Journal articles on the topic 'Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations'
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1
Weiner, Janet LaFiandra, Jennie DeVeaux, and Paul Brown. "THE U.S. EPA 1994 NATIONAL SURVEY OF OIL STORAGE FACILITIES." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 1995, no. 1 (February 1, 1995): 923–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-1995-1-923.
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ABSTRACT In an effort to better characterize the facilities regulated by the agency's oil pollution prevention regulations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting a national survey of oil storage facilities that are potentially subject to 40 CFR Part 112 (the 1994 SPCC Facilities Study).
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Sullivan, Marianne, Leif Fredrickson, and Chris Sellers. "The EPA’s Commitment to Children’s Environmental Health: History and Current Challenges." American Journal of Public Health 112, no. 1 (January 2022): 124–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2021.306537.
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Children’s environmental health (CEH) has a 25-year history at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during which the agency has advanced CEH through research, policy, and programs that address children’s special vulnerability to environmental harm. However, the Trump administration took many actions that weakened efforts to improve CEH. The actions included downgrading or ignoring CEH concerns in decision-making, defunding research, sidelining the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, and rescinding regulations that were written in part to protect children. To improve CEH, federal environmental statutes should be reviewed to ensure they are sufficiently protective. The administrator should ensure the EPA’s children’s health agenda encompasses the most important current challenges and that there is accountability for improvement. Guidance documents should be reviewed and updated to be protective of CEH and the federal lead strategy refocused on primary prevention. The Office of Children’s Health Protection’s historically low funding and staffing should be remedied. Finally, the EPA should update CEH data systems, reinvigorate the role of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, and restore funding for CEH research that is aligned with environmental justice and regulatory decision-making needs. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):124–134. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306537 )
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Hanmer, Rebecca W. "Environmental Protection in the United States Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Industry: An Overview of Regulation of Wastewater Under the U.S. Clean Water Act." Water Science and Technology 20, no. 1 (January 1, 1988): 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.1988.0002.
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The pulp, paper, and paperboard industry in the United States is the larqest industrial user of water with half of the facilities discharging wastewater directly to our Nation's waters. The major pollutants of concern have historically been the conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH. Biological treatment systems are currently employed to reduce these pollutants. Sludges generated by these treatment systems have been categorized as nonhazardous and are generally landfilled. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated all the reguired regulations for this industry. The national regulations are applied to individual pulp and paper mills through permits issued by EPA Regional or State staff. Permit limits can be written that are more restrictive than the national regulations to protect local water guality. In its current projects concerning the pulp and paper industry, EPA is focusing on the reduction of toxic pollutants. The Agency is conducting a joint EPA/industry program to study dioxin discharges at bleached kraft mills. The Agency will also undertake a comprehensive review of the pulp and paper regulations in 1988.
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Revesz, Richard L. "How will EPA regulate the power sector?" Science 377, no. 6605 (July 29, 2022): 450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.ade0779.
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As threats from climate change become more urgent, the US Supreme Court has responded by erecting a new roadblock to effective climate policy. Last month, it struck down the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s never-implemented regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. The ruling [ West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] is a blow to climate action and could signal the court’s hostility to a wide range of future regulations within and beyond the climate and environmental sphere, including those related to consumer protection and worker safety. Although the immediate effects on US climate policy aren’t pervasive, EPA now needs to evaluate the emissions-reduction potential and legal risks of alternative regulatory approaches for the power sector.
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de Saillan, Charles. "United States Court Upholds Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc. v. Environmental Protection Agency." European Energy and Environmental Law Review 22, Issue 3 (June 1, 2013): 116–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.54648/eelr2013009.
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Last year, the US Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit) upheld a series of findings, interpretations, and regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had issued as its first steps to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. First, EPA had made a finding that emissions of greenhouse gases from motor vehicles cause or contribute to an endangerment to the public health or welfare. Second, to address this endangerment, EPA together with the Department of Transportation, promulgated greenhouse gas emission and fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks for model years 2012 through 2016. EPA estimates that these standards will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 960 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent over the life of these model years. Third, EPA formally reaffirmed its interpretation that the motor vehicle emission standards - by regulating greenhouse gases under the Act - would trigger permitting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from stationary facilities. These permitting requirements include the installation of best available control technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new or modified facilities. Fourth, EPA issued regulations phasing in these permitting requirements over several years. Rejecting a multitude of challenges, the court upheld all these actions, thus paving the way for EPA to significantly regulate and limit greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles and stationary facilities. On 26 June 2012, the prominent US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed the Barak Obama Administration a decisive, quadruple victory in its efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions through regulations. The court upheld the finding of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that greenhouse gas emissions are reasonably anticipated to endanger public health and welfare. The court also upheld EPA regulations and interpretations that will require reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles and large stationary sources. The court reaffirmed its decision, denying a petition for rehearing, on 20 December 2012. The decision paves the way for significant mandatory reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
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Mackay, M. B. "Environmental rights and the US system of protection: Why the US Environmental Protection Agency is not a rights-based administrative agency." Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 26, no. 11 (November 1994): 1761–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0308518x9402601105.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been the subject of much controversy during the twenty or so years since its establishment—much more controversy than other agencies created at around the same time. Descriptions of the EPA's failures often focus upon the inherent faults in its structure and on the statutes it was asked to administer. One point almost completely ignored is the fact that, unlike other agencies of the ‘rights revolution’, the EPA has been asked to protect an entity not yet truly recognized as a right. Although the EPA was a product of the ‘rights revolution’, it was not a rights-based agency, and was probably never intended to be so. This helps to explain why it has failed to meet its statutory mandates-all three branches of government have been able to minimize the effects of environmental regulation without ever having to consider fully the environmental rights of the citizenry. The National Environmental Policy Act provided the citizenry with the assurance that environmental interests would be considered within the governmental and bureaucratic decisionmaking process, but this was no guarantee of rights. In this paper it is suggested that without any recognition of true environmental rights it will always be possible for pro-development interests to reduce the obligations and effects of environmental protection legislation upon industry.
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Vesilind, P. A. "Sludge disposal: ethics and expediency." Water Science and Technology 42, no. 9 (November 1, 2000): 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2000.0155.
