control Act: this act reduces or eliminates noise that jeopardizes health and welfare. It concentrates on controlling noise from industrial machinery, appliances, and vehicles, including aircraft, trains, and trucks. The EPA analyzes the sources of noise and sets standards for noise emission.
(6) The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuary Act: this act outlaws the dumping of wastes into the oceans without a special permit.
(7) Endangered Species Act: this law provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in which they are found. "Endangered" means on the brink of extinction. "Threatened" means that it is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
(8) Federal Water Pollution Control Act: this act regulates the discharge of wastes, especially from industrial plants, municipal sewage treatment plants, and agricultural feedlots. It also regulates the cleaning up of oil spills and other hazardous substances.
(9) Federal Pesticide Act: this act requires the registration of all pesticides before sale in order to identify unreasonable hazards to humans or the environment. Pesticides must be classified according to general or restricted use, and the users of restricted pesticides must be certified.
(10) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA): a/k/a the "Superfund", this act cleans up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment. It cleans up orphan sites when potentially responsible parties cannot be identified or located, or when they fail to act. It recovers costs from financially viable individuals and companies once a response action has been completed.
Other federal laws impacting the environment are those that control the quality of drinking water, handicapped-access, disposal of hazardous (and non-hazardous) wastes, right-to-know laws, protection of sensitive coastal barriers, liability for oil spills, the use of pesticides and other toxic substances, and screening of toxic substances produced or imported into U.S. |
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