Env Policy and Law Quiz 1

Three federal entities share responsibility for implementing the MMPA:

1). NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the protection of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions. 2). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the protection of walrus, manatees, sea otters, and polar bears. 3). Marine Mammal Commission provides independent, science-based oversight of domestic and international policies and actions of federal agencies addressing human impacts on marine mammals and their ecosystems.

Conventions

A convention is a special type of treaty or agreement between many countries. The primary difference that makes it different from a treaty is that it aims to resolve global issues, unlike issues between the parties.

Superfund

A fund created by Congress in 1980 to clean up hazardous waste sites. Money for the fund comes from taxing chemical products.

State of Hawaii agencies with ENV responsibilities

Dept of Health, DLNR, Dept of Transportation, Dept of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, and Dept of labor and Industrial relations.

Principles of Law

Environmental Rights, Sustainable development, cost-benefit analysis, environmental justice, precautionary principle, pollution prevention principle.

NISC

National Invasive Species Council

Department of Commerce

Ocean and atmospheric research Fisheries Marine mammal protection Coastal zone management Sanctuaries Climate Science

SDG

Sustainable Development Goals (17)

Risk analysis

Systematic method for identifying, assessing, quantifying and evaluating risks.

Distinct Population Segments (DSP)

The listing of species, subspecies, or, for vertebrate fish and wildlife, distinct population segments (DPS); typically, described in geographic terms.

Endangered Species Act

(1973) identifies threatened and endangered species in the U.S., and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations.

Magnuson-Stevens Objectives

1). Preventing overfishing 2). Rebuilding overfished stocks 3). Increasing long-term economic and social benefits 4). Ensuring a safe and sustainable supply of seafood 5). Protecting habitat that fish need to spawn, breed, feed, and grow to maturity (Essential Fish Habitat {EFH) designations)

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act amended in 2007

1). The MSA Reauthorization Act of 2007 further refined and strengthened fisheries science, management, and conservation. 2). Established annual catch limits and accountability measures 3). Promoted market-based management strategies, including limited access privilege programs, such as catch shares

Precautinary principle

A lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. (used in EU law; diffuse in US law)

Candidate Species

A species being considered and evaluated for listing under ESA.

Listed or Protected Species

A species listed as protected under ESA.

National Coastal Zone Management Program

Aims to balance competing land and water issues through state and territorial coastal management programs, the reserves serve as field laboratories that provide a greater understanding of estuaries and how humans impact them.

EPA responsibilities

Air and water pollution Pesticides Solid waste Toxic Substances Superfunds

Types of pollution

Air, Water, Soil, Toxic substances, waste management.

National Invasive Species Act of 1996

An act to provide for ballast water management to prevent the introduction and spread of non-indigenous species into the waters of the United States, and for other purposes.

Climate Change

Any significant change in weather - temperature, wind, or other effects that last for a significant period of time.

Species

Any subspecies of fish, wildlife, or plant and any distinct population segment (DPS) of vertebrate fish or wildlife species that interbreeds when mature.

Treaties

Any written agreement signed between & by a few countries or international organizations.

Risk assessment

Assessing and quantifying the probabilities and magnitude of hazards associated with a particular event, or policy.

Department of justice

Env litigation

Categorical Exclusions (CATEX)

Categorical exclusions are actions specifically excluded in an agency's approved NEPA procedures.

Reasons for violations

Cheaper to not comply, political disagreement, or organizational incompetence.

CAA

Clean Air Act

CERCLA

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

Environmental Assessment (EA)

Conducted to assess the environmental impact(s) of a policy, program, or project during the consideration and approval stages and to assess the significance of environmental effects.

Aim of pollution control laws

Control human activities that lead to pollution; and, Limit the harm caused by pollution.

CITES (1972)

Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.

ENV Law

Creates a framework in which env problems are resolved (incentives and disincentives). Use of public authority to protect our natural env and human health from pollution and development • Regulations on human behavior to env impacts

Sustainable Development

Development and environmental protection must be integrated; focus on intra-generational equity.

ENV law challenges

Difficult, diverse, controversial, complex, uncertain, ever-changing, fairness, politicians vs. science, frustrating, vague.

Water pollution

Diversity of uses for water creates complexity to manage sources of pollution, Wide variety of sources, Hydrological and chemical properties of water can carry pollution great distances and diffuse across space and time, Access to safe drinking water is a global concern.

Who enforces?

EPA, NOAA, FWA, USCG, DOJ, States and territories.

EPCRA

Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act

NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)

Enacted in 1970 - The momentum for creating NEPA was fueled by several environmental incidents as well as influential environmental publications in the 1960s.

Coastal Non-Point Pollution Control Program

Established in 1990 by Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments, is jointly administered by NOAA and the EPA. The goal is to reduce polluted runoff in coastal waters.