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The United State Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) attempted to set health-based regulations for sludge disposal and used worst-case scenarios to estimate the detrimental health effect. In the absence of adequate information, this exercise led them to err so much on the conservative side that the regulations became unrealistic and would not have been accepted by the public. So the US EPA decided to do what was expedient – to establish regulations that allow most wastewater treatment plants to dispose of their sludges, knowing that these regulations are better than none at all. Such regulatory decision-making has ethical ramifications because it involves distributing costs and benefits between affected citizens. The principle of expediency as articulated by Earle Phelps calls for a regulator to optimize the benefits of health protection while minimizing costs within the constraints of technical feasibility. Phelps' expediency principle, proposed over fifty years ago, is still a useful application of ethics using scientific knowledge to set dynamic and yet enforceable environmental regulations. In the case of sludge disposal, the US EPA made an ethical decision based on the principle of expediency, weighing the moral good of human health protection versus the moral harm of taking wealth by requiring costly wastewater sludge treatment and disposal.
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APPIAH, DIVINE ODAME, and BALIKISU OSMAN. "ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: INSIGHTS FROM MINING COMMUNITIES IN GHANA." Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management 16, no. 04 (December 2014): 1450031. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s1464333214500318.
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The object of this paper is to ascertain the level of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) compliance of mining companies in selected mining communities in Ghana. Over the past three decades, Ghana has demonstrated considerable commitment to the conservation and management of bio-physical and socio-cultural environment. Laws and regulations have been enacted to monitor and ensure compliance for sound environmental management by mining companies. Contextually, this paper examines how communities affected by large-scale mining perceive EIA compliance and their expected role in the design and implementation of the process. The paper opines that despite the excellent environmental regulations in place, the level of enforcement and compliance has not been satisfactory. This is partly due to the neglect of priority issues affecting local communities during the processes of EIA. A higher commitment to the involvement of all stakeholders, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in environmental decision making in mining communities is highly recommended.
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Keener, S. K., and B. K. Hoover. "Good Laboratory Practices: A Comparison of the Regulations." Journal of the American College of Toxicology 4, no. 6 (November 1985): 339–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/10915818509078697.
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Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (and under some sections of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act). Quality assurance professionals, toxicologists, and laboratory managers are now confronted with complying with two new sets of regulations in addition to those promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1979. Immediately questions arose concerning the similarities and differences in the FDA and EPA requirements. Therefore, an analysis was performed to determine whether there were significant differences. The findings indicated that 19 sections were similar to the FDA requirements, 5 sections had minor differences, and 4 had major differences. In addition, new sections were added to the EPA regulations addressing compliance statements and the consequences of noncompliance for sponsors and laboratory personnel. The Toxic Substances GLP also incorporated a new subpart covering environmental testing.
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Wagner, Wendy, and David Michaels. "Equal Treatment for Regulatory Science: Extending the Controls Governing the Quality of Public Research to Private Research." American Journal of Law & Medicine 30, no. 2-3 (June 2004): 119–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/009885880403000202.
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The imperative that agencies use sound science in developing their regulations has become a major preoccupation of the political branches. In only a few years, Congress passed two appropriations riders that provide extensive new mechanisms for the public to critique the science used by agencies. The executive branch quickly followed suit, promulgating regulations to implement these two laws, as well as proceeding on its own sound science missions. In the space of less than one year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulated for public comment draft peer review requirements for the scientific review of agency science, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a full scale program to improve the quality of the models it uses in regulation, as well as Assessment Criteria to be used by agency officials in reviewing the quality of third-party (primarily state) science.
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Blundell, Wesley, Gautam Gowrisankaran, and Ashley Langer. "Escalation of Scrutiny: The Gains from Dynamic Enforcement of Environmental Regulations." American Economic Review 110, no. 8 (August 1, 2020): 2558–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.20181012.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a dynamic approach to enforcing air pollution regulations, with repeat offenders subject to high fines and designation as high priority violators (HPV). We estimate the value of dynamic enforcement by developing and estimating a dynamic model of a plant and regulator, where plants decide when to invest in pollution abatement technologies. We use a fixed grid approach to estimate random coefficient specifications. Investment, fines, and HPV designation are costly to most plants. Eliminating dynamic enforcement would raise pollution damages by 164 percent with constant fines or raise fines by 519 percent with constant pollution damages. (JEL Q52, Q53, Q58)
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Drummond, Caitlin, Sara Goto Gray, Kaitlin T. Raimi, Robyn Wilson, and Joseph Árvai. "Public perceptions of federal science advisory boards depend on their composition." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 37 (August 31, 2020): 22668–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012571117.
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) provides expert advice to inform agency decision-making. Recent regulations have decreased the representation of academic scientists on the EPA SAB and increased the representation of industry scientists. In an experiment, we asked how the US public views the goals and legitimacy of the board as a function of its composition. Respondents perceived SABs with a majority of industry scientists to be more likely to promote business interests than SABs with a majority of academic scientists. Liberals were less likely than conservatives to perceive industry-majority SABs as promoting human health and the environment, and making unbiased and evidence-based decisions. Our findings underscore the potential for politicization of scientific advice to the government.
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Crook, J., and R. Y. Surampalli. "Water reuse criteria in the United States." Water Supply 5, no. 3-4 (November 1, 2005): 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2005.0076.
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Water reuse is well established in the United States, with uses ranging from pasture irrigation using reclaimed water that has received a low level of treatment, to augmentation of potable water supplies with highly treated reclaimed water. There are no federal regulations governing water reuse and criteria are developed at the state level. Criteria differ between states that have adopted regulations or guidelines, but criteria among states where water reuse is prevalent are similar and tend to be conservative, with public health protection being the most important consideration. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published guidelines for water reuse that include recommended criteria for various reclaimed water applications.
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Nichols, William J. "THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: NATIONAL OIL AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES POLLUTION CONTINGENCY PLAN, SUBPART J PRODUCT SCHEDULE (40 CFR 300.900)." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 2001, no. 2 (March 1, 2001): 1479–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2001-2-1479.
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ABSTRACT The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manages the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan Final Rule, Subpart J Product Schedule (40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 300.900), which lists dispersants, surface-washing agents (SWAs), bioremediation agents, surface-collecting agents, and miscellaneous oil spill control agents that may be used in response to oil spills on land and on or near waters of the United States, depending on the product and its proper application. Over the last few years, alternative oil spill response methods have been gaining in acceptance and use in the field among first responders, industry, state and federal agencies, Congress, and the entire oil spill response community. EPA sets policy and guidance for the proper use and authority to use these products. Manufacturers and vendors of these products have become more aware of this acceptance evidenced by the frequency that EPA is contacted to provide information on the listing process and EPA policy regarding their use. The number of applications to add new products to the Subpart J Product Schedule has increased over the last year. Subpart J is very prescriptive and specific in directing manufacturers to perform the proper test within the proper protocols, yet many applications are rejected or need modification because of errors in testing procedures or data reporting. This paper will address the data needed to list a product under each category and will clarify issues related to the Product Schedule. It will also address the policies that EPA uses to enforce the Subpart J regulation. The author has managed the Product Schedule for over 3 years, and his experience and expertise regarding the issues surrounding alternative countermeasures will be covered as well. Dispersants, SWAs, chemical sorbents, and other technologies have sparked controversy and confusion in all regions and areas of the United States, and in some cases internationally. Many research efforts have added to the baseline knowledge we have about dispersants and bioremediation agents' toxicity, efficacy, and proper use, but conflicts still arise as that data is interpreted and applied in the field. The reader will have a better understanding of why and how alternative countermeasures are required to be listed and describe the authority to use them based on EPA policy.
