In 2016, Americans elected a new President, Donald Trump. During his campaign, candidate Trump made several promises about the EPA. One of Donald Trump’s campaign promises that I read on www.washingtonpost.com, “the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) might disappear,” reminded me of the “Love Canal” scandal. As a student of biology and geology and a future scientist, the idea that government agencies would no longer assist with the protection of the environment, which includes politicians, was astonishing. According to an Executive Order signed by President Trump and posted on www.epa.gov, the “2015 Clean Water Rule” that protected streams and oceans from environment pollutants was rescinded (2017). The reason the quote by candidate Trump and the executive order by President Trump has any relevance is because these same actions could impact pre-1991 landfills. Landfills built before the 1991 regulations were not required to install barriers that protect the groundwater from carcinogens. There are chemicals that the EPA has determined to cause cancers and presently exist in landfills. Landfills built before 1991 are not required to protect any humans, wildlife or plants, or water from toxins and the new EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt could decide the current regulations are too …show more content…
Now as President, his recent statements indicate that he will order the EPA to invalidate many of President Obama’s policies on the environment (Waste, 2017). The current regulations for landfills built before 1991, allow the landfill owners to stop testing for dangerous chemicals after thirty years. The EPA should adopt stricter policies, strengthened current regulations, and extend testing for carcinogens indefinitely, thus protecting the environment and its
The United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA was initially proposed in 1970 by then President Richard Nixon. The agency was created to build on other environmental regulations enacted by the federal government and to consolidate those efforts to be managed by one government agency. It was also a reaction to the public’s growing concern over pollution and other environmental issues. Chemical waste was commonly released into bodies of water creating unsafe drinking water and rivers catching fire. Industrial air pollution, such as acid rain and smog, was also affecting manufacturing cities with coal-powered plants. There was little serious regulation on pollution until major environment laws started being passed by Congress in the early sixties.
Congress amended the Clean Air Act to set national standards for air quality, auto emission and anti-pollution in 1970 as well. In 1971 Congress restricts lead-based paint in homes and on cribs and toys. The EPA bans DDT a carcinogenic pesticide and requires a review of all pesticides in 1972 and Congress passes the Clean Water Act limiting raw sewage and other pollutants in fresh water such as lakes, rivers, and streams. In 1973 the EPA issues its first permit limiting a factory’s polluted discharge into water. In this same year, the OPEC oil embargo triggers an energy crisis which stimulates conservation of fossil fuels and research on alternative fuel sources. Congress passes the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974 which allows the EPA to regulate the quality of public drinking water. Two years later President Gerald Ford signed the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 to reduce environmental and human health risks. This resulted in Congress passing the Resource Conservation Act regulating hazardous waste from its production to its disposal and the EPA begins to phase out carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) production and use. The following year President Jimmy Carter signs the Clean Air Act amendments to strengthen air quality standards and protect people’s health, and the federal government bans chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) the year after that since research found
Since President Trump’s appointment of the new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, American citizens have felt safe and secure knowing that a well-versed environmentalist is watching over the degradation of their planet. Scott Pruitt, the new head, is the most qualified republican lawyer that deserves this job. His past attempts to repeatedly sue the EPA, his anti-environmental protection stance, and his alliance with gas and oil companies make Pruitt an ideal candidate for this position. As the new EPA chief, Pruitt is already making clean, green decisions to ensure the safety and protection of the earth.
PPA empowered EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to develop and co-ordinate all pollution – prevention strategies
President Richard Nixon officially created the Environmental Protection Agency, otherwise noted as the EPA, in the spring of 1970. However, concern for the environment and its protection began long before the government regulatory body. In years prior, environmentalism had planted its roots as a growing focus of many American citizens. Before the focus on the environment as we know it, there were multiple individuals who stressed the importance of nature and brought attention to the degradation of the environment through industrialization. Famous literary scholars first expressed their concern during the 1850’s—a direct response to the Industrial Revolution. Henry David Thoreau, with his ode to nature through Walden, or Life in the Woods, captured the importance of nature in a transcendental sense; while later in the nineteenth century, John Burroughs took a more realistic approach with his 27 volumes of essays on his experience with nature. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal brought the sense of ecology into government acts; among which were The Soil Conservation Service—reducing the effects of erosion on agricultural land, and the Pittman-Robertson Act, responsible for funding state fishing and wildlife programs from taxes on hunting and fishing equipment.1
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is a government agency whose purpose of being created was to protect human health and the environment by enforcing regulation based on the laws of the state. The agency since its creation has given the US a lot of advantages, but has also brought about some disadvantages ("EPA at 40: Pros and cons - Los Angeles Ecopolitics” p. 4). One of the advantages brought about by the EPA is that industrial air pollutants have been controlled. By issuing regulations to the power plants the agency will significantly reduce air pollution caused by the plants. The control of solid waste disposal will also be advantageous to the country.
