Remove Clean Water Act Remove Law Remove Ozone
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

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

Union of Concerned Scientists

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were developed to replace a type of chemical that impacted the ozone layer in our upper atmosphere, but these replacements are potent greenhouse gases. This is a major federal law that governs if a chemical will be regulated, limited, or even banned.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Lake Erie’s Failed Algae Strategy Hurts Poor Communities the Most

Circle of Blue

According to a survey of public water systems by the Ohio EPA, obtained by the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the systems in the algae-afflicted West Lake Erie Basin have spent an average of $14 million on facility upgrades to deal with the blooms. The effects of toxic blooms don’t stop at water treatment plants. Keith Schneider.

2014 359
article thumbnail

Environmental Law: Government and Public Policy Towards the Environment

Environmental Science

What is Environmental Law? Humanity has been aware of its environment far longer than there have been laws to protect environments. However, the term “environmental law” does not just cover government legislation. These are not “laws” per se but act as such within a regulatory framework. Sponsored Content.

article thumbnail

Environmental Perspectives

Environmental Science

For example, EPA under the Clean Water Act established 129 “ Priority Pollutants ” in 1976, a list of which is a typical analytical suite that you can order as a package. One more piece of background - Congress passes laws and then agencies implement those laws by enacting regulations. Clean Water Act.

article thumbnail

Ask a Scientist: Fighting Big Ag Pollution with Maps and Math

Union of Concerned Scientists

The Cuyahoga fire, along with a major oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara that same year, galvanized national attention and led to the first Earth Day, a slew of new air and water protection laws, and the creation of new federal departments to administer them, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

article thumbnail

Conservation: History and Future

Environmental Science

It is a practice and a philosophy, utilizing scientific tools and methods with applied ethics, and, where necessary, regulation and environmental law to limit the use of certain materials. The first conservation laws came in then, making it illegal to fell a teak tree under a certain size. The War Between Preservation and Conservation.