APES Environmental Laws

Atomic Energy Act (AEA)

Provides for the development and regulation of the uses of nuclear materials and facilities in the U.S.

Clean Air Act (CAA)

Established primary and secondary air quality standards. Required states to develop implementation plans. Sets limits and goals to reduce mobile source air pollution and ambient air quality standards.

Clean Water Acts (CWA)

Regulates and enforces all discharge into water sources and wetland destruction/construction.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation Liability Act (CERCLA Superfund)

Established federal authority for emergency response and clean-up of hazardous substances that have been spilled, improperly disposed, or released into the environment.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES)

Controls the exploitation of endangered species through international legislation. Bans hunting, capturing, and selling of threatened species and bans the import of ivory.

Emergency Planning & Community Right-TO-Know Act (EPCRA)

Requires reporting of toxic releases

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Protects species that are considered to be threatened or endangered. Includes migratory birds and their habitats.

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDA)

Assures the safety, wholesomeness, efficacy, and truthful packaging and labeling of food, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices. Regulates contaminants.

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act

Regulates the sale, distribution, and application of pesticides.

Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA)

Set pesticide limits in food, and all active and inactive ingredients must be screened for estrogenic/endocrine effects.

Kyoto Protocol (KP)

Agreement among 150 nations requiring greenhouse gas emission reduction.

Lacey Act (LA)

A conservation law prohibiting the transportation of illegally captured or prohibited animals across state lines. IT was the first federal law protecting wildlife, and is still in effect, though it has been revised several times. Today the law is primarily used to prevent the importation or spread of potentially dangerous nonnative species.

Montreal Protocol (MP)

Banned the production of aerosols and initiated the phase out of all CFCs.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Authorized the Council on Environmental Quality as the oversight board for general conditions, directs federal agencies to take environmental consequences into account in decision making; requires EIP statement to be prepared for every major federal project having environmental impact.

Oil Pollution Act (OPA)

It states "A company cannot ship oil into the United States until it presents a plan to prevent spills that may occur. It must also have a detailed containment and cleanup plan in case of an oil spill emergency."

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Management of non-hazardous and hazardous solid waste including landfills and storage tanks. Set minimal standards for all waste disposal facilities and for hazardous wastes. Cradle to grave.

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is allowed to set the standards for drinking water quality and oversees all of the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement these standards.

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)

Requires restoration of abandoned mines.

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

EPA is given the ability to track the 75,000 industrial chemicals currently produced or imported into the United States. EPA repeatedly screens these chemicals and can require reporting or testing

Coastal Zone Management Act

protects coasts from harmful development

Prohibited Acts (ESA)

Listed plants and animals that are protected from commercial trade

Federal Land Policy and Management Act

Provides protection fo the scenic, historic and ecological values of federal lands and for public envolvement in their management

Fisheries Conservation and Management Act

Governs the maanagement and control of U.S. marine fish populations; restores fish stocks

Proposition 65

provides public warnings of the risk of exposure to toxic chemicals in drinking supplies, California

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

Prohibits all testing of nuclear weaponsin all environments

Non-Proliferation Treatyy

Controls the sread of nuclear weapons

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chage

international agreement for dealing with climate change