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Fishel, Frederick M. "Summary of Revisions to the Worker Protection Standard—2015." EDIS 2016, no. 1 (February 16, 2016): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/edis-pi261-2015.
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In 1992, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a comprehensive regulation called the Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides (WPS). The WPS covers pesticides used in the outdoor and enclosed space production of plants on farms, forests, and nurseries, as well as greenhouses. The EPA has made several changes to the WPS since it was fully implemented in 1995. On November 2, 2015, the EPA revised the WPS, making significant changes to the rule’s requirements. This 5-page fact sheet explains those changes. Written by Frederick M. Fishel, and published by the Agronomy Department, December 2015.
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Smith, Donald P. "Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures: An Expedited Settlement Approach." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 2001, no. 1 (March 1, 2001): 143–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2001-1-143.
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ABSTRACT The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for implementing the Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) regulations under the provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA) as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). These regulations apply to a wide array of facilities involved in exploration, production, refining, manufacturing, distribution, and processing. The agency conducts SPCC inspections as a method of validating compliance with these regulations. In an era of government re-invention, budget constraints and in the spirit of better customer service relations, EPA Region VI has developed an innovative means of obtaining facility compliance with the SPCC regulations. It is formally known as the expedited settlement approach. The purpose of this approach was to provide a more efficient and effective means of validating environmental compliance. The approach is a combination of simplified inspection and enforcement procedures with emphasis upon compliance assistance. The program's initial emphasis is directed at production facilities. The approach is designed to address environmental violations, which are easily correctable and generally have resulted in chronic type spills. This paper will examine the parameters of the expedited settlement approach, its application and implementation through the use of case studies. The results of the case studies will provide a barometer for the success and shortcomings of this type of approach.
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Hunt, Walter M., and J. Gregory Parks. "REGULATORY APPROACHES TO OILS UNDER THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT AND THE OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 19901." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 1997, no. 1 (April 1, 1997): 51–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-1997-1-51.
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ABSTRACT This paper outlines the harmful effects on marine environments of nonpetroleum and petroleum oil spills. The current regulatory regime, as applied by U.S. government agencies concerned with pollution prevention and response, has evolved over the course of a half century through legislative and administrative actions. Congress has been active in setting the stage by passing numerous federal statutes dealing with water pollution. Executive agencies such as the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) have also acted in this area, promulgating regulations to implement the congressional mandates. This paper focuses on the development of the current regulatory regime by examining water pollution statutes passed by Congress since 1924. It then examines how the Coast Guard, the EPA, and RSPA have interpreted their mandates, especially as they relate to nonpetroleum oils under water pollution prevention statutes in various implementing regulations. This paper is based on a paper prepared by the authors for the Coast Guard's Chief of Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
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Fraas, Art, and Alex Egorenkov. "Retrospective Analyses Are Hard: A Cautionary Tale from EPA’s Air Toxics Regulations." Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 9, no. 2 (August 17, 2017): 247–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/bca.2017.8.
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Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was required to establish standards limiting air toxics emissions from industrial plants. This paper examines the effects of five of the largest-cost rules issued by EPA in the initial round of air toxics rulemaking over the 1995 to 2000 period. Our estimates suggest that plants in the printing and publishing and pulp and paper industries realized important reductions in their air toxics emissions in the period between publication of the final rule and the effective date for compliance with the rule – although the reduction in air toxics emissions by pulp and paper mills fell short of EPA’s ex ante projections. However, our estimates also suggest that plants in three other industries – petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, and wood furniture – achieved little or no additional reduction in air toxics emissions over the compliance period in response to EPA’s rules. Finally, the paper explores steps that EPA should take in setting up future retrospective analyses.
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Halvorson, Charles. "Deflated Dreams: The EPA's Bubble Policy and the Politics of Uncertainty in Regulatory Reform." Business History Review 93, no. 1 (2019): 25–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007680519000308.
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In the late 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled the bubble policy as a central part of Jimmy Carter's plan to reform environmental regulations that many believed had grown too proscriptive and too costly for American industry. Since the EPA's formation, regulators had dictated method and means for reducing air pollution. The bubble returned the prerogative to business. But despite bipartisan support, the bubble never took off. Drawing on EPA records and interviews, this article shows how skeptical regulators intentionally made the bubble unwieldy, driving away businesses wary of uncertainty. Though Ronald Reagan's election seemed to lift the bubble's fortunes, his undiscerning assault on the administrative state ironically deflated the EPA's development of a viable alternative to the proscriptive model.
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Vanderslice, Robert R., Jennifer Orme, Edward V. Ohanian, and Cynthia Sonich-Mullin. "Problems in Assessing the Risks of Mixtures of Contaminants in Drinking Water." Toxicology and Industrial Health 5, no. 5 (December 1989): 747–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/074823378900500512.
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In conducting risk assessments on drinking water contaminants, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attempts to evaluate all available toxicity data to develop Health Advisory (HA) and Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) values. The EPA often has grappled with the issues surrounding the toxic ity of chemical mixtures, including radioactive contaminants, nitrate/nitrite, and trihalomethanes (THMs). In evaluating the tox icity of chemical mixtures, the EPA's immediate concern is whether the individual HA values and MCLGs are protecting public health when multiple contaminants are present in drinking water. Poten tial toxic interactions between drinking water contaminants are dif ficult to predict because experimental studies are generally performed only at high doses relative to environmental levels. Although the contamination of drinking water involves mixtures of contaminants, drinking water regulations are generally based on an assessment of the risks of individual contaminants. This paper dis cusses three issues of major concern to the EPA: the synergistic effects of solvent mixtures, vehicle effects in laboratory studies, and setting standards for essential trace nutrients where the absorption and/ or toxicity are affected by an individual's nutritional status or other dietary components.