President Richard Nixon made the decision to create the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 because of the ineffectiveness of environmental protection laws, The Environmental Protection Agency was to monitor and enforce laws to protect the environment. This decision to create the EPA when there was a disagreement on the hazards of pesticides. Setting exposure limits for chemicals in the early 1970’s was a struggle until the courts decided that the EPA had the authority to set the standards after a two-year battle. The agency has developed Toxic Substance Control Act, that helps protect workers by performing test on chemicals that re either manufactured here in the United States, or chemicals that are imported from other countries that industries
Thank you for meeting me here today, my name is Gabriel Ramirez and I have come to discuss a topic that affects our nation, our posterity, and the world we live in. New legislation by the Trump Administration has hacked away at the environmental sanctions that our previous presidents had made, setting us back in years of progress. Trump has stated that he wishes to cut back on federal overreach of climate friendly practice in business, and has put american jobs ahead of environmental preservation, something President Obama advocated against doing. Trump explained during a speech on his recent legislation, "My action today is latest in steps to grow American jobs," and is "ending the theft of prosperity." What Trump fails to realize however
President-elect Donald Trump settled on notorious climate change denier Myron Ebell. The decision rattled climate activists—see Julia Lurie's interview with Bill McKibben and David Roberts and Brad Plumer on Vox. But it isn't just greenhouse gas emissions that are likely to get a free ride under an Ebell-influenced EPA. Farm chemicals, too, would likely flow unabated if Ebell's agenda comes to dominate Trump's
The United States Environmental policy within the last 25 years has changed considerably due to events and politics. Things such as global warming, air pollution, water pollution, etc... has gotten the attention of more and more American citizens as well as celebrities and has created numerous environmental activist groups. These drastic changes have also brought about movies being made and telling the tale of how these changes will affect humans and the environment in the long term. One of the changes that President Trump is slowly trying to implement is eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (Green, 2017) The purpose of this agency is to create and enforce laws passed by Congress that protect humans and the environment. (Green,
President Donald Trump does not see this the same way most do. President Donald Trump’s administration believes that if we do nothing to protect the environment and focus on the economy, the environment will be fine however this is not the case. If the Trump administration gives no regard to environmental protection the economy will crumble with time rather than grow like the Trump administration expects (Merica, 2017). Since economic growth is prioritized over environmental protection both the economy and environment will experience
Using evidence from the movie “Tapped,” it can be confirmed that the EPA does not live up to their own standards. Companies such as Coke, Pepsi and Nestle all essentially have no consideration for its customers or anyone that does not provide them a profit. Nestle for example is a very wealthy company that holds an excessive amount of power. They try and find loopholes in the system on how their products are produced and who actually controls the Earth's water source. Nestle, on occasion, drives their trucks into rural small towns and take the water residing their for its residence to bottle it, sell it, ship it and sell it for 19,000 times the actual value of water without repercussions and nothing is given in return to the residence of said
So is this a really big deal, or a meaningless gesture? Is this the grand finale of a presidency of environmental protection, or an apology note scrawled to Planet Earth after two terms of exploitation and neglect? Let's explore.
On December 2nd of 1970, President Richard Nixon established an organization to solve the growing problem surrounding the state of the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency, commonly known as the EPA, was created with the mission to establish and enforce environmental protection standards, conduct environmental research, provide assistance in eliminating pollution, and recommend new policies for environmental protection to the president. One of the influences that contributed to the development of the EPA was an article in Science magazine. Through his article The Tragedy of the Commons, Garrett Hardin conveyed the amount of damage that humans had caused to the environment. He made it clear that humans will exploit Earth’s natural
During a White House briefing an official explained that the administration is “…urging the EPA for focus on what the administration believes is its core mission: Clean air and clean water” (Merica). While claiming that clean air and water are the administrations main priorities, the official also remarked, “I think the President has been very clear that he is not going to pursue climate change policies that put the US economy at risk” (Merica). These two administrative policies seem to cross one another in a matter that supposes that, clean air and water policies come in a form that the new administration sees as effective and as a non-threat to the U.S. economy. This shows in the actions of president Trump who has proposed withdrawing