Encyclopedia of Environmental Science and Engineering, Volume I and II

361

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

1

Environmental Law can be defi ned as those statutes, admin-

istrative regulations, executive orders, court decisions and

international agreements that pertain to protection of Nature

and human beings from the consequences of unwise resource

extraction, production or development and the procedural

means by which these ‘laws’ can be invoked by citizens and

government.

Constitutionally, the United States exhibits a federal

system: Law making and enforcement power is divided

among the Federal government, the fi fty State governments,

regional units and local governments according to formulas

contained in Federal and State constitutions and statutes.

Environmental Law is a complex and delicate set of rela-

tionship among various levels of government. For example

the Clean Water Act on the federal level establishes the gen-

eral framework of water pollution control laws, empower-

ing the Federal Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to

set federal minimum performance standards for discharges

to waterways, distribute grant monies for publicly owned

treatment works and perform backup permitting, surveil-

lance, and enforcement functions. But, in most cases it is

the States that grant discharge permits (which can be stricter

than the federal minimum standards), determine the recipi-

ents of federal grant funds, monitor discharger compliance

and enforce against violators. Water quality management is

frequently a function of substate regional planning agen-

cies. Moreover, in some areas interstate regional organiza-

tions, such as the Delaware River Basin Commission, have

regulatory authority over dischargers. Finally, most munici-

palities possess storm-water and other “public nuisance”

ordinances.

Because of the multi-level nature of Environmental Law

and its administration, there are numerous state, regional and

local variations on the generally uniform federal environ-

mental legal regimes. Consequently, this article will focus

on Federal Environmental Law. Most federal environmental

protection statutes are lengthy and complicated documents.

When augmented by federal executive orders, administra-

tive regulations and judicial interpretations, each federal

statutory system would merit an article unto itself. Rather

than that, the function of this article is to identify and briefl y

describe the major federal environmental protection statutes

and to provide the reader with references so that he or she

can seek out relevant regulations, orders, and decisions if

more information is desired in a particular area. (For each

statute mentioned the United States Code citation is given.)

2

The term “Environmental Law” did not come into general

usage until the enactment of The National Environmental

Policy Act (42 USC 4321 et seq. ) in early 1970. However,

long before NEPA Congress was occupied with conserving

the Nation’s natural resources from reckless despoilation.

For example, Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872

and the US Forest Service, in the United States Department

of Agriculture, was entrusted with the care of forested public

domain lands in 1897. In addition, after World War II Congress

began to legislate in the area of pollution control, culminating

in the major federal pollution control statutes of the 1970’s. The

contemporary body of Federal Environmental Law consists

of laws in the conservation and pollution control areas, along

with key planning and coordination statutes, such as NEPA.

But even more than most fi elds of law, Environmental Law

is constantly changing and evolving as the Nation responds

to shifting priorities and pressures on resources. Thus, cur-

rent information is particularly important when it comes to

Environmental Law.

3

In this section major federal environmental protection statues

will be discussed under the following headings: Right-to-Know

Statutes, Right-to-Sue Statutes, Product-Licensing Statutes;

Standard-Setting Statutes; Cleanup-Response Statutes; and

Conservation Statutes.

RIGHT-TO-KNOW STATUTES

NEPA

NEPA requires each federal agency that proposes a major

federal action which may have a signifi cant effect on the

human environment to prepare and circulate—in draft and

fi nal form—an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) dis-

cussing the environmental impact of the proposed action,

reasonable alternatives, irretrievable commitments of

resources, and the agency’s balance among environmental

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