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The Ten Most Important U.S. Environmental Laws

Legal Planet

In choosing the top environmental laws, I wanted to focus on those with the largest impacts on the environment, not just those that are most important to environmental lawyers or best known. I included all laws passed in the U.S., not just federal regulatory laws, and some of my selections may not be what you expected.

Law 290
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NEPA as an environmental back-stop

Legal Planet

Why might we have an environmental review statute such as NEPA when we already have a range of other environmental protection statutes such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and more? One possibility is that NEPA serves as a back-stop for other environmental laws, filling in gaps they do not cover.

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How the Supreme Court’s Chevron Decision Benefits Big Oil and Gas

Union of Concerned Scientists

This decision , reached with a 6-3 majority led by Chief Justice John Roberts, marks a significant shift in administrative law and has profound implications for environmental regulations and climate accountability. the EPA or FDA), staffed with experts, to interpret and implement laws within their purview effectively.

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Judicial Review After Loper Bright

Legal Planet

As an example of a statutory delegation of authority, the Court cites a provision in the Clean Water Act, 33 U. would interfere with the attainment or maintenance of that water quality. which shall assure” various outcomes, such as the “protection of public health” and “public water supplies.”

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Supreme Court Sidelines Science, Threatens Public Health: These Rules-in-Progress Show What’s at Stake

Union of Concerned Scientists

This is a major federal law that governs if a chemical will be regulated, limited, or even banned. With any of these rules, a well-funded litigant could find a friendly judge who thinks the underlying laws are too “ambiguous” to allow these rules to stand.

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"Environmental law" - a response to Farber

Environment, Law, and History

He also goes on to state that "The 1960s were also Congress’s first forays into issues like air and water pollution, wilderness protection, and the endangered species. " Even allowing for methodological nationalism and the focus on the unrepresentative Supreme Court, this is all rather strange.

Law 96
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Protecting Public Health Is Complicated. But Science Can Help, and the Time Is Now.

Union of Concerned Scientists

However, since major US environmental laws are enacted to protect the air, water, and land separately (i.e. the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act), as a result, EPA programs are often implemented narrowly, not holistically.