chapter 18 BLAW

wetlands

"those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support ... vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions."

penalties of clean water act

10,000-25,000 2500 per day and imprisonment and clean up the pollution

toxic torts

A civil wrong arising from exposure to a toxic substance, such as asbestos, radiation, or hazardous waste.

Nuisance

A common law doctrine under which persons may be held liable for using their property in a manner that unreasonably interferes with others' rights to use or enjoy their own property. eX: Hewitt's Factory causes neighboring landowners to suffer from smoke, soot, and vibrations. The factory, however, may be left in operation if it is the core of the local economy. The injured parties may be awarded only monetary damages, which may include compensation for the decrease in the value of their property caused by Hewitt's operation.

potentially responsible party (PRP)

A person falling within one of these categories (above 4) If the PRPs do not clean up the site, the EPA can clean up the site and recover the clean-up costs from the PRPs.

Negligence and Strict Liability

An injured party may sue a business polluter in tort under the negligence and strict liability theories discussed in Chapter 6. The basis for a negligence action is the business's failure to use reasonable care toward the party whose injury was foreseeable and caused by the lack of reasonable care. - For instance, employees might sue an employer whose failure to use proper pollution controls contaminated the air and caused the employees to suffer respiratory illnesses

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Congress passed it in reaction to concern over the effects of hazardous waste materials on the environment. The RCRA required the EPA to determine which forms of solid waste should be considered hazardous and to establish regulations to monitor and control hazardous waste disposal. it also requires all producers of hazardous waste materials to label and package properly any hazardous waste to be transported.

hazardous air pollutants

EPA standards control hazardous air pollutants like, those likely to cause death, cancer, illness.

Violations of the Clean Air Act

For violations of emission limits under the Clean Air Act, the EPA can assess civil penalties of up to $25,000 per day. Additional fines of up to $5,000 per day can be assessed for other violations, such as failing to maintain the required records To penalize those who find it more cost-effective to violate the act than to comply with it, the EPA is authorized to obtain a penalty equal to the violator's economic benefits from noncompliance.

BACT- best available control technology

New sources must install BACT equipment before beginning operations. EPA makes power plants to get these idrk

MACT - Maximum Achievable Control Technology

The Clean Air Act requires major sources of pollutants to use pollution-control equipment that represents the maximum achievable control technology, or MACT, to reduce emissions. The EPA issues guidelines as to what equipment meets this standard.

public vs private nuisance

To obtain relief from pollution under the nuisance doctrine, a property owner may have to identify a distinct harm separate from that affecting the general public. This harm is referred to as a "private" nuisance.

Oil Pollution act

any onshore or offshore oil facility, oil shipper, vessel owner, or vessel operator that discharges oil into navigable waters or onto an adjoining shore can be liable for clean-up costs and damages.

Violations of the Clean Water Act

civil penalties range from $10,000 per day to $25,000 per day, but not more than $25,000 per violation. Criminal penalties, which apply only if a violation was intentional, range from a fine of $2,500 per day and imprisonment for up to one year to a fine of $1 million and fifteen years' imprisonment.

environmental impact statement (EIS) must analyze the following

definition: A formal analysis required for any major federal action that will significantly affect the quality of the environment to determine the action's impact and explore alternatives. 1. The impact on the environment that the action will have. 2. Any adverse effects on the environment and alternative actions that might be taken. 3. Any irreversible effects the action might generate. ex: Development of a ski resort by a private developer on federal land may require an EIS. Construction or operation of a nuclear plant, which requires a federal permit, or creation of a dam as part of a federal project requires an EIS.

The Clean Water Act aka FWPCA

establishes the following goals: 1. make waters safe for swimming, 2. protect fish and wildlife, and 3. eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the water.

clean air act

is the federal law that provides the basis for issuing regulations to control multistate air pollution. It covers both mobile sources (such as automobiles and other vehicles) and stationary sources (such as electric utilities and industrial plants) of pollution.

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

pesticides and herbicides must be 1. registered before they can be sold, 2. certified and used only for approved applications, and 3. used in limited quantities when applied to food crops The EPA can cancel or suspend registration of substances that are identified as harmful and may also inspect factories where the chemicals are made. ex: The EPA conditionally registered Strongarm, a weed-killing pesticide, in 2000. Dow Agrosciences, LLC, immediately sold Strongarm to Texas peanut farmers. When the farmers applied it, however, Strongarm damaged their crops while failing to control the growth of weeds. The farmers sued Dow, but the lower courts ruled that FIFRA preempted their claims. The farmers appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that under a specific provision of FIFRA, a state can regulate the sale and use of federally registered pesticides so long as the regulation does not permit anything that FIFRA prohibits

The Safe Drinking Water Act

requires the EPA to set maximum levels for pollutants in public water systems. Under the act, each supplier of drinking water is required to send every household that it supplies with water an annual statement describing the source of its water. Suppliers must also disclose the level of any contaminants contained in the water and any possible health concerns associated with the contaminants.

Superfund aka Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

to regulate the clean-up of leaking hazardous waste-disposal sites. has 4 elements: 1. It established an information-gathering and analysis system that enables the government to identify chemical dump sites and determine the appropriate action. 2. It authorized the EPA to respond to hazardous substance emergencies and to arrange for the clean-up of a leaking site directly if the persons responsible for the problem fail to clean up the site. 3. It created a Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund (also called Superfund) to pay for the clean-up of hazardous sites using funds obtained through taxes on certain businesses. 4. It allowed the government to recover the cost of clean-up from the persons who were (even remotely) responsible for hazardous substance releases. Superfund provides that when a release or a threatened release of hazardous chemicals from a site occurs, the EPA can clean up the site and recover the cost of the clean-up from the following persons: The person who generated the wastes disposed of at the site. The person who transported the wastes to the site. The person who owned or operated the site at the time of the disposal. The current owner or operator.