The Pros And Cons Of The EPA

The biosphere consists of a compound infusion of gases; the main components are oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. The concentration of these gases have been changing for many years. For the most part, this is influenced by human activity. In a persistent effort to improve the quality and longevity of life, humans (particularly in industrialized societies) have tendencies to negatively impact the environment, and at the same time, we strive to replenish what we have nearly depleted to balance the scale.

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.

The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level.[1] It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world.[2][3] As with many other major U.S. federal environmental statutes, it is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coordination with state, local, and tribal governments.[4] Its implementing regulations are codified at 40 C.F.R. Subchapter C, Parts 50-97.

On Thursday’s morning Gina McCarthy gave a lecture for different classes of political sciences. Gina McCarthy was chosen by President Barack Obama in his first year as president as the 13th administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA mission is “to protect public health and the environment”. In other words, its mission is to provide clean air, clean water, safe and healthy land, and stable climate for the people. She believes that, “If you don’t have a good environment you won’t have a good economy”. McCarthy walked her way through being the face for EPA by working all levels of the government and by abrogating for children’s health. She assured us that even though you think you don’t have power everyone has the power to make a change even though it seems insignificant.

Improved air quality wasn’t a subject of national concern until the mid 1900s. After decades of coal burning, unregulated gas emissions from cars and the excessive burning of fossil fuels, people started noticing bad air quality as a hazard to their lives. Over several decades, after seeing the costly effects air pollution was having on the environment and people’s health, interest groups like the Friends of The Earth club and the influences of Theodore Roosevelt and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring finally came together to persuade the government to enforce legislation that would reduce air pollution. Because of these efforts, the policies of the Clean Air Act of 1963 and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Act of 1965, that aimed to control air pollution and raise air quality standards, helped create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 2, 1970. Since then, the EPA has passed more air quality improvement acts, and amendments to previous acts passed, to increase restrictions on air pollutants, with their main policy concern being the Clean Air Act. Improved air quality acts imposed by the EPA have been successful in cleaning the United States’ air quality by reducing ground-level ozone pollution and reducing emissions, allowing for a decrease in pollution related deaths/illnesses and a better standard of living. The EPA, through regulations and the Clean Air Act, has delivered it’s promise to improve air quality in the United States.

In the United States, These past few years have been rocky with the Environmental Protection Agency otherwise known as the EPA. The “rockiness” stems from multiple factors, particularly surrounding around President Donald Trump’s bias towards business over the protection of the environment.

The world of 2015 is centralized on industrialization, and advancements that improve the manner in which a product can be produced to turn the greatest profit. While many of these improvements in speed and quantity benefits society, we cannot turn a blind eye to some of the heavy costs that are associated with this type of mass production. To address some of the issues, like pollution, governments create laws to regulate the amount of negative externalities to its citizens. In the United States, there are multiple federal agencies charged with creating the specific standards and regulations that states and large companies must adhere to. One agency in particular, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), implements and enforces some of these standards “to protect human health and the environment”(US Environmental, 2015).

Scattered with flowing rivers, lush forests, and everlasting plains, the environment is extraordinary, but is it a place for the government? Since December 2, 1970, the EPA has been restricting the use of our planet and taking our rights away.

Pollution is, without doubt, a serious global issue that needs attention and resolutions. As human technologies improve, water, land, air, noise, and light pollutions are all inevitable. Five and a half million deaths each year is caused by air pollution. More than a million sea birds and mammals are killed each year by water pollution. Hundreds of dolphins and whales are killed each year by noise . These shocking facts all shows the significance of enforcing laws to ensure all people are taking care of our environment by decreasing the amount of pollution.

Sustainability is the foundation upon which resilient and adaptive design was built. It “is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment” (Sustainability and the US EPA). Concern for the environment grew in the 1960’s, and after the creation of the EPA in 1970 the term sustainability came into use. “Sustainable development emerged as a result of significant concerns about the unintended social, environmental, and economic consequences of rapid population growth, economic growth, and consumption of natural resources.” (Sustainability and the US EPA). In the U.S., the history of sustainability is rooted in American

In 1970 President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency because of the public’s concern over pollution and contamination of the environment. The EPA was established to regulate many toxic or possibly toxic substances that have entered the environment. Under the federal “Safe Drinking Water Act” of 1974 the EPA had the ability to regulate activities that have an impact on sources of public drinking water. Due to the injection of potential of toxic substances entering the ground through fracking, the possible effect of the chemicals on drinking water gave the EPA the ability to regulate the rigs that had the potential to effect the water supply through the Underground Injection Control Program (UICP). In 1997 the 11th United States

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.

The EPA has the responsibility of keeping the American people's food pure and their health up to par. By the year 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency will have prevented over 230,000 premature deaths since 1990. The EPA provides many benefits for the everyday person that people usually do not recognize or just take for granted. For instance, thank the EPA for the clean water flowing into the sink and the disease free meat at the grocery store. Recently the White house decided to slash EPA funding by 31%. The EPA provides many benefits to be cutting their funding by such an amount. Not just to humans, but to the wildlife all around the country. It is likely that many species would have been extinct or endangered by know without the protection

The author successfully incorporates many environmental initiatives and efforts into a comprehensive plan for moving forward. She embraces and encourages these efforts, but argues they are just placing more Band-Aids on a leaky pipe, rather than dealing with the problem at hand, they are just not big or powerful enough. Rather, Leonard asserts there must be a civic engagement part to bring the accountability and responsibility back to the government and corporations (175). Leonard makes a great point, but

While the Environmental Protection agency has extensive authority over the United States environmental health, the EPA has no more say than any other agency. While the EPA is the only federal agency which has authority over matter that deal with the environment, they can only deal with matter that threaten the environment's or citizens