Environmental Law
| Lead |
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| Lead is one of the six common pollutants--referred to by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as "criteria pollutants"--for which the EPA sets air quality standards under the mandates of the Clean Air Act. Lead is a naturally occurring metal that has unique properties and has been used almost throughout civilization for a wide variety of purposes even though its highly toxic nature has been recognized for thousands of years. Lead compounds are emitted into the air primarily from metal-processing operations, large incinerators, lead-acid battery manufacturers, and gasoline combustion. More... |
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| Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste |
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| High-level radioactive waste is made up almost exclusively of the spent fuel from nuclear power plants and makes up by volume a very small percentage of all of the radioactive waste produced in the United States. However, because it contains potentially lethal amounts of radiation that cannot be decreased by any process except the passage of thousands of years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that special precautions be taken in the handling and disposal of high-level radioactive waste. More... |
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| The Clean Air Interstate Rule |
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| The Clean Air Interstate Rule focuses on the 29 eastern states, plus the District of Columbia, which have failed to attain national air quality standards for the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides. The Clean Air Interstate Rule calls for a reduction in the emission of sulfur dioxide by 3.6 million tons starting in 2010 and by an additional 2 million tons per year starting in 2015. More... |
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| The EPA Pollution Prevention Office |
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| The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave responsibility for the administration of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 to the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), established in 1977 to administer the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act. More... |
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| The Coastal Zone Management Act |
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| Recognizing that the coastal zones of the United States represent diverse and abundant natural resources useful for many purposes and that the exploitation of those resources was having an increasingly adverse effect on both those resources and on coastal zone ecosystems, Congress passed the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) in 1972. The CZMA provides financial grants for states that develop federally-approved coastal zone management plans. In 1990, amendments to the Coastal Zone Management Act required states having approved coastal zone management plans to establish additional plans for the control of nonpoint source pollution in order to restore and protect coastal zone water quality. More... |
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