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Orts, Eric W. "A Reflexive Model of Environmental Regulation." Business Ethics Quarterly 5, no. 4 (October 1995): 779–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3857414.
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Although contemporary methods of environmental regulation have registered some significant accomplishments, the current system of environmental law is not working well enough. First the good news: Since the first Earth Day in 1970, smog has decreased in the United States by thirty percent. The number of lakes and rivers safe for fishing and swimming has increased by one-third. Recycling has begun to reduce levels of municipal waste. Ocean dumping has been curtailed. Forests have begun to expand. One success story is the virtual elimination of airborne lead in the United States. Another is the rapid phase-out of ozone-layer depleting chemicals worldwide. Nevertheless, prominent commentators of diverse political persuasions agree in an assessment that conventional models of environmental law have “failed.” Many environmental problems remain unsolved: species extinction, global desertification and deforestation, possible global climate change, and continuing severe air and water pollution in urban areas and poor countries. What is more, successful environmental protection has come only at enormous economic cost. By the year 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the United States will spend approximately two percent of its gross national product on environmental pollution control. Academic economists have pointed out the nonsensical inefficiency of many environmental regulations, but usually to no avail.
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Hewitt, Julie A. "Cost-Benefit Analysis at the Supreme Court: Cooling Water v. Fish." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 38, no. 2 (October 2009): 83–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1068280500003129.
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This is the story of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case on the use of cost-benefit analysis at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a regulation issued under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The case is Entergy Corp. v.Riverkeeper, Inc., et al. The case was not about the quality of the cost-benefit analysis, nor the fact that EPA conducted one, but whether EPA had CWA authority to base regulatory decisions on cost-benefit. I close with thoughts about an alternative Chevron legal test that acknowledges the state of ecosystem valuation.
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Levinson, Arik. "Mercury and Air Toxics Standards: Co-Benefits and the Courts in U.S. Cost-Benefit Analysis." Case Studies in the Environment 2, no. 1 (2018): 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/cse.2018.001263.
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In April 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington DC agreed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay indefinitely a lawsuit over the Agency’s regulation governing mercury pollution from power plants. Lawyers for the EPA argued that they needed time to evaluate the status of the lawsuit, due to “the recent change in Administration.” The case, Murray v. EPA, centers on the Agency’s analysis of the benefits of reducing mercury pollution. Key to that litigation is the EPA’s treatment of co-benefits—the incidental reductions to pollutants aside from mercury. As of this writing, the Agency has still not decided how to proceed. This case summarizes the EPA’s 2011 Regulatory Impact Analysis at the heart of the legal dispute.1
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Ross, Jonathan. "Environmental Pollution Control: Regulatory Considerations and a Case in Point." Journal of Ship Production 9, no. 03 (August 1, 1993): 159–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.5957/jsp.1993.9.3.159.
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During recent years, the United States has paid increasing attention to controlling and minimizing environmental pollution. One result of this attention is the development of new laws and regulations, enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by state and local agencies. These new environmental laws and regulations are considerably more stringent than those of past years and they directly impact how shipyards must conduct their operations. This paper discusses these laws and regulations at the national, state (including California, Virginia, and Connecticut), and local levels. With the environmental regulatory background in focus, the paper proceeds to explore the effects of the regulatory trend on one particular segment of the shipbuilding and ship repair industry: floating dry docks. Floating dry docks provide an illuminating example, because of the environmentally sensitive industrial activities carried out on board, such as grit blasting and painting with antifouling paints. The operational norms of floating dry dock pollution control are discussed, starting with present day commercial and Navy facilities, and culminating with the Navy's newest floating dry dock design, the AFDB 10.
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Helfand, Gloria, and Reid Dorsey-Palmateer. "The Energy Efficiency Gap in EPA’s Benefit-Cost Analysis of Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Regulations: A Case Study." Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 6, no. 2 (2015): 432–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/bca.2015.13.
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Recent federal regulations require new light-duty vehicles to have lower greenhouse gas emissions and better fuel economy. This paper presents the reasoning used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its benefit-cost analysis of the standards. According to EPA, many available technologies could achieve these goals without affecting other vehicle qualities, and fuel savings would pay for the increased technology costs with short payback periods. This lack of market adoption of cost-effective energy-saving technologies has been termed the energy efficiency gap or energy efficiency paradox. It suggests that either there are additional costs, such as changes in vehicle qualities, not considered in cost estimates, or markets for energy-saving technologies are not achieving all cost-effective savings. EPA argued that, even if consumers do not accurately consider expected future fuel savings when buying new vehicles, consumers are projected to receive those savings; the latter measure should reflect the impacts of the rule on fuel expenditures. For the cost side, EPA used a measure of technology costs required to meet the standards while maintaining baseline (2008) vehicle attributes. Estimates of how these costs would be affected by changes in vehicle attributes were not included.
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Rogers, Michael E. "2018–2019 Florida Citrus Production Guide: Quick Reference Guide to the Worker Protection Standard (WPS)." EDIS 2018 (January 31, 2019): 8. http://dx.doi.org/10.32473/edis-cg036-2019.
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This 8-page fact sheet is part of the 2018–2019 Florida Citrus Production Guide. It discusses the Worker Protection Standard (WPS), a regulation originally issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 and most recently revised in 2015. Written by M.E. Rogers and published by the Entomology and Nematology Department, January 2019. CPMG-07/CG036: 2022–2023 Florida Citrus Production Guide: Quick Reference Guide to the Worker Protection Standard (WPS) (ufl.edu)
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Basra, Komal, Madeleine K. Scammell, Eugene B. Benson, and Wendy Heiger-Bernays. "Ambient Air Exposure to PCBs: Regulation and Monitoring at Five Contaminated Sites in EPA Regions 1, 2, 4, and 5." NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy 28, no. 2 (March 20, 2018): 262–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1048291118763620.
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Existing regulations seek to protect the public from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food, water, and soil. Exposure to PCBs in ambient air has recently been given explicit consideration in the human health risk assessments that form the basis of risk management decisions at contaminated sites. The objective of this paper is to examine how ambient air exposure to PCBs is regulated and monitored at five contaminated sites in the United States. We reviewed online accessible materials (including Environmental Protection Agency-site specific websites, data repositories, and other agency websites). Results indicate that the five sites vary in regard to the measured PCB concentrations in air, the sampling and monitoring methodologies, and the established site-specific guidelines/standards and their basis. We conclude that current practices may not adequately protect those living or working near these sites from airborne PCB exposure and that regulations should include recognition of exposure to indoor sources.
