Ch. 19: Environmental Law & Policy

What is the idea behind the 1973 Federal Flood Disaster Protection Act? What has been an unintended side effect of this act?

Provides for federally subsidized flood insurance for property owners in flood-hazard areas It encourages people to rebuild on flood-prone land

What are the two approaches to surface water rights in the US? Which apply to which regions of the US?

Riparian Doctrine: a stream itself is considered community property (i.e., no one individual can own it), the Riparian Doctrine grants water-use rights to all those who own land adjacent to the stream (or other surface water, such as a lake). The water must be used for natural, or beneficial, purposes and returned back if removed. (this law applies to much of the land in the eastern states) Prior Appropriation: a "first-come first-served" policy: whoever first used the water from a given surface-water source has first rights to that water; those who arrive later have subordinate rights, in the order in which they began to use the water. Land ownership does not apply (this law applies to much of the land in the western states)

What are the two primary applications of groundwater law in the US?

Rule of Capture: property owners have the right to all the groundwater they can extract from under their own land. Rule of Reasonable Use (aka "American Rule"): limits a property owner's groundwater use to beneficial use in connection with the land above, but one person's water use should not be so great that it deprives neighboring property owners of water.

What is the idea behind an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)? What agencies are responsible for producing them, and how were they applied to the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline?

The NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. This is made in the form of an environmental impact statement (EIS) EIS are written by the federal agency proposing the plan, not by an outside agency Trans-Alaskan Pipeline: the route proposed that oil be piped through 1,000 km of federal land from Alaska's North Slope to the southern port of Valdez. This required the creation of a six-volume EIS, which attempted to address and account for all possible negative environmental effects.

What were the primary aims of the 2015 Paris Agreement with regard to curbing the rise of global warming?

The Paris Agreement of 2015 was written as an update to the Kyoto Protocol and set a target of keeping global temperature rise to not more than 2°C (4°F) above pre-industrial levels, and to make efforts to keep the warming below 1.5°C

What are the objectives of the Clean Water Act of 1977

addressed oil spills, chemical pollutants (from point and nonpoint sources), and required all municipal sewage-treatment facilities to undertake secondary treatment.

What are the general principles behind the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977?

created over the concern of the environmental impact of coal mining (such as acid runoff). This law applies only to coal, regardless of how it is mined (surface [strip-mined] or deep-mined), and requires that after the mining is completed, the land should be restored to its original appearance, where possible, and that groundwater recharge capacity be restored.

What are some of the issues behind setting limits (acceptable standards) for pollution levels?

each instrument has its own limits as to the minimum concentrations it can detect

How has the EPA made use of cap-and-trade to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from power plants?

electricity-generating utility plants are given SO2 allowances based on power output and allowances can be traded between plants for cash

What are the objectives of the the Clean Air Act of 1963/1990?

empowered agencies to undertake air-pollution-control efforts. Amendments in 1990 called for the reduction of industrial chlorofluorocarbons and other compounds believed to be harmful to the ozone layer; and also reduction of sulfur dioxide

What are the general principles behind the General Mining Law of 1872?

encouraged resource development on federal land: anyone who discovered a mineral deposit on federal land and developed a mining operation on that land could buy the land from the government for a relatively low fee of $2.50-5.00/acre.

Approximately how much land in the United States is under federal control? Where is most of it located?

⅓ of the US is under federal control, mostly located in the West