APES: Environmental Laws to Know

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

U.S. law enacted in 1973 to protect and conserve threatened and endangered species and their habitats

-Prohibits the "take" of endangered species and requires permits for "incidental take" for threatened species. "Take" is defined broadly to include harassing, harming, and killing, and "harm" can include significant habitat modification

Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES)

An international agreement that aims to protect endangered species by ensuring their international trade does not threaten their survival

Clean Water Act (CWA)

Law that establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the U.S. and regulating quality standards for surface waters. This law made is unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained.

Clean Air Act (CAA)

Comprehensive federal law that regulates Air emissions from stationary and mobile sources. This law is used to protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nations public drinking water supply. Requires many actions to protect drinking swatter and its sources-rives, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells. Authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally-occurring and man-made contaminants that many be found in drinking water.

Delaney Clause of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

provision of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that requires the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban any food or color additive found to cause cancer in humans or animals

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Main U.S. federal law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste. It sets standards for managing waste from "cradle-to-grave" to protect human health and the environment, including rules for generators, transporters, and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act — (CERCLA)/ Superfund

U.S. federal law that provides the authority to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites and to respond to spills and other accidental releases of pollutants. EPA was given the power to seek out those parties responsible for any release and assure their cooperation in thee cleanup.

Kyoto Protocol

adopted on December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, an international treaty adopted in 1997 to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,an international treaty adopted in 1997 to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It was the first treaty to set legally binding emission reduction targets, but these only applied to developed countries

Montreal Protocol

an international treaty adopted in 1987 to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Considered one of the most successful environmental agreements because it has led to the healing of the ozone layer