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Novotny, Sandra K., and Thearin R. Wendel. "A COMPARISON OF REGULATIONS RELATED TO THE OIL SPCC PROGRAM." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 1989, no. 1 (February 1, 1989): 23–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-1989-1-23.
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ABSTRACT Several federal agencies regulate selected aspects of the production, refining, transportation, and storage of petroleum and petroleum products. Based on analyses of such programs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may propose modifications to the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) program. These proposed changes would be likely to result in improved consistency with other government and industry standards. Regulatory changes may occur in two extensive and significant areas: adoption of specific and widely recognized industry and regulatory tank standards, and mandatory contingency planning at all facilities covered by the SPCC regulations. Relevant industrial, trade association, and technical standards generated by the American Petroleum Institute, the Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., the National Fire Protection Association, the American National Standards Institute, and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers have been reviewed for applicability to the SPCC regulations. Areas of concern include materials specifications, welding requirements, pressure testing prior to service, overpressure and vacuum relief requirements, design specifications, hydrostatic testing requirements, and siting specifications.
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Davis, Barbara D., Walter (Bud) Hunt, Gary Yoshioka, and Elisabeth Holler. "Response Plans for Animal Fat and Vegetable Oil Facilities." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 2001, no. 1 (March 1, 2001): 257–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2001-1-257.
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ABSTRACT The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) requires regulations for owners or operators of certain facilities to prepare and implement response plans. In 1994, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the facility response plan (FRP) regulation for nontransportation-related facilities with oil discharges that could cause substantial harm to the environment. This regulation has been modified for facilities that handle, store, or transport animal fats and vegetable oils. EPA has found that petroleum oils and animal fats and vegetable oils share common properties and produce similar harmful environmental effects. The similarities and differences between these classes of oils were considered in development of the new rule. In comparison to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)-regulated facilities, EPA-regulated facilities usually have far greater worst case discharges (often one or two orders of magnitude larger), a larger number of oil transfers, and greater diversity of structures and processes, which can lead to oil discharges in many ways over a range of volumes. EPA has promulgated a new methodology for calculating planning volumes for a worst case discharge of animal fats and vegetable oils. The methodology is similar to that used in the rule for petroleum oils, but the factors in the two new tables are more appropriate for estimating on-water and onshore recovery resource needs for animal fats and vegetable oils. This paper examines research findings on the properties and environmental fate of animal fats and vegetable oils and describes new response planning requirements for animal fat and vegetable oil facilities.
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Kerenhapukh, Yuestika, Ananda Fadhila, Henna Notrian Puteri, Putri Fadilah, and Abdul Halim. "Effectiveness of Waste Management in the United States of America." Frequency of International Relations (FETRIAN) 3, no. 1 (November 20, 2021): 33–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.25077/fetrian.3.1.33-55.2021.
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Waste is a significant concern at this time. No matter what country, waste will always exist in people's daily lives, including the United States. To deal with all types of waste, the United States has implemented policies and regulations called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and 3R.This study aims to see how the policies launched by the United States, namely the Environmental Protection Agency and 3R, in dealing with environmental problems, where one of the causes is that it comes from various types of waste, both from the household sector and large companies. In writing this journal, the author uses a descriptive-qualitative research method based on green theory. The environmental crisis has penetrated almost all parts of the world since the 60s, starting from an individual protest until finally, this environmental problem has become an international concern; green theory is present as a form of concern for the environment because the environment is the world's primary asset, so by saving the environment indirectly also save the inhabitants of the earth. Each country is competing in finding ways to overcome these problems. One of which is the United States. The environmental protection agency and 3R are some of the steps taken by the United States in dealing with environmental problems in the hope that the policies taken can save them from environmental problems not only in the present but also in the future, where several factors cause these problems. In this program, the United States implements several activities. The most important is providing education about the dangers of waste and recycling waste in the environment. This is done in response to the environmental crisis, which is the leading cause of damage and life crises, including disease. In this paper, the authors also see how effective Environmental Protection Agency policies are and describe several types of waste that damage the environment.
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Jiang, Zhe, Brian C. McDonald, Helen Worden, John R. Worden, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Zhen Qu, Daven K. Henze, et al. "Unexpected slowdown of US pollutant emission reduction in the past decade." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 20 (April 30, 2018): 5099–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801191115.
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Ground and satellite observations show that air pollution regulations in the United States (US) have resulted in substantial reductions in emissions and corresponding improvements in air quality over the last several decades. However, large uncertainties remain in evaluating how recent regulations affect different emission sectors and pollutant trends. Here we show a significant slowdown in decreasing US emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) for 2011–2015 using satellite and surface measurements. This observed slowdown in emission reductions is significantly different from the trend expected using US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bottom-up inventories and impedes compliance with local and federal agency air-quality goals. We find that the difference between observations and EPA’s NOx emission estimates could be explained by: (i) growing relative contributions of industrial, area, and off-road sources, (ii) decreasing relative contributions of on-road gasoline, and (iii) slower than expected decreases in on-road diesel emissions.
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Yost, F. G. "Federal Regulations Create New Challenges in Materials Science." MRS Bulletin 18, no. 3 (March 1993): 5–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/s0883769400043827.
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Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is a compendium of rules pertaining to environmental protection, written primarily by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These environmental regulations stand some 19 inches wide on a library shelf and are enclosed by 15 volumes of everchanging information. Each of these volumes contains amendments made to the rules since the last publication of that volume, so the effective dates of new regulations can be difficult to ascertain. Interpreting certain regulations has been difficult for many, the cost of complying with them high, and the eventual impact on the national economy foreseen as gloomy. Few, however, would deny the benefits of a well-planned environmental protection plan and few would sympathize with private corporations that flagrantly ignore regulations, pollute their local environment and, when identified, sustain heavy fines from the EPA.With problems like acid rain, air and groundwater pollution, global warming, ecological system degradation, municipal, industrial, and nuclear waste (and the federal regulations designed to control them), the need for important materials science research and development is great. These opportunities can be compared in magnitude with those provided by the Manhattan Project, during the 1940s and 1950s, and by the semiconductor revolution in later years. The difference between these past projects and the current situation is the way in which funds are appropriated for the research and how the work is performed. Rather than independently funded research performed by multiple organizations, work on environmental problems is witnessing cooperation among industry, government, academia, and the public, with a consequent savings of research monies. This cooperation is often achieved with a consortium of organizations such as SEMATECH or the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.
