Chapter 24 Environmental Law

1. Chapter 24 Environmental Law

2. Introduction • Concern over protecting the environment has prompted laws that regulate the use of property to protect natural resources and endangered species. • Compliance with environmental law can be very expensive. • The principal sources of environmental law are: • Common Law Actions. • State and Local Regulation. • Federal Regulation.

3. §1: Common Law Actions • Nuisance. • Person liable if they use their property in a manner that unreasonably interferes with others’ rights to use or enjoy their own property. • Negligence and Strict Liability. • Business or person alleged failure to use reasonable care toward a party whose injury was foreseeable and, or course, caused by the lack of reasonable care.

4. §2: Federal, State and Local Regulation • States regulate the degree to which the environment may be polluted. • City, county, and other local governments control some aspects of the environment. • Local zoning laws. • Methods of waste and garbage removal. • Location and conditions of parks, streets and other public areas.

5. Federal Regulation • Federal environmental policy is achieved through: • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). • Department of the Interior. • Regulatory agencies must take environmental factors into consideration when making significant decisions.

6. Federal Regulation • National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). • Does not directly deal with pollution control. • Require preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) when major federal action in the environment is to be undertaken. • Media Specific Pollution Control Legislation.

7. Environmental Impact Statement • An EIS must analyze: • The impact of the proposed action on the environment. • Any adverse effects of the action and alternatives to the action. • Any irreversible effects the action might generate.

8. §3: Air Pollution • Clean Air Act. • This act provides the basis for issuing regulations to control pollution coming primarily from mobile sources and stationary sources. • Violations: up to $25,000 per day. Persons who provide information about violators may be paid up to $10,000. Willful violation carry criminal penalties and fines. • Case 24.1: Clean Air Markets Group v. Pataki (2002).

9. §4: Water Pollution • Clean Water Act goals: safe swimming, protection of fish and wildlife; and elimination of the discharge of pollutants into waterways. • Pollution control is largely achieved through the use of the best available control technology. • Wetlands: permit from Army Corps of Engineers • Drinking Water (Safe Drinking Water Act). • Ocean Dumping Act.

10. §5: Toxic Chemicals • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). • Regulates the use of pest control chemicals in the process of food growth to food packaging, to minimize their presence in foods consumed. • Toxic Substances Control Act. • Requires anyone planning to use chemicals first determine their effect on human health and the environment. • Require special labeling, limit the use of substance, set production quotas, or prohibit the use of a substance altogether. • Case 24.2: Bates v. Dow Agrosciences, LLC (2005).

11. §6: Hazardous Wastes • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. • Authorizes the EPA to issue regulations for the monitoring, transporting, storage, treatment, and disposal of hazardous substances.

12. Superfund • CERCLA. • Designed to ensure the clean-up of hazardous waste sites and to assign liability for the costs of the cleanup operations. • Liability for cleanup costs can be assigned to any potentially responsible party (PRP) • Case 24.3:Carson Harbor Village Ltd v. Unocal Corp. (2001).