Revisions for USEPA
| 10 CURRENT | liz |
October 01, 2015 00:32
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick intro of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. I'm hoping these notes will help enhance long term goals of improved community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. Happy birthday EPA! The EPA todayLeadership, Authority, and Review--on a Budget Like most U.S. Federal Agencies, the EPA is part of the Executive Branch and lead by an Administrator appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress. Acts of Congress (law) authorize EPA to write and enforce specific regulations. EPA's actions are also subject to judicial review, with the U.S. Supreme Court being the highest level of appeal. Lastly, EPA's ability to function is limited, to some degree, by its annual budget, which is set by Congress and approved by the President. Relevant Laws http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are:
The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
State, Local, and Tribal Relationships The EPA works with the states and territories, each of whom have their own environmental government agency or department. The sharing of power between the federal and state government is called federalism. EPA also works directly with Tribal Nations, which are sovereign entities and not political subdivisions of the federal or state governments. http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:This is a big one, folks: Under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIs)Environmental Impact Statements are * assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, and are * required from all Federal agencies, and are * the most visible NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input on large proposed environmental changes. The publishing of EIs and pathways for submitting citizen comment on them demonstrates the variety in approaches to government transparency among the different federal agencies: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html Environmental Assessments (EAs)drumroll please..."And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs"
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice Some commentary on this: States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la). The Center for Public Integrity wrote on Aug. 3, 2015, “In [the EPA’s civil-rights office’s] 22-year history of processing environmental discrimination complaints, the office has never once made a formal finding of a Title VI violation.” http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/08/03/17668/environmental-racism-persists-and-epa-one-reason-why. Follow up article from the Center for Public Integrity with suggestions to "fix" the EPA's Civil Rights Office: http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/08/20/17834/how-fix-epas-broken-civil-rights-office |
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| 9 | DavidMack |
September 30, 2015 22:29
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick intro of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. I'm hoping these notes will help enhance long term goals of improved community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. Happy birthday EPA! The EPA todayLeadership, Authority, and Review--on a Budget Like most U.S. Federal Agencies, the EPA is part of the Executive Branch and lead by an Administrator appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress. Acts of Congress (law) authorize EPA to write and enforce specific regulations. EPA's actions are also subject to judicial review, with the U.S. Supreme Court being the highest level of appeal. Lastly, EPA's ability to function is limited, to some degree, by its annual budget, which is set by Congress and approved by the President. Relevant Laws http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are:
The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
State, Local, and Tribal Relationships The EPA works with the states and territories, each of whom have their own environmental government agency or department. The sharing of power between the federal and state government is called federalism. EPA also works directly with Tribal Nations, which are sovereign entities and not political subdivisions of the federal or state governments. http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:This is a big one, folks: Under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIs)Environmental Impact Statements are * assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, and are * required from all Federal agencies, and are * the most visible NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input on large proposed environmental changes. The publishing of EIs and pathways for submitting citizen comment on them demonstrates the variety in approaches to government transparency among the different federal agencies: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html Environmental Assessments (EAs)drumroll please..."And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs"
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 8 | DavidMack |
September 30, 2015 22:25
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick intro of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. I'm hoping these notes will help enhance long term goals of improved community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. Happy birthday EPA! The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are:
The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:This is a big one, folks: Under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIs)Environmental Impact Statements are * assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, and are * required from all Federal agencies, and are * the most visible NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input on large proposed environmental changes. The publishing of EIs and pathways for submitting citizen comment on them demonstrates the variety in approaches to government transparency among the different federal agencies: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html Environmental Assessments (EAs)drumroll please..."And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs"
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 7 | liz |
September 30, 2015 22:01
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick intro of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. I'm hoping these notes will help enhance long term goals of improved community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. Happy birthday EPA! The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are:
The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:This is a big one, folks: Under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIs)Environmental Impact Statements are * assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, and are * required from all Federal agencies, and are * the most visible NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input on large proposed environmental changes. The publishing of EIs and pathways for submitting citizen comment on them demonstrates the variety in approaches to government transparency among the different federal agencies: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html Environmental Assessments (EAs)drumroll please..."And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs"
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
Revert | |
| 6 | liz |
September 30, 2015 21:57
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. Happy birthday EPA! The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:This is a big one, folks: Under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIs)Environmental Impact Statements are * assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, and are * required from all Federal agencies, and are * the most visible NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input on large proposed environmental changes. The publishing of EIs and pathways for submitting citizen comment on them demonstrates the variety in approaches to government transparency among the different federal agencies: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html Environmental Assessments (EAs)drumroll please..."And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs"
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 5 | liz |
September 30, 2015 21:55
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:This is a big one, folks: Under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted.
Environmental Impact Statements (EIs)Environmental Impact Statements are * assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, and are * required from all Federal agencies, and are * the most visible NEPA requirements.