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Price, Anna L. "Food Loss Waste in the United States Food Supply Chain: An Analysis of Its Functions, Oversight, and Recent Impacts from the Coronavirus Pandemic." DttP: Documents to the People 48, no. 4 (December 4, 2020): 28. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/dttp.v48i4.7479.
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Government oversight of the food supply chain consists of a complicated regulatory framework involving multiple executive branch agencies, congressional committees, and state governments. The agencies primarily involved with food safety issues are the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Although the above entities divide responsibility for different aspects of food safety and quality, according to a 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the patchwork of statutes and regulations has led to “inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources.”
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Donnelly, A. Robin. "Smart Growth Through Tiny Homes." 2017 Student Articles Edition 4, no. 4 (March 2018): 327–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.37419/jpl.v4.i4.3.
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Tiny Homes are an environmentally friendly housing option popping up across the United States. Tiny Homes have a minimal environmental footprint due to their small size and eco-friendly design. As such, Tiny Homes could address several of the Environmental Protection Agency’s city development goals. The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has created a Smart Growth program that provides financial assistance to cities seeking to implement greener practices throughout city planning. Tiny Home Eco communities could become a popular Smart Growth development plan. Unfortunately, cities have not welcomed Tiny Homes, and this alternative green housing scheme has remained undeveloped. This Comment is a proposal to expand the EPA’s Smart Growth program to include pre-planned Tiny Home Eco communities. Currently, prospective Tiny Home owners lack the freedom to choose this environmentally-friendly housing option. This proposal seeks to incentivize cities to reform zoning regulations by providing public transportation to those implementing the proposed communities.
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Krutilla, Kerry, David H. Good, and John D. Graham. "Uncertainty in the Cost-Effectiveness of Federal Air Quality Regulations." Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 6, no. 1 (2015): 66–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/bca.2015.7.
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In this study, we conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of nine air quality regulations recently issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Taking emission reductions in the Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIAs) for these regulations as given, we independently assess uncertainty about the compliance costs of the regulations and the lives the regulations are estimated to save. The latter evaluation is based on a formal uncertainty analysis that integrates expert judgments about the effects of fine particle exposures on mortality risks. These expert judgments were given in an EPA-sponsored elicitation study conducted in 2006. The integrated judgments are used to generate probability distributions for several types of cost-effectiveness ratios, including the gross and net cost per life saved, net cost per life year saved, and net cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. The results show that the cost-effectiveness ratios exhibit considerable uncertainty individually and also vary widely across regulations. Within a simulated 90% confidence interval for the gross cost per life saved, for example, there is both the possibility that benefits from lifesavings alone are sufficient to cover the rules’ costs and the possibility that no lives will be saved and cost-effectiveness ratios will be infinite. The wide ranges for the confidence intervals suggest the need for better information about the effects of fine particle exposures on mortality risks.
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Horne, Diana M. "Epa's Response to Resistance Management and Herbicide-Tolerant Crop Issues." Weed Technology 6, no. 3 (September 1992): 657–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0890037x00035983.
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The regulation of transgenic plants is at the very early stages of dialog between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Herbicide resistance is discussed in the broader terms of resistance management and of the cooperative efforts underway involving governments, industry, academia, and the environmental community on an international level. A new body, the International Organization for Resistant Pest Management (IOPRM) was formed to implement pesticide resistance management programs worldwide. The research base for integrated pest management programs which form the context for pesticide resistance management programs is in need of expansion. Public and private efforts to expand this base converge in an ambitious collaborative program between the U.S. EPA and USDA entitled the National Integrated Pest Management Forum. Finally, the potential role of EPA in the regulation of resistance management is discussed.
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Ritter, William. "State Regulations and Guidelines for Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation in the U.S." Water 13, no. 20 (October 11, 2021): 2818. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w13202818.
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The objective of this paper is to present an overview of state regulations and guidelines for wastewater reuse for irrigation. Land application of wastewater in the U.S. began in the 19th century when it was considered the safest and best method for wastewater disposal. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 27 states have regulations for wastewater reuse and 11 states have guidelines for reuse. Some states have no regulations or guidelines for wastewater reuse. For urban wastewater reuse for irrigation where public access is not restricted and for irrigation of food crops, many of the states require additional levels of treatment beyond secondary treatment, which may include oxidation, coagulation, and filtration and high levels of disinfection. California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida were the earliest states to establish water reuse programs and account for the majority of wastewater reuse for irrigation in the U.S. Several of the challenges to increase wastewater reuse are water rights in the western states and a lack of funding for new projects.
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Abdelzaher, Amir M., Helena M. Solo-Gabriele, Matthew C. Phillips, Samir M. Elmir, and Lora E. Fleming. "An Alternative Approach to Water Regulations for Public Health Protection at Bathing Beaches." Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2013 (2013): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/138521.
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New approaches should be considered as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moves rapidly to develop new beach monitoring guidelines by the end of 2012, as these guidelines serve as the basis by which states and territories with coasts along the oceans and Great Lakes can then develop and implement monitoring programs for recreational waters. We describe and illustrate one possible approach to beach regulation termed as the “Comprehensive Toolbox within an Approval Process (CTBAP).” The CTBAP consists of three components. The first is a “toolbox” consisting of an inventory of guidelines on monitoring targets, a series of measurement techniques, and guidance to improve water quality through source identification and prevention methods. The second two components are principles of implementation. These include first, “flexibility” to encourage and develop an individualized beach management plan tailored to local conditions and second, “consistency” of this management plan to ensure a consistent national level of public health protection. The results of this approach are illustrated through a case study at a well-studied South Florida recreational marine beach. This case study explores different monitoring targets based on two different health endpoints (skin versus gastrointestinal illness) and recommends a beach regulation program for the study beach that focuses predominately on source prevention.
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Langenbach, Blake, and Mark Wilson. "Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Significance and Considerations within the Regulatory Framework of the USA." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 21 (October 23, 2021): 11142. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111142.
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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an emerging environmental crisis. Deemed forever chemicals, many congeners bioaccumulate and are incredibly persistent in the environment due to the presence of the strong carbon-fluorine covalent bonds. Notable PFAS compounds include perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and GenX. Robust toxicological knowledge exists for these substances, but regulatory decisions based on this knowledge has fallen behind. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has addressed this issue with the PFAS Action Plan and EPA Council on PFAS, but the regulatory framework is severely lacking. Currently, no federal regulations or standards exist. Many occupational and non-occupational human cohorts exist that can lend knowledge on the environmental implications of PFAS and associated health effects. Occupationally, firefighters face significant exposure risks due to use of PFAS containing aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) and personal protective equipment contamination. Non-occupationally, wastewater discharge in North Carolina led to chronic and widespread residential exposure to GenX via drinking water contamination. This public health review seeks to convey the current and future significance of PFAS as an environmental contaminate, to lend considerations on regulatory frameworks within the USA, and to help guide and promote the need for future epidemiological studies in order to tackle this environmental emergency. While the PFAS Action Plan creates a scientific and regulatory foundation, it is important to take these lessons and apply them to future environmental health issues.
