APES: Environmental Legislation

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 Act: CWA

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

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna (animals) and Flora (Plants): CITES

Aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival, safeguards species from over-exploitation, and regulates international trade on the basis of a system of permits and certificates

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: CERCLA or SUPERFUND

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

Montreal Protocol: Ozone Depletion

Banned the production of aerosols and initiated the phase out of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other substances that deplete the ozone layer.

Kyoto Protocol: Greenhouse Emissions

Agreement among 150 nations requiring greenhouse gas emission reduction

Endangered Species Act: ESA

Protects species that are considered to be threatened or endangered, includes migratory birds and their habitats

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 state localities, and water suppliers who implement these standards

Delaney Clause: of Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act

Prohibits the use, in food, of additives which have not been tested, if a substance were found to cause cancer in man or animal, then it could not be used as a food additive

Ex: herbicides, pesticides

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