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input on large proposed environmental changes. The publishing of EIs and pathways for submitting citizen comment on them demonstrates the variety in approaches to government transparency among the different federal agencies: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html Environmental Assessments (EAs)drumroll please..."And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs"
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 4 | liz |
September 30, 2015 21:46
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have boundaries that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:Environmental Impact Statementshttp://www2.epa.gov/nepa Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
Environmental Impact Statements have long been a central point of engagement for citizen input: https://ceq.doe.gov/publications/citizens_guide_to_nepa.html And at last we come to FRMs and FEMs
Definition of FRMs: Federal reference method (FRM) means a method of sampling and analyzing the ambient air for an air pollutant that is specified as a reference method in an appendix to part 50 of this chapter, or a method that has been designated as a reference method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which a reference method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Definition of FEMs: Federal equivalent method (FEM) means a method for measuring the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air that has been designated as an equivalent method in accordance with this part; it does not include a method for which an equivalent method designation has been canceled in accordance with § 53.11 or § 53.16. Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-national-environmental-policy-act). Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 3 | liz |
September 30, 2015 21:04
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have special designations that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-national-environmental-policy-act). Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 2 | liz |
September 30, 2015 21:03
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. For most of the country’s history, common law served for settling any environmental disputes. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). The State of California is special because it has also created Air Districts. Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have special designations that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Basically, the idea is that, like most other federal statutes, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. It's an ideal not always met. Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this wiki to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
GenerallyBasically, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. This is the structure of most federal statutes. It's an ideal not always met. Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-national-environmental-policy-act). Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) The EPA and environmental justicehttp://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-executive-order-12898-federal-actions-address-environmental-justice States are federally required to include environmental justice considerations in legislation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, yet in practice some states have made no EJ considerations and the pathway to seeking federal redress is unclear (see http://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/09-17-2015/ej-in-la) |
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| 1 | liz |
September 30, 2015 20:47
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around environmental assessment and monitoring through open source tools and local data. Definitely not an authoritative overview, but hopefully a bit of an orientation to the landscape of environmental management in the United States. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This site is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. Common law served for settling any environmental disputes for most of the country’s history. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories
Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). Tribal lands have additional administrative structure within EPA Regions. Long story short, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Basically, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. This is the structure of most federal statutes. It's an ideal not always met. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have special designations that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. Actions that the EPA can take -- enforcement:Remember that part about how in the 1950's, "the traditional method of individuals seeking redress of environmental grievances under the common law became inadequate."? Well, while it is beyond the scope of this blog to comprehensively track the full range of EPA enforcement capabilities, there are two basic types of liability, civil and criminal (from http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/enforcement-basic-information): Civil Enforcement
Criminal Enforcement
Actions that the EPA can take -- research and assessment:Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) are conducted under The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-national-environmental-policy-act). Actions that the EPA can take -- policy(need to add here) |
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| 0 | liz |
September 30, 2015 20:20
| over 8 years ago
This page is intended to provide a quick overview of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with an eye to assisting community-government collaboration around tools and data. Early dayshttp://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/birth-epa The year was 1970, dubbed “The Year of the environment.” Starting on New Year’s Day and moving fast to match an upwelling of public opinion, Nixon established milestone upon milestone of federal standards and enforcement powers culminating on December 2 with the creation of EPA as a stand alone federal agency. Originally aiming at a bureaucratic structure embodying Nixon’s mandate to view “the environment as a whole” and treat "air pollution, water pollution and solid wastes as different forms of a single problem;" over time air, water and the three "categories" of manmade pollutants: pesticides, radiation, and solid waste became their own program areas. Let’s take a step back, a little farther:This is a really good read: http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/looking-backward-historical-perspective-environmental-regulations but if you’re not gonna read it, then try my hasty paraphrasing. Basically, the evolution of US environmental regulation can’t be separated from the evolution of the role of federal government itself. Common law served for settling any environmental disputes for most of the country’s history. 19th century forms of environmentalism added conservation and public health to the mix, but by the 1950s a new regulatory climate was emerging because:
1955 --> 1970 = fifteen awkward years of growing pains and rearrangements (below excerpt from same article):
And in such style do we arrive at 1970. The EPA todayBy what authority does today’s EPA act? http://compliance.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23009/Article/32910/What-federal-laws-does-EPA-enforce : At the federal level, nine principal laws regulate the environment. These are: * Clean Air Act (CAA) * Clean Water Act (CWA) * Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (governing hazardous wastes) * Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) (covering a variety of reporting requirements for storage and releases of hazardous substances) * Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) * Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)(governing pesticide manufacture, sale and use) * Superfund (CERCLA) * Oil Pollution Act (OPA) (covering oils spills and prevention requirements) The above laws cover four basic types of environmental regulation:
What are the geographic regions of the EPA? http://www2.epa.gov/home/health-and-environmental-agencies-us-states-and-territories Trying to figure out which environmental management agency, and at what level, to go talk to about an environmental concern is a research project in its own right. So let’s take a look at this: There are many nested levels of EPA jurisdictions: Federal, Region, State, and District. Additionally, states, and sometimes cities also, have their own environmental agencies (DEQ, DEP, etc). This means that, for any given location, there are overlapping agency boundaries at different levels of government. Basically, states write their own implementation plan for achieving environmental quality standards, and if a state is failing to follow its own plan, then federal EPA steps in. This is the structure of most federal statutes. Just to make the geography of environmental management extra spicy, sometimes specific areas have special designations that supercede the regular jurisdictional tangle, like
Sometimes specific areas are temporarily created during an acute incident like an oil spill or other hazardous chemical or radiation release, with the idea that these are short-term boundaries and jurisdictions -- for example, the incident command structure. Sometimes these special jurisdictions -- and Superfund is a great example here -- have their own Community Advisory Groups. Sometimes, there is a funded position for an external facilitator. This gets a special mention because to date, most PublicLab ←→ EPA communication has been through CAGs. |
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