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Richardson, Nathan. "The Rise and Fall of Clean Air Act Climate Policy." Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law, no. 10.1 (2021): 69. http://dx.doi.org/10.36640/mjeal.10.1.rise.
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The Clean Air Act has proven to be one of the most successful and durable statutes in American law. After the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, there was great hope that the Act could be brought to bear on climate change, the most pressing current environmental challenge of our time. Massachusetts was fêted as the most important environmental case ever decided, and, upon it, the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama built a sweeping program of greenhouse gas regulations, aimed first at emissions from road vehicles, and later at fossil fuel power plants. It was the most ambitious federal climate policy in American history. Now, twelve years after Massachusetts was decided, that program is in ruins, largely repealed or weakened by the climate-skeptic Trump administration. Massachusetts has not provided a foundation for durable climate policy. The roots of the Clean Air Act’s climate policy failures lie not just in changes in political leadership, but also in a Supreme Court majority increasingly skeptical of not just climate regulation but of the administrative state in general. This and other barriers will persist regardless of who occupies the White House. This article explores why climate regulation under the Clean Air Act has been so much more fragile than other regulations under the statute, which actors bear responsibility for its failures, and what prospects remain for future federal climate policy.
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Lee, SoDuk, Carl R. Fulper, Daniel Cullen, Joseph McDonald, Antonio Fernandez, Mark H. Doorlag, Lawrence J. Sanchez, and Michael Olechiw. "On-Road Portable Emission Measurement Systems Test Data Analysis and Light-Duty Vehicle In-Use Emissions Development." SAE International Journal of Electrified Vehicles 9, no. 2 (December 31, 2020): 111–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.4271/14-09-02-0007.
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Portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) [1] are used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to measure gaseous and particulate matter mass emissions from vehicles in normal, in-use, on-the-road, and “real-world” operations to support many of its programs. These programs include vehicle modeling, emissions compliance, regulatory development, emissions inventory development, and investigations of the effects of real, in-use driving conditions on NOx, CO2, and other regulated pollutants. This article discusses EPA’s analytical methodology for evaluating light-duty vehicle energy and EU Real Driving Emissions (RDE). A simple, data-driven model was developed and validated using measured PEMS emissions test data. The work also included application of the EU RDE procedures and comparison to the PEMS test methodologies and FTP and other chassis dynamometer test data used by EPA for characterizing in-use light- and heavy-duty vehicle emissions. This work was conducted as part of EPA’s participation in the development of UNECE Global Technical Regulations and also supports EPA mobile source emission inventory development. This article discusses the real-world emissions of light-duty vehicles with 12V Start-Stop technology and light-duty vehicles using both gasoline and diesel fuels.
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Lutter, Randall. "Regulatory policy: what role for retrospective analysis and review?" Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 4, no. 1 (March 28, 2013): 17–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jbca-2012-0012.
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Given that President Obama’s Executive Orders on regulation have emphasized the importance of retrospective analysis and review of existing federal rules, I survey the state of retrospective analysis and review of federal regulations. I first ask how much is known about the economic merit of past federal regulatory decisions, based on retrospective economic analyses of their effects. I review reports of the Office of Management and Budget and related literature, but unlike those reports I find only five rules, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for which retrospective analyses provide estimates of both costs and reasonably good proxies for benefits (e.g., adverse health effects avoided). Other retrospective studies of federal rules estimate are incomplete, estimating only the compliance costs, or only the benefits, or only costs and measures of effectiveness, like emissions reductions, which do not closely relate to people’s welfare.I also seek to explain differences in the practice of retrospective analysis and review between NHTSA, which appears to have the best record of retrospective analyses among federal agencies, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an important regulatory agency. I find that NHTSA regularly conducts such analyses and reviews, while EPA rarely does retrospective analysis and presents rulemakings that look like business as usual as being the result of a retrospective review. I analyze the role of data limitations, statutory authority, and institutional incentives in influencing the different behaviors of these two agencies. I conclude that differences in data availability and in particular the lack of relevant control groups, are an important barrier to retrospective analysis at EPA. This data deficiency, combined with important restrictions on EPA’s ability to consider information on net benefits or cost-effectiveness in its rule-making, are together the biggest hindrance to generating better information about the effects of its rules. I conclude with recommendations intended to generate more measurement of the actual effects of regulations.
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Kitz, Carl G. "Technology: Are We Using It To Its Best Advantage?" International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 1999, no. 1 (March 1, 1999): 837–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-1999-1-837.
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ABSTRACT U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region X has combined the immense storage capacity of CD-ROMs with interactive software to develop a user-friendly tool to provide quick and easy access to digital information for use by oil spill response teams. These CD-ROMs, created specifically for spill planning and response, provide responders with hypertext links and powerful search capabilities allowing uncomplicated access to response information, regulations, nationally recognized standards, and area maps. This format enhances response time by reducing the time needed to access critical information and the volume of materials carried to the site by responders. The CD disk produced contains the Region X Area contingency plan, and select reference materials such as the NCP, OPA 90, and digitized maps and color photographs.
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Super, Reed W., and David K. Gordon. "Minimizing Adverse Environmental Impact: How Murky the Waters." Scientific World JOURNAL 2 (2002): 219–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2002.186.
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The withdrawal of water from the nation’s waterways to cool industrial facilities kills billions of adult, juvenile, and larval fish each year. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgation of categorical rules defining the best technology available to minimize adverse environmental impact (AEI) could standardize and improve the control of such mortality. However, in an attempt to avoid compliance costs, industry has seized on the statutory phrase “adverse environmental impact” to propose significant procedural and substantive hurdles and layers of uncertainty in the permitting of cooling-water intakes under the Clean Water Act. These include, among other things, a requirement to prove that a particular facility threatens the sustainability of an aquatic population as a prerequisite to regulation. Such claims have no foundation in science, law, or the English language. Any nontrivial aquatic mortality constitutes AEI, as the EPA and several state and federal regulatory agencies have properly acknowledged. The focus of scientists, lawyers, regulators, permit applicants, and other interested parties should not be on defining AEI, but rather on minimizing AEI, which requires minimization of impingement and entrainment.