Earth Day (1970)

Events were staged across the county on 1,500 campuses and in 10,000 schools, with speeches, marches, community clean-ups, and even teach-ins pressed for by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, an Earth Day organizer.

FIFRA

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

Two components of an effective system of enforcement

Force of law (ensuring compliance) Rule of law (ensuring fair application of the law to everyone)

Department of Agriculture

Forestry Soil Conservation

DLNR Responsibilities

Forestry and Wildlife Management Aquatic Resources Management Land Use Management State Parks Water Resources Conservation Coastal Programs Conservation Enforcement Climate Change Coordination

Critical Habitat

Geographic areas occupied or not occupied by the species at the time of listing. Areas occupied by the species at the time of listing must have physical and biological features that (1) are essential to the conservation of a species and (2) may require certain management considerations or protection.

Specific deterrence

Give fines or other penalties directly to the perpetrator for violation of the law.

NAAQS concerns

Ground-level ozone, Particulate matter, Carbon monoxide, Lead, Sulfur dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide

Major threats to biodiversity

Habitat loss, invasive species, overharvesting, pollution, climate change.

Env Justice

How are the burdens of environmental harms regulations allocated among individuals and groups within our society?

Environmental Rights

Humans have the right to env protection

Recovery Plans

Identify the listed species' condition and threats the species faces (i.e., conduct a species status assessment) and to provide a vision for and pathway toward the species' recovery (i.e., recovery implementation strategy)

Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918

Imposed restrictions on the hunting of migratory birds

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976

It is the primary law that governs marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters. First passed in 1976, the MSA fosters the long-term biological and economic sustainability of marine fisheries.

IPPC (1988)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPPC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1988)

IUCN

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Air pollution

It is by far the deadliest type of pollution, 1 in 3 countries of the world lack any legal mandate for air quality standards (UNEP), Levels and types vary across the country, High mobility, drifts with the wind, causing downwind effects, Different types of air pollution, *Is the single most important piece of regulation for controlling greenhouse gas emissions*

Common Law

It's a "body of law" based on court decisions rather than codes or statutes.

Executive Orders 13112 and 13751 - Invasive Species

Its purpose is to provide the vision and national leadership necessary to coordinate, sustain, and expand federal efforts to safeguard the interests of the United States through the prevention, eradication, and control of invasive species.

Market-based regulations

Makes use of economic incentives created by markets

Conventions on the ENV

Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Convention 1918; International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling 1946; Convention on World Heritage 1972; Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992; Earth Summit (UN Conference on Sustainable Development 1992 AND Rio+20 2012; OILPOL 1954, 1962, 1969. 1971; MARPOL 1973, 1978; CITES 1963; RAMSAR Convention (Wetlands) 1963; UNLOSC-Law of the Sea 1982; Kyoto Protocol; Convention on Climate Change 2012; Convention on Biological Diversity 1993; Paris Agreement on Climate Change 2015; Global Biodiversity Framework, 2022.

NAAQS

National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Clean Water Act (CWA)

Originally passed in 1972, amended in 1978, 1981, 1990, and 2014. One of the most important pollution statues in the US.

Clean Air Act

Passed in 1970, and amended in 1977 & 1990.

Risk Management

Policy decisions about which risks will be tolerated or decided.

Point source pollution

Pollutants discharged from a single identifiable location (e.g., pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types).

Two types of ENV law

Pollution laws and natural resource laws

Two types of NAAQS under clean air act

Primary standards protect human health, Secondary standards protect public welfare including water, wildlife, animals, and visibility.

NEPA today

Procedural statute - focused on the process of analyzing federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment (is the most litigated environmental statute)

Lacy Act of 1900

Prohibits transporting live or dead wild animals or their parts across state borders without a federal permit.

Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP)

Provides matching funds to state and local governments to purchase threatened coastal and estuarine lands or obtain conservation easements.

Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977

Provides the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) broad strategic assessment and planning authority for the conservation, protection, and enhancement of soil, water, and related natural resources.

Department of the Interior

Public Lands Energy Minerals National Parks Wilderness Wildlife/Refuges Endangered Species Continental Shelf

Cost-benefit Analysis

Quantify 'to the extent feasible' both the costs and benefits of any regulatory action.

Pollution Prevention Principle

Reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of nontoxic or less toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and reusing materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.

Behavioral instruments

Regulating behavior that builds on social science research, particularly in psychology and behavioral economics (labels, warnings, etc.)

Economic instruments

Rely on economic incentives in order to achieve compliance (taxes, etc)

Command and Control Regulation

Rely on standard setting in order to permit or ban certain activities (automobile emissions, effluent standards, etc)

Essential Fish Habitat (EFH)

Required that NOAA establish rules to promote the protection, conservation, and enhancement of EFH.

