National Environmental Policy Act Or NEPA

Every day we see art whether it is a pattern, sculpture, or even a picture. Art is everywhere. For artists to show their work they would go under the government process of the NEA. This program is wonderful on what they do with art. The government funding of art through the NEA is beneficial which helps art programs increase with money donations, the right to express your freedom, and lastly to show the public what they are wanting to see.

He announced it was the first symbolic act of “the environmental decade.” Between the years of 1970 and 1972, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Another thing he did was sign executive orders and international agreements on environmental issues. In early 1973, an international conference was held to discuss endangered species. The product of the conference was the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The U.S. needed a new legislation to meet some of the agreement’s provisions and it led to the Endangered Species Act. In Nixon’s State of the Union speech in 1973, he called for stronger wildlife protection. The results of these environmental laws and international agreements made the public extremely happy. Even though Nixon’s intentions were selfish when he got involved in environmental concerns, he responded unquestionably positive. All his hard work helped pave the way for a cleaner society.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can have consequences (i.e., delays in projects, delays in species protections).

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.

When signing the Endangered Species Act President Nixon said, “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” The Endangered Species Act was enforced in 1973 providing protection for species that are being threatened in their habitats. Making a point to save endangered animals, not only allows people to see the protected animals living in a free and serene environment, but it invokes a sense of happiness.

This was the first declaration by federal government identifying that it was the rights of states and local governments to be responsible for controlling air pollution. The government took the health and public welfare of Americans seriously by passing the Air Pollution Act, but ironically, the federal government was not in any form engaging in air pollution clean up or prosecuting those responsible for pollution. This act did not reduce any of the smog in the atmosphere, nor did it make it easier for states with low funding to tackle their own city’s air pollution problems. The unseen long term benefits of this act were the federal research funds implemented to conduct air pollution research which eventually structured the Clean Air Act of

The national or federal environmental administration asks their states to help maintain a safe and clean environment for all of its’ people to enjoy. The National Environmental Policy Act or also known as NEPA was established in 1969 to aid federal agencies to help convey the message for the need to protect the environment. “Federal agencies are required to systematically assess the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and consider alternative ways of accomplishing their missions, which are less damaging to and protective of the environment” (U.S. General Services Administration). Even though the National Environmental Policy Act “requires” federal agencies to ensure states to follow through, Texas has not fully committed to the requirement. “Texas contains an abundance of natural resources, but efforts to impost environmental regulations have faced roadblocks for many decades” (The Texas Tribune). Texas has neglected to keep the environment’s safety in mind and thought of only the business boom. The natural resources found on the land of Texas represents a magnet that attracts people. Texas desires to continue the attraction of people into the state as it is allowing the state to flourish in economic matters. During the past few decades, “From 1970 and 1980, as oil prices spiraled upward and people flocked to Texas,” (Petersen and Assanie) there has been little attempt made in conserving

It also significantly expanded federal enforcement. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency was established on December 2, 1970 for the purpose of consolidating pertinent federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities into one agency that ensures environmental protection.[9]

The inception of U.S. Environmental policy most notably began under the Presidency of Richard Nixon; Nixon oversaw the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Policy Act (EPA). The Clean Water Act of 1972, in particular, enacted stringent laws to prevent pollutants from entering navigable waters, outlawing open sewers from dumping crud into a local stream and the law also protects land that filters and purifies water as it flows by. The Landmark law passed in 1972, however, has not impeded the pending water crisis facing the U.S. today. The United States must take immediate measures in order to combat the problem; given that the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence now ranks water scarcity as a major threat to national security; right next to Terrorism (Sullivan). The United States should reform the Clean Water Act of 1972 to look for any deficiencies in the law.

This Act was to provide programs to protect species identified as either endangered or threatened. It also mandated Federal agencies and departments to protect endangered and threatened species in their own operations, as well as work with State and local agencies to further promote conservation and protection of identified species.

The Senate Committee on Public Works recognized the ever-growing environmental issues and released House report No. 1829 stating, “Pollution of our water resources by domestic and industrial wastes has become an increasingly serious problem... Polluted waters menace the public health, destroy fish and game life, and rob us of other benefits of our natural resources.” Accompanied by support from President Harry S. Truman, although not without dispute, the FWPCA of 1948 was passed by Congress (Berry 1969). Disagreement was had over whether water pollution was an issue to be dealt with by the state or the federal government. An issue that remains today. The vision of a substantially enforced legislation diminished into a much more feeble bill where water pollution was viewed as a state or local problem and the Federal government only intervened when invited to settle interstate water conflicts (Berry

He took the original NWPA that protected many lakes and rivers and put in the Navigation Protection Act in April 2014 that only protects 97 lakes, 62 rivers, and 3 oceans[3]. Back in 1881, the NWPA protected about 2.5 million[4] lakes, rivers, and oceans (in total). His indifference towards our environmental issues was made very clear.

Over the past decade a concern for protecting and preserving the environment has developed amongst United States citizens. Citizens have been promoting clean air, clean water, and clean land. Clean air means protecting the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. The Clean Air Act of 1970 is a law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations in order to protect the people (Environmental Protection Agency 2013). Clean water is water which is safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of harm. The Clean Water Act of 1972 was developed to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,

As a result, enactment of environmental laws and policy implementation developed into a political debate between both Republican and democratic politician in the 1960s. By the end of the 1960s numerous environmental bills aimed at protecting the environmental from pollution, degradation, erosion, deforestation, land ownership were introduced on the floor of the U.S senate. These policy actions action give birth to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a comprehensive environmental policy conceived in the late 1960s by Henry M. Jackson a democratic senator from Washington State and signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is a landmark environmental policy that has helped in shaping the environmental policy arena and have proven to be one of the most important environmental policy Act of the nineteenth-century. The author of Environmental Law Handbook writes, “The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969(NEPA) has been heralded as the Magna Carta of the country’s environmental movement. It was signed into law on January 1, 1970, to address the need for a national environmental policy to guide the growing environmental consciousness and to shape a national response”(Sullivan

In the 1970’s there was growing confusion regarding environmental policy due to certain states creating environmental protection laws which were largely ineffective. To ease confusion, fix national guidelines, and monitor and enforce them President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA functions under three federal departments: the Interior, Agriculture, and Health, Education and Welfare departments. The original role of the EPA was to administrate the Clean Air Act which was enacted to reduce the air pollution caused by vehicles and industry. The EPA has since grown to enforce at least 12 major statutes such as: ocean dumping laws, safe drinking water, insecticides, and asbestos hazards in