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Torbitt, Alison, and Richard Hildreth. "International Treaties and U.S. Laws as Tools to Regulate the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships and Ports." International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 25, no. 3 (2010): 347–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157180810x516999.
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AbstractRegulations on marine greenhouse gas emissions are possible, and some are in progress, using international treaty law and federal regulations. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC), port and coastal States have jurisdiction over ships entering their waters and have the ability to implement mitigation strategies, ranging from mandatory speed reduction to installing shore-side electricity or sequestration equipment. Under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Annex VI, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is determining the feasibility of design, fuel, and operation reforms. Alternatively, the implementation may be usurped by a global cap-and-trade scheme from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tightening the Clean Air Act § 213 regulations governing marine vessels and U.S. waters were recently designated a SOx Emission Control Area. However, carbon dioxide emissions from marine vessels remain unregulated.
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Reichetseder, Peter. "The concept of well integrity in gas production activities." Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S 23, no. 2 (June 1, 2016): 205–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/eces-2016-0013.
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Abstract Shale gas production in the US, predominantly from the Marcellus shale, has been accused of methane emissions and contaminating drinking water under the suspicion that this is caused by hydraulic fracturing in combination with leaking wells. Misunderstandings of the risks of shale gas production are widespread and are causing communication problems. This paper discusses recent preliminary results from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) draft study, which is revealing fact-based issues: EPA did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States, which contrasts many broad-brushed statements in media and public. The complex geological situation and extraction history of oil, gas and water in the Marcellus area in Pennsylvania is a good case for learnings and demonstrating the need for proper analysis and taking the right actions to avoid problems. State-of-the-art technology and regulations of proper well integrity are available, and their application will provide a sound basis for shale gas extraction.
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Baldwin, Robert, Julia Black, and Gerard O’Leary. "Risk Regulation and Transnationality: Institutional Accountability as a Driver of Innovation." Transnational Environmental Law 3, no. 2 (June 26, 2014): 373–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s2047102514000120.
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AbstractThis article describes the processes that led the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a National Inspection Plan for domestic waste water treatment systems, following intervention from European Union institutions. The discussion focuses on two issues: the role of transnational institutional settings in galvanizing innovation and regulatory reform, and the practical challenges of dealing with lower risks. It is argued that multi-level transnational regimes have considerable potential to stimulate high-level reviews of regulatory strategy. As a result, lower risks present challenges that cannot be ignored in favour of policies that focus on the most severe risks. Traditional risk regulation theories, it is contended, do not provide much assistance in selecting intervention strategies in the face of such pressures, but the example of the Irish EPA shows how regulators can address these issues.
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Boullier, Henri, David Demortain, and Maurice Zeeman. "Inventing Prediction for Regulation." Science & Technology Studies 32, no. 4 (December 13, 2019): 137–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.23987/sts.65062.
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In policies targeting environmental and health hazards, an effort is frequently made to anticipate and avert more or less probable adverse events. In this context, computerized models are frequently portrayed as superior knowledge tools, for their capacity to extrapolate from existing data and predict hazards. This paper looks at the historical development and use of such models in regulation, with the specific example of structure-activity relationships (SARs) in the regulation of new industrial chemicals at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It asks how evidential culture(s) in a regulatory organization change, in particular how new methods and forms of knowledge find their place alongside others to forge regulatory decisions. The development and application of, first, a qualitative approach to structure-activity relationships, and then of quantitative models, show that the EPA had the necessary autonomy to imagine and adjust a method emerging in the research environment to respond to regulatory needs. This can be understood from a coproductionist perspective, if adjusted to take into account the bureaucratic knowledge that mediates the imagining and application of prediction in regulatory practice.
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Mabey, Prince T., Wei Li, Abu J. Sundufu, and Akhtar H. Lashari. "Environmental Impacts: Local Perspectives of Selected Mining Edge Communities in Sierra Leone." Sustainability 12, no. 14 (July 8, 2020): 5525. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12145525.
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Despite its contributions to the development of the country, the mining sector in Sierra Leone, has been attributed to a multitude of impacts on the environment. This article focuses on assessing the environmental impacts of mining in mining edge communities in Sierra Leone. A survey of 360 people from three mining edge communities (Sierra Rutile Limited (SRL), Bonthe district; Octea Mining Company (OMC), Kono district and Sierra Leone Mining Company (SLM), Port Loko district) was conducted. Key informant interviews, focus groups, and secondary data sources - Government policies and regulatory documents, government’s Mines Department annual reports-provided data for this article. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Analysis System with a mean separation done at α = 0.05 (SAS version 9.4). As a result of mining operations, the rates of deforestation, land degradation and destruction of farmlands, inadequate availability of clean water, poor air quality and noise pollution were the main impacts exacerbated by rutile, iron ore and diamond mining. Strategies as recommended by the local communities to be put in place, to restore ecological function in the mining edge communities include, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Mines and Mineral Agency, and other responsible authorities addressing weakness in mining and environmental policies, thereby strengthening enforcement and monitoring regulations relating to mining operations; and companies embarking on rehabilitation, reclamation, and restoration measures to ensure environmental sustainability.
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Nakad, Jane. "Tribal and State Sovereignty and Federal Responsibility1." International Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 2001, no. 1 (March 1, 2001): 133–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.7901/2169-3358-2001-1-133.
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ABSTRACT The role of tribal and state government in environmental protection and regulation is an important complement and supplement to that of the federal government. This was found to be evident during the Problem Oil Pit (POP) effort conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VIII and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region VI. When the two federal agencies decided to join forces to address the problem of oil-covered pits and other environmental problems in oil fields, it quickly was determined that a collaborative approach would be required to address the problems that might be encountered. EPA and USFWS were aware that tribes and states, as well as other federal agencies, have their own responsibilities in the oilfield. Both agencies were also sensitive to the sovereignty of the tribes and states. Therefore, EPA and USFWS knew it was vital for success to enlist the concurrence, support, and participation of the tribes, states, and other federal agencies in the effort. Thus the POP effort became multilevel as well as multiagency when those tribal, state, and federal agencies with responsibility for and authority over the oil and gas exploration and production industry joined the EPA and USFWS as partners in the POP effort. This collaborative effort did not come about without the resolution of some issues and problems related to authorities, responsibilities, and sovereignty. However, cooperation and coordination between tribal, state, and federal governmental agencies in the POP effort resulted in short- and long-term environmental benefits that protect human health, birds, and wildlife and the environment.