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

Requires everything an EA would require while also requiring a much more comprehensive discussion of the reasonable alternatives, and a "hard look" at the cumulative impacts of the proposal along with all existing and reasonably foreseeable future development within the project area.

Alien Species Prevention and Enforcement Act of 1992

Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to work with the Department of Interior, the Postal Service, and the State of Hawaii to operate a program to protect the State of Hawaii from the introduction of prohibited plants, plant pests, and injurious animals that may be contained in the mail.

RCRA

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976

Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Authority

Responsible for managing the State's coastal areas and resources. The Hawaii CZM Act of 1977 created a network of authorities, statutes, ordinances, rules, and regulations (legal authorities), to achieve and implement the objectives and policies of the Hawaii CZM Program to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the Hawaii coastal zone.

United Nations (Oct 1945)

Rules and principles governing the relations and conduct of sovereign states and each other as well as international organizations.

Cap and trade systems

Sets a maximum cap on a certain activity (e.g. emissions caps) and allows participants to trade permits with each other to engage in more or less of an activity. (Companies that cut their pollution faster can sell allowances to companies that pollute more, or "bank" them for future use.)

Harm

Significant habitat modification or degradation that kills or injures wildlife.

Rachel Carson

Silent Spring, 1962, danger of pensticieds, DDT

Pollution Prevention Act of 1990

Source Reduction Act; gives grants to States to fund pollution prevention programs, Pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source, Recycled in an environmentally safe manner, Treated in an environmentally safe manner, Disposal or other releases deployed as a last resort.

Pollution control laws implemented via

Source reduction, Exposure reduction (assessing dose and harm and limiting behavior).

Special Management Areas

Special Management Area (SMA) permitting system is part of the CZM Program approved by Federal and State agencies.

Endangered

Species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Threatened

Species likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000

The Coral Reef Conservation Act promotes wise management and sustainable use of coral reef ecosystems; Develops sound scientific information on the condition of coral reef ecosystems and threats to them; Provides financial resources to local communities and nongovernmental organizations to assist in the preservation of coral reefs; Establishes a formal mechanism for collecting and allocating monetary donations from the private sector to be used for coral reef conservation

Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)

The MMPA established a national policy to prevent marine mammal species and population stocks from declining. It prohibits the "take" of marine mammals—including harassment, hunting, capturing, collecting, or killing—in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas. The act also makes it illegal to import marine mammals and marine mammal products into the United States without a permit.

National Coastal Zone Management Program

The National CZM Program comprehensively addresses the nation's coastal issues through a voluntary partnership between the federal government and coastal and Great Lakes states and territories. Currently, 34 coastal states participate.

Executive Order 13089 - Coral Reef Task Force

The United States Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) was established in 1998 by Presidential Executive Order to lead U.S. efforts to preserve and protect coral reef ecosystems.

Pollution (definition)

The presence of higher-than-normal concentrations of unwanted materials (often in the air, water, or soil) that may have adverse effects on human and non-human organisms and their habitat.

(NRDAR) Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (USFWS and NOAA)

The process used to determine whether public natural resources have been injured, destroyed, or lost as a result of a release of hazardous substances or oil and to identify actions and funds needed to restore such resources.

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980

This Act, commonly known as the Nongame Act, encourages states to develop conservation plans for nongame fish and wildlife of ecological, educational, aesthetic, cultural, recreational, economic, or scientific value. Amendments adopted in 1988 and 1989 also direct the Secretary to undertake certain activities to research and conserve migratory nongame birds.

Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972

This act, administered by NOAA, provides for the management of the nation's coastal resources, including the Great Lakes. The goal is to "preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the nation's coastal zone."

Take

To harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.

Regulatory instruments

Tools that policymakers use to achieve regulatory goals (command and control regulation, economic instruments, cap and trade systems, behavioral instruments, market-based regulations)

TSCA

Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976

Air pollution sources

Transportation, fuel combustion, industrial processes, solid waste disposal, forest fires, other sources.

Incidental Take

Two processes to allow for permitted take of protected species: Section 7 (applies to federal agencies) Section 10 (applies to non-federal entities)

Department of Defense

USACE-Civil works construction Dredge and fill permits Pollution control for defense facilities Environmental cleanup and restoration

County Environmental Responsibilities

Waste management, Safe Drinking Water, Land Management, Climate change - sustainable cities, Planning, Permitting of Development, Special Management Area (coastal zone) Permits, transportation (roads, busses, rail), Emergency response, Enforcement.

General deterrence

When a specific fine is great enough, it has the potential to deter similar behavior.

Civil Law

Written law and statutes

non-point source pollution

pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single, specific site