ENVIRONMENTAL LAW US Environmental Law



US Environmental Law

Introduction

Environmental law refers to the array of rules guiding human behaviors that affect the physical and biological world. These rules define what is prohibited, allowed, or required of people in a given situation and the penalties for transgressing those rules. While rules may arise from a wide range of sources from families to governments, this entry outlines the current framework of U.S. environmental law. It ends with a brief overview of the growing trends of criminalization and internationalization in environmental law.

U.S. Federal Environmental Law

The first U.S. environmental laws existed within the common law, a system of law that originated in England based on the decisions of judges from previous cases as opposed to laws created by legislative bodies. Within the common law, tort law provides remedies for injuries to a person's body, property, and rights (Binns, 2002). For example, a pollutant from one person entering another's property may constitute a violation of the common law rule of trespass, which prohibits invasion of a person's property. Several potential remedies exist for the injured party, including the costs to restore and rehabilitate the damaged environment.

Beyond common law, federal, state, and local legislatures and government agencies have created a wide array of environmental laws and regulations. The U.S. federal system limits the national government to those powers expressly stated in the U.S. Constitution, with the remaining powers retained by state governments (Brulle, 2000). States have traditionally handled environmental matters under their police powers, the general authority to regulate for citizens' health and welfare. Environmental laws effectively address specific problems such as water pollution or hazardous waste; however, one leading modern environmental law applies across all environmental issues (Collin, 2005). The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA) requires identification of environmental, social, and economic effects and alternative c Pollution control is the prototypical environmental concern and is exemplified by the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)—concentration limits for “criteria” pollutants, those likely to pose a danger to human health and welfare. States must then devise implementation plans to meet the NAAQS, with EPA providing final approval of those plans.

The CWA approach involves technology requirements for “point sources,” which are discharges via a “discrete conveyance” such as pipes and ditches. The EPA provides grants to projects aimed at reducing non point sources, for example, polluted snow or rain runoff from agricultural operations or parking lots (Cook, 1988). Additionally, states must set water quality standards and total maximum daily loads for pollutants in specific water bodies. Two principal laws regulate hazardous wastes. First, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) created a “cradle-to-grave” approach that governs the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes. Second, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, fund the federal government cleanup of hazardous waste sites, releases, and spills (DeLong, ...