Activity 4.1- US Environmental History and Major Regulations
When talking about our environment it refers a lot to how we should respect it and how we should take care of it. Well to state how it began in an article given by Edmund Russel and Sandy Fairfax they state how when beginning these rules, which we know as laws started back in the 1970's. And when those laws were made they were called "Environmental Laws". Moreover, their conflict was on how to grow it and have the American people be involved in these laws. And with that said in 1972 those who made the laws found out that the American people would be more involved if it became a "trend". The way it became so was with organizations, companies, industries, and other such clubs that became involved in it and grew big for it to be called "The Limits to Growth". When that grew the word about the environmental laws grew as well which was good for those who started it.
However, when this was started in the 1970's it had already gotten started long before in the 1940's. In 1946 stated in the article, two policies were passed through congress involving our environment. These policies were called "Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act" or known as 'FWCA', and "Administrative Procedure Act" or known as 'APA'. After those policies were passed by congress many other policies were passed as well regarding our environment. Those couple of policies were things such as the 1947 "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act" or 'FIFRA' and the 1948 "Water Pollution Control Act" or 'WPCA'. And after these policies were passed, the best way to enforce it was having both Democrats, and Republicans as well as conservatives and liberals come to an agreement about making these laws work.
After some innovations made with the first acts passed soon in the 1970's two other acts were passed by congress regarding our environment. The other two acts that were passed were the "National Environmental Policy Act '' or 'NEPA', and the 1972 "Clean Water Act" or as 'CWA'. Moreover these acts all help not only the environment, but they also help us with regarding how we treat our habitats and other environments that we'd be in charge of. Furthermore, regarding these acts throughout time there was someone that went by the name of Stewart Udall who was the Interior Secretary and was involved in aiming for the same goal serving under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Stewart Udall helped understand the customary of administrative methods. Furthermore, the way he helped was that he was able to influence his former congressional colleagues and was able to inspire younger administrators that he thought could help expand the projects wanting to happen regarding protection to policy objectives.
Overall based on everything stated it is best to say that for a good while now the US has had some good impacts on its journey to provide better outcomes for our environments. Nevertheless, more work still has to be done, but with the information and movements that were done by our politicians it is best to say that we are continuing to do better for ourselves and do better than before.
Timeline: Policies passed throughout time
1946 : 'FCWA' and 'APA'
1947 : 'FIFRA'
1948 : 'WCPA'
1955 : 'APCA'
1956 : 'FWPCA'
1959 : 'HEW'
1960 : 'NOAA'
1970 : 'NEPA' and 'CAA'
1972 : 'CWA'
1973 : 'FERC' 'DOE' and 'NRC'
1976 : 'RCRA'
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Citations:
Web, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.nvcproxy.alamo.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=5c203406-4690-4ac4-8884-c18dabe80204%40redis&ppid=pp_400&vid=0&format=EB.
Hi Daniel, I thought it was cool that you brought up the "Clean water Act" and wanted to discuss some recent changes that they have made. I thought that it was interesting that the EPA, as of June this year, has made further adaptations to the previous 2020 adaptations to the Clean water Act to where the time frame has changed for states to take action. They essentially went against what was decided in 2020 where tribes and state had a one-year time frame to get certification. They have now decided to revert back prior to 2020 and "The EPA is encouraging states and tribes to adopt or revise their own standards for a complete request in order to include all contents they want considered". Giving each state/tribe the time to decide on what it is that they want considered. Things such as water quality standards, sedimentation conditions, and any and all activity surrounding any projects. They have also decided that it will all be written in "more general writing" I believe so that everyone is able to fully grasp what is going to be going on step by step. While any state or tribe must "specifically identify the federal, state or tribal law that authorizes each condition imposed on a certification" they will no longer need to explain how this will affect xyz. So, while they do need to know and be able to identify the law they will no longer need to state why it is of concern. I believe that this is a fair proposal allowing for state and tribes to have more time to evaluate their circumstances before moving forward. They also will have the ability to have their concerns heard without having to explain why they may want something the way that they do. I really admire that they will now be writing in a more general writing so that everyone gets the full scope of what it is that will be occurring. I believe it is only fair that everyone involved understands what will be directly impacting them and I believe that the overly complicated writing styles of before were meant to exclude and confuse so that they might be taken advantage of. So, I believe that we are beginning to make long needed changes.
ReplyDeleteSorry I forgot to mention. If you would like to read further on this topic, I included the link below.
Delete“Environmental Protection Agency Proposes Revised Clean Water Act Regulation: Insights.” Holland & Knight, https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2022/06/environmental-protection-agency-proposes-revised-clean-water-act#:~:text=8%2C%202022.-,The%20U.S.%20Environmental%20Protection%20Agency%20(EPA)%20published%20a%20proposed%20rule,Act%20(CWA)%20Section%20401.
Hey Daniel, The "fish and wildlife coordination act" and I wanted to let you know on a change they have made instead of being able to only investigate suspected rivers they can now inspect any river that they choose or believe that is over fished, polluted, or mistreated. To simplify the executive branch has allow anyone in a conservation company to inspect any rivers, lakes or water areas to minimize damage to waters and fish. This is more efficient because before they needed to provide proof and have someone within the company to make call in report. Now they do inspection whenever and whatever river they need. They can also do surprise inspection which allows people or conservationists companies to catch corrupt companies in the act. and allows these protection companies to stop the pollution and mistreatment before it gets worse.
ReplyDeleteCitations
Fish and wildlife coordination act: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. FWS.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.fws.gov/law/fish-and-wildlife-coordination-act#:~:text=The%20Fish%20and%20Wildlife%20Coordination,on%20fish%20and%20wildlife%20resources.
https://www.usbr.gov/power/legislation/fwca.pdf
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ReplyDeleteHi Daniel. I enjoyed reading your blog. One of the policies you mentioned in your post was the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which has recently been a battleground between rival administrations. Originally, in 1970, NEPA made it necessary for federal agencies to create environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs) for their projects to measure the effects on the environment.
ReplyDeleteUpon researching this policy I learned that in July 2020 Trump changed the existing NEPA standards so that environmental impact due to climate change no longer had to be considered.
At the beginning of 2021 Biden issued an executive order called "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis" that revoked Trump's previous changes to NEPA.
This new executive order required agencies to evaluate existing regulations that have been created from January 2017 to January 2021 to be consistent with the new policies of NEPA which, in my opinion, was a much needed change (especially now that there are 8 billion of us on Earth).
I hope these regulations continue to be a requirement for federal agencies going forward.
Reference:
federalregister.gov National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations Revisions 2022
Hi Daniel, I noticed that you wrote about the NEPA act and wanted to expand upon it with my findings on recent changes to that act! In 2022 many changes that were made to the NEPA act from the Trump Administration were undone in order to better consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. These changes helped to re-establish these regulations as the standard. This means that the regulations that businesses are required to follow environmental reviews and are under a more strict rule. I am very happy to see this change! This hopefully will lessen the effect of greenhouse gases and pollutants by forcing businesses to function within a standard that doesn't negatively harm the environment. If we continue to make policies like these that keep businesses in check, than it will force them to switch to more environmentally friendly sources and lessen the reliance on environment harming methods.
ReplyDeleteSource: “Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back: The Biden Administration's Revised NEPA Rules.” HUB | K&L Gates, https://www.klgates.com/Three-steps-forward-Two-Steps-Back-the-Biden-Administrations-Revised-NEPA-Rules-4-29-2022.