Regulations and Resources Used to Assess an EIS There are many ways to evaluate environmental impacts on federal actions. Some of these faucets rely on regulations to guide the effectiveness of the assessment while others tend to use more subjective opinions and perceptions. Both methods are crucial for an all-inclusive environmental impact statement to create an accurate representation of the potential impacts the proposed actions and alternatives could have. Groundwater and waste are two resource evaluation methods that heavily rely on regulations as a guidepost. Resources such as aesthetics and socioeconomics however, tend to rely on the observer’s subjective perspective. As you continue to read, you will see why these statements …show more content…
This permit is used to enforce limits, establish monitoring programs, and set reporting requirements. The EPA plays a major role in enforcing the regulations tied to groundwater impacts. With this snapshot of the regulations around groundwater, you can see how heavily this resource depends on them.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Lake Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project does a good job of assessing groundwater impacts by using regulations and even a county groundwater conservation district to ensure there are minimal impacts to the groundwater and the people who rely on it. Waste is another resource assessed in EIS’s which relies on regulations to monitor and enforce minimal impacts to the environment. Legislation surrounding waste is the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). These regulations guide the way waste is generated, handled, and disposed of. Hazardous waste management is even more stringent with regulations due to its potential to pose a hazard to human health and the environment if it is wrongly stored, treated, transported or disposed of. The Department of Transportation (DOT) establishes requirements for labeling containers and placarding vehicles transporting hazardous waste. The
Through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress directed EPA to regulate all aspects of hazardous waste. As a result, EPA developed strict regulations for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. States may implement stricter requirements than the Federal regulations as needed. Treatment and Disposal: Any process that changes the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a waste to minimize its threat to the environment. Storage: The temporary holding of waste before the waste is treated,
With the well-being of future generations in mind, environmental concerns have begun to establish a permanent residence atop the priority ladder for a vast array of Americans. Consequently, writers and political pundits alike are seizing this opportunity to capitalize on advocating their stance on the issue. Information, representing all positions, pours in at an unrelenting and unfathomable rate. For the average American it can be an arduous process sifting through all the rhetoric in attempt to find the real truth regarding our impact as humans on the environment; one such example is Susan Brown’s article The EPA’s Mercury Problem. In this article Brown attempts to expose hypocrisy among progressives by paralleling the Environmental Protection
The EPA’s interpretation and expansion of the term “navigable waters” has created great controversy. The Environmental Protection Agency along with the United States Army Corps of Engineers have broadened the definition of “navigable waters”
My review and analysis focused on the following sources: 1) peer review scientific journal, 2) popular articles including magazine and newspaper commentaries, 3) water right contracts, 4) legal cases including case law, and 5) various environmental assessments. Whenever possible I site source, papers, and evidence.
Two major laws that are regulated by the EPA are the Clear Air Act and the Clean Water Act. These laws, passed by Congress, give the EPA the authority to write regulations. The Clean Air Act regulates emissions of hazardous substances into the air. The set the air emissions standards in which businesses must abide by or face penalties. The Clean Water Act restricts the release of pollutants into water. The goal of both of these laws is to protect the public and provide clean drinking water and sustainable habitats for marine life. The EPA also regulates many other environmental health concerns. They regulate hazardous substances such as asbestos, lead, and mold. They also have a large role in tackling major environment
For this paper water structures and infrastructures were selected as focus points because the longer we wait to fix issues with them, the more expensive it will get, in other words, we are in a race against time. Studying the past it is easy to see how water availability made population explode in an area such as Southern California, where savvy marketing and great politics made it happen. Particularly, for Los Angeles and for the purposes of public narrative, Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert does a great job at understanding and identifying the politics and key figures in getting water to Los Angeles. Great hydrologic structures were created using both manpower and water politics. It is important to state that there are connections between water, politics, environment, and geography when analyzing what the biggest problems involving water structures and infrastructures (Reisner.) We must think of water as both a socio-political issue and a natural resource, whose fate is molded by the understanding of its connectivity to itself, man-made structures, geography, environment, and society. The classes taken in this program have taught us ideals that in order to become a great water resource manager, one must master the political and scientific knowledge to make decisions that are prosperous for society and the environment. Furthermore, one must know the United States’ hydrological history in order to gain manipulation upon the system that makes it both thrive and deteriorate.
