The Clean Air Act of 1970

1
The Clean Air Act of 1970

• Mandated the settings of standard for four
  primary pollutants- particulates, sulfur dioxide,
  carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides secondary
  pollutant ozone.

2
The Clean Air Act of 1990

• Called for increased reduction and monitoring of
  car emissions (VOCs, nitrogen oxides, carbon
  monoxide)

3
The Clean Water Act 1977

• This act established the basic structure for
  regulating discharges of pollutants into the
  waters of the United States. It gave EPA the
  authority to implement pollution control programs
  such as setting wastewater standards for
  industry.

4
The Clean Water Act 1981

• This act streamlined the municipal construction
  grants process, improving the capabilities of
  treatment plants built under the program.

5
The Clean Water Act 1987

• This act phased out the construction grants
  program, replacing it with the State Water
  Pollution Control Revolving Fund

6
The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, 1984, and
1996 (SDWA)

• This act was established to protect the quality
  of drinking water in the U.S.
• This law focuses on all waters actually or
  potentially designed for drinking use, whether
  from above ground or underground sources.
• The act required EPA to establish safe standards
  for water purity and required all owners or
  operators of public water systems to comply with
  primary (health-related) standards.

7
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 1986,
1990

• This act is the cornerstone legislation that
  provides the mechanisms and funding for the
  clean-up of potentially dangerous hazardous waste
  sites and the protection of ground water.
• This legislation gave rise to the EPAs largest
  ongoing programs

8
The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA)

• Law requiring the assessment of the potential
  hazards of a chemical before it is put on the
  market.
• Legislation that allowed the EPA to communicate
  concerns with chemical manufacturers where by the
  EPA has been able inventory over 80,000
  chemicals.

9
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of 1973 (CITES)

• An international treaty conveying some protection
  to endangered and threaten species by restricting
  trade of those species or their products.
• This international agreement was signed by 118
  nations.

10
Lacey Act of 1900

• The first national act that gave protection to
  wildlife by forbidding interstate commerce in
  illegally killed animals.

11
The Endangered Species Act 1973, 1982, 1985, 1988
(ESA)

• The federal legislation that mandates the
  protection of species and their habitats which
  are determined to be in danger of extinction.
• This legislation established the 3 elements to
  the process listing the species, designating
  critical habitat and develop a recovery plan.

12
The Emergency Planning Community Right-To-Know
Act

• Legislation requires industries to report the
  location and quantities of toxic chemicals stored
  on each site to state and local governments and
  to report releases of chemicals to the
  environment.
• Total toxic releases have declined by 54 since
  this act has been in effect.

13
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

• Law requires businesses, industries, and
  laboratories to make available both information
  regarding hazardous materials and suitable
  protective equipment.
• Worker right to know amendment
• Instituted the material safety data sheet which
  must accompany the shipped, storage and handling
  of over 600 chemicals

14
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 1938, 1954,
1958

• This act established the broad umbrella of
  strength for the FDA
• Elixir of Sulfanilamide, containing the poisonous
  solvent diethylene glycol, kills 107 persons,
  many of whom are children, dramatizing the need
  to establish drug safety before marketing and to
  enact this pending food and drug law, passed the
  following year.

15
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide
Act 1972, 1988

• The key U.S. legislation passed to control
  pesticides.
• This law stipulates that the EPA must determine
  whether a product generally causes unreasonable,
  adverse effects on the environment, which was
  the basis for the banning of DDT.

16
Food Quality Protection Act of 1996

• Legislation that removed the Delaney Clause and
  replaced many provisions of FIFRA.
• This act provided a protocol to oversee the
  effects of things such as pesticide residues and
  hormone disrupters, and establish a new safety
  standard where substances applied to foods must
  show a reasonable certainty of no harm.

17
Convention of Ozone Depletion and the Montreal
Protocol of 1986

• Member nations agreed to scale CFC productions
  back 50 by 2000, which was signed by 184
  countries including United States.
• Many developing countries are still producing
  there chemicals.

18
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

• One of the first laws ever written that
  establishes the broad national framework for
  protecting our environment.
• This basic policy assures that all branches of
  government give proper consideration to the
  environment prior to undertaking any major
  federal action that significantly affects the
  environment.
• Its requirements are invoked when airports,
  buildings, military complexes, highways, parkland
  purchases, and other federal activities are
  proposed.

19
Declaration of the Conference on the Human
Environment of 1972

• During this United Nations Conference, the goal
  was to address the need for a common outlook and
  for common principles to inspire and guide the
  peoples of the world in the preservation and
  enhancement of the human environment.

20
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
of 1982

• Comprehensive regime for governance of the
  oceans, covering all aspects of ocean space from
  delimitation to environmental control, scientific
  research, fishing and other economic and
  commercial activities, technology and the
  settlement of disputes relating to ocean matters.

21
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990

• This act streamlined and strengthened EPAs
  ability to prevent and respond to catastrophic
  oil spills. 
• A trust fund financed by a tax on oil is
  available to clean up spills when the responsible
  party is incapable or unwilling to do so.
• This act requires oil storage facilities and
  vessels to submit to the Federal government 
  plans detailing how they will respond to large
  discharges.

22
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of
1976 and 1989

• Cornerstone legislation to control indiscriminate
  land disposal of hazardous waste.
• Specifically, this legislation provides for the
  management of hazardous wastes from the point of
  origin to the point of final disposal (i.e.,
  "cradle to grave").

23
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977

• The primary federal law that regulates the
  environmental effects of coal mining in the
  United States.
• This act created two programs one for regulating
  active coal mines and a second for reclaiming
  abandoned mine lands.

24
Wilderness Act of 1964

• Federal legislation that provides for the
  permanent protection of underdeveloped and
  overexploited areas so that natural ecological
  processes can operate freely in them.
• Most human intrusions are excluded from such
  areas that are included in this Act
• 104 million acres are protected under this Act

25
Magnuson Act (1976)

• Extended the limits of jurisdiction over the
  costal waters and fisheries for the United States
  to 200 miles offshore.

26
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
1991

• Legislation that provides the funding of
  alternative transportation (e.g., mass transit or
  bicycle paths) using money from the Highway Fund

27
Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act
1996

• Major legislation removing many subsides and
  controls from farming
• Called freedom for farmers
• Resulted in emergency aid during the following 4
  years of the Act.

28
2002 Farm Bill

• Increased funding for Wildlife Habitat Incentives
  Program (WHIP) and the Environmental Quality
  Incentives Program (EQIP), which encourage
  landowners to conservation-minded and mitigate
  pollution in their local ecosystem.

29
Transportation Equity Act for the Twenty-first
Century 1998

• Large funding for federal highway, mass-transit
  and transit-related programs