Environmental Regulation

 

You might know . . .

Regulations are complicated and burdensome, even if they do help the environment.

But maybe you’ve never thought about . . .

Before the era of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and environmental regulations, toxic chemicals were in widespread public use. (You might remember DDT videos from your childhood.) Indoor and outdoor air was dangerously polluted, and water quality was so bad that a river in Ohio actually caught on fire. Human and environmental health has improved across dozens of metrics, thanks to environmental laws and regulations implemented
by federal and state government agencies.

“Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?”

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Since 1970, the Clean Air Act has been helping to regulate the amount of pollutants released into the air by mobile and stationary sources in order to improve the quality of the United States’ air.

The standards set by the act have decreased the number of pollutants in the air, helped make people and the environment healthier, and encouraged development of greener technologies.

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

The Clean Water Act of 1972 regulates the amount of wastewater expelled by industries and establishes quality standards for all surface waters. This act is mainly meant to keep bodies of water from being polluted by industries.

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 sets standards to which all owners or operators of public water systems must comply in order to protect both aboveground and underground waters that can be or are being used as drinking water.

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO
  • Learn the regulatory process; it’s crucial for influencing environmental law and policy. Comment on docket pro-ceedings, and sign up for newsletters from your state’s public utility commission. Learn the agencies in your state and how they operate, and get involved. Few people do the hard work of regulatory activism, so everyone who does it has an impact.
  • Know who provides your electricity, and keep them accountable. Find out what their energy portfolio contains, and demand cleaner sources of energy. If you’re part of a co-op, get involved in its meetings.
  • Support local organizations doing regulatory and legal work. Organizations like the Environmental Law and Policy Center spend their time fighting legal and regulatory battles, largely out of the spotlight.

We have a long way to go when it comes to clean air and clean water, but we have accomplished much with these environmental regulations.

 

REFLECTION & JOURNAL SPACE