Legislation

1
Legislation

• What laws has or government enacted to help us
  protect our environment?

2
National Forest Management Act

• The National Forest Management Act requires the
  Secretary of Agriculture to
• assess forest lands,
• develop a management program based on
  multiple-use,
• implement a resource management plan for each
  unit of the National Forest System.
• It is the primary statute governing the
  administration of national forests
• develop a Renewable Resource Program for
  protection, management and development of the
  National Forest System

3
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

• "Protecting American agriculture" is the basic
  charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
  (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
  (APHIS).
• APHIS provides leadership in ensuring the health
  and care of animals and plants.
• The agency improves agricultural productivity and
  competitiveness and contributes to the national
  economy and the public health.

4
Endangered Species Act

• The Endangered Species Act (ESA) in order to
  protect those plant and animal species that are
  at risk of becoming extinct.
• Species that receive protection under the ESA are
  classified into two categories,
• "Endangered" or
• "Threatened,"
• protective measures that are designed to preserve
  species that have been listed as Endangered or
  Threatened.
• These measures include restrictions on hunting,
  transporting and trading (buying and selling) the
  species.

5
1937 Pittman-Robertson Act

• Wildlife-restoration project  may be used to
  support a variety of wildlife projects, including
  acquisition and improvement of wildlife habitat.
• To receive funds, a state must assent to the
  provisions of the Act and have laws governing the
  conservation of wildlife.
• taxes imposed on certain types of sporting goods
  and include most types of firearms, ammunition,
  and bows and arrows

6
1950 Dingell-Johnson Act

• authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to
  provide financial assistance for state fish
  restoration and management plans and projects.
• directs the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary)
  to cooperate with state fish and game departments
  in fish restoration and management projects
• sales tax on sport fishing equipment (including
  fishing rods, reels, lines, hooks artificial
  lures, baits and flies and fishing supplies and
  accessories), electric outboard motors and sonar
  fish-finding devices, and import duties on
  fishing tackle and yachts and pleasure craft

7
Montreal Protocol

• The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete
  the Ozone Layer is an international treaty
  designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing
  out the production of a number of substances
  believed to be responsible for ozone depletion
• The treaty is structured around several groups of
  halogenated hydrocarbons that have been shown to
  play a role in ozone depletion. All of these
  ozone depleting substances contain either
  chlorine or bromine
• Determined to protect the ozone layer by taking
  precautionary measures to control equitably total
  global emissions of substances that deplete it,
  with the ultimate objective of their elimination

8
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC)

• The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on
  Climate Change is one of a series of recent
  agreements through which countries around the
  world are banding together to meet this challenge
• The Climate Change Convention focuses on
  something particularly disturbing we are
  changing the way energy from the sun interacts
  with and escapes from our planet's atmosphere. By
  doing that, we risk altering the global climate

9
Kyoto Protocol

• The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement made under the
  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
  Change (UNFCCC).
• Countries that ratify this protocol commit to
  reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide and
  five other greenhouse gases , or engaging in
  emissions trading if they maintain or increase
  emissions of these gases.
• The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 170
  countries globally and more than 60 of countries
  in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• As of December 2007, the US and Kazakhstan are
  the only signatory nations not to have ratified
  the act.

10
Clean Air Act

• A Clean Air Act describes one of a number of
  pieces of legislation relating to the reduction
  of smog and air pollution.
• The use of governments to enforce clean air
  standards has contributed to an improvement in
  human health and longer life spans.
• Critics argue it has also sapped corporate
  profits and contributed to outsourcing
• While defenders counter that improved
  environmental air quality has generated more jobs
  than it has terminated.
• Additionally, air quality legislation has led to
  widespread use of atmospheric dispersion models,
  including point source models, roadway air
  dispersion models and aircraft air pollution
  models in order to analyze air quality impacts of
  proposed major actions.
• AIRNOW - AIRNOW provides real-time air pollution
  data, information about the public health and
  environmental effects of air pollution, and
  provides the public with information about ways
  to protect their health and reduce pollution

11
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980(CERCLA)

• Commonly known as Superfund
• This law created a tax on the chemical and
  petroleum industries and provided broad Federal
  authority to respond directly to releases
  hazardous substances that may endanger public
  health or the environment.
• Over five years, 1.6 billion was collected and
  the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up
  abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
• CERCLA
• established requirements concerning closed and
  abandoned hazardous waste sites
• provided for liability of persons responsible for
  releases of hazardous waste at these sites
• established a trust fund to provide for cleanup
  when no responsible party could be identified.
• The law authorizes two kinds of response actions
• Short-term removals, where actions may be taken
  to address releases requiring prompt response.
• Long-term remedial response actions, that
  permanently and significantly reduce the dangers
  of releases of hazardous substances that are
  serious, but not immediately life threatening.

12
Right to Know Act

• Every American has the right to know the
  chemicals to which they may be exposed in their
  daily living. Right-to-Know laws provide
  information about possible chemical exposures.
  Below is a list of some of the information that
  EPA provides the public in the spirit of right to
  know.
• Toxics Release Inventory
• Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996
• Air Pollution
• Water Quality
• Lead Program
• Hazardous Waste

13
National Acid Precipitation Program Study

• To study the causes and potential effects of acid
  deposition in and around the United States.
• A fundamental objective of the NAPAP research
  program was to investigate emissions sources that
  may contribute to acid deposition.

14
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

• for pollutants considered harmful to public
  health and the environment.
• The Clean Air Act established two types of
  national air quality standards.
• Primary standards set limits to protect public
  health, including the health of "sensitive"
  populations such as asthmatics, children, and the
  elderly.
• Secondary standards set limits to protect public
  welfare, including protection against decreased
  visibility, damage to animals, crops, vegetation,
  and buildings.

15
FIFR and the Food Quality Protection Acts

• EPA is responsible for the registration of
  pesticides, reviewing labels for accuracy and
  safety, development of federal pesticide laws and
  regulations.
• Each state and Indian tribe has laws governing
  pesticides and their uses and these laws must be
  at least as strict as the federal laws.
• A pesticide is any substance or mixture of
  substances or chemicals intended preventing,
  destroying, repelling or mitigating any insects,
  rodents, fungi, bacteria, weeds or other forms of
  plant or animal life declared to be a pest.

16
Safe Drinking Water Act

• Is the principal federal law in the U S that
  ensures safe drinking water for the public
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
  required to set standards for drinking water
  quality and oversee all water suppliers who
  implement these standards.
• SDWA applies to every public water system in the
  United States.
• There are currently more than 160,000 public
  water systems providing water to almost all
  Americans at some time in their lives.
• SDWA does not apply to bottled water.