The implementation process of the RCRA has been a complex and controversial issue in the history of the EPA. It provide a complex problem because the EPA often dictates how hazardous wastes is identify and dispose of. For example, according to Sullivan, the author of Environmental Law Handbook recognizes the implementation process, the author writes “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and states have implemented this mandate in extensive regulations issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976(RCRA) and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984.”(Sullivan 147 2014). The EPA policy implementation concepts functioned as the basis for the hazard identification and waste control. This model challenges society to protect the environment by isolating contaminants from the environment while at the same time addressing difficult regulations of hazardous wastes under the RCRA. Since the enactment of the act, it had experienced challenges because the regulation did and received much attention as a result of the hazardous waste classification. The most vital challenge implementing of the RCRA is the policy that rigorously limits on land disposal of hazardous wastes. Moreover, existing hazardous waste regulations do not create robust incentives for disposing of hazardous waste. The author recognized this challenge when he
The article “Water Works”, published by Orion Magazine and written by environmental specialist Cynthia Barnett intends to inform the reader anyone can make water an important factor. Overlooking it has become common many people in the United States have adapted to through the changes that have occurred in society over time. At the beginning of her article, she describes an area that does not make water care a priority, whereas in another location they make it very evident water is important. The location she describes is gloomy, grey, and is a populated area that has old water systems that are damaging environmental factors. Barnett continuously emphasizes that people are the ones who can help restore nature. This is at a less cost than
The environment, and recreational activities that are essential to the outdoors, have also been negatively impacted by this system for allocating water rights. The issue of whether or not this system is equitable towards environmental protection has been raised because environmental organizations typically do not have the same funds as other entities, such as cities and towns, oil, gas, and energy companies, and manufacturing. Furthermore, as Jones and Cech point out, “environmental concerns continue to be underrepresented in Colorado water law and policy” (p. 712). This has created a situation similar to agriculture, where environmental concerns become second thoughts to those of M&I, giving rise to environmental issues across the state. These environmental issues can have an effect on residents throughout Colorado, from anglers who enjoy healthy streams and rivers for fishing, to kayakers and rafters who need flowing rivers to recreate
In the wake of the highly controversial and newly-proposed rule clarifying the Environmental Protection Agency’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ interpretations of the phrase “waters of the United States,” the Supreme Court was recently asked to determine whether or not Jurisdictional Determinations issued by the Corps constitute “final agency action” under the Administrative Procedure Act. Such a distinction is important, because if considered “final agency action”, such determinations would be subject to judicial review. Under the Clean Water Act’s “arguably unconstitutionally vague” definition of “waters of the United States,” the exact scope of jurisdiction is murky at best. The indefinite scope of jurisdiction that CWA imparts has been criticized as expanding the Corps’ and EPA’s jurisdiction so vastly, it caused Justice Scalia to speculate that “[a]ny piece of land that is wet at least part of the year is in danger of being classified by [Federal] employees as wetlands covered by the Act . .
The company has been the subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations that govern the discharge of waste product and disposal of wastes.
Following these steps helps ensure that all sites get remediated to levels that will protect people and the environment. Within each of these steps there are indications of what the site’s future use could entail. When the site is under consideration for redevelopment into a recreational facility, there are several factors that EPA pays close attention. One of the most important is containment, if there is going to be contaminants left on-site, are the proposed technologies for
Understanding that there are different topical and geographical EIS assignments, in which would you prefer to work? Why?
Congress passed The Solid Waste Disposal Act in 1965. The Agency of Environmental Safety considered this Act as the primary effort made by federal authority for efficient waste clearance technology. This act controls the dumping material; manage storage and management of solid, both and non-precarious and precarious wastage. It highlights the processes that are environmentally liable to dispose waste at the commercial, municipal, industrial and household levels (Tchobanoglous & Vergara, 2010). This was considered as primary initiative of a chain of systems focusing on resource management and air cleaning (Gerlak, 2005). There have been several major adjustments made to the Act with the reference to Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (1976). The involvement of federal
The Generation of hazardous waste by the human activities increase the risk of the damage to the environment and the human health. These create a very negative impact if not disposed properly. In the state of Illinois the implementation of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is referred to as hazardous waste. This act consists of the changes to the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1956 and signed into the law of 1976. The regulations related to the implementation of