Regulations

1
Regulations

• Textbook - Chapter 15
• EPA Laws and Regulations
• http//www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/index.html

2
Environmental Legislation and Regulations

• Policy legislation.
• Sets direction and goals
• Regulatory legislation.
• Air
• Water
• Hazardous materials
• Implementation.
• Rule making
• Regulatory activities

3
History of Early Environmental Regulation.

• Quarantine Act of 1893
• Regulation of drinking water quality.
• Various standards related to disease organisms in
  drinking water 1914 - 1975.
• Big improvement in public health.
• Water Pollution Control Act, 1948.
• Regulation of pollutant discharge into navigable
  waters (later amended to become the Clean Water
  Act).
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
  Act (FIFRA), 1947
• Federal control of pesticide distribution, sale,
  and use.

4
Modern Environmental Regulation

• In response to the environmental awareness that
  followed the publication Silent Spring by
  Rachel Carson in 1962.

5
Major Modern Legislation

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 1970
  (EPA established to implement the poilcy)
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, an and
  Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 1972 amendments
• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), 1974
• Clean Air Act, 1970 plus significant amendments.
• The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), 1976

6
Major Modern Legislation (cont.)

• The Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). 1980
  plus significant amendments.
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
  1976
• Pollution Prevention Act, 1990.

7
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 1970

• Declares a national policy to reduce damage to
  the environment. Requires the assessment of
  environmental impacts in major programs (EIS).

8
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), 1974

• Regulates drinking water quality
• Sets National Primary Drinking Water Standards
  (MCLs)
• http//www.epa.gov/safewater/mcl.html

9
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), 1996 amendments

• In setting new rules must use
• Peer-reviewed science and data.
• Risk analysis.
• Economic analysis.

10
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA), 1972 amendments

• The newly established EPA was given authority
  under FIFRA
• Require users to register when purchasing
  pesticides.
• As a result of later amendments to the law,
  users also must take exams for certification as
  applicators of pesticides.

11
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA), 1972 cont.

• Pesticides must be registered (licensed) by EPA
  and properly labeled as to application levels
  that will not cause unreasonable harm to the
  environment.
• Label restricts to listed crops.
• Currently requiring reregistration of older
  chemicals.
• Cost benefit calculations must be conducted to
  assure that environmental harm does out-weigh
  benefits of a pesticide.
• Look the "market basket" impact.

12
Clean Air Act, 1970

• Regulates air emissions from area, stationary,
  and mobile sources.
• Authorized the EPA to establish National Ambient
  Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public
  health and the environment.
• The goal of the Act was to set and achieve NAAQS
  in every state by 1975.
• The setting of maximum pollutant standards was
  coupled with directing the states to develop
  state implementation plans (SIP's) applicable to
  appropriate industrial sources in the state.

13
Clean Air Act Amendments

• 1977 - Set new goals (dates) for achieving
  attainment of NAAQS.
• Many areas of the country had failed to meet the
  deadlines.
• 1990 - Intended to meet unaddressed or
  insufficiently addressed problems.
• acid rain
• ground-level ozone,
• stratospheric ozone depletion
• air toxics.

14
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) 1976

• Gave EPA the ability to track the 75,000
  industrial chemicals currently produced or
  imported into the United States.
• EPA repeatedly screens chemicals
• Requires reporting or testing of those that may
  pose an environmental or human-health hazard.
• EPA can ban the manufacture and import of those
  chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk.
• TSCA supplements other Federal statutes.

15
Clean Water Act 1977 amendment

• EPA given the power to regulate land application
  of sewage sludge
• Develops the sewage sludge (biosolids) loading
  regulations.

16
503 Sewage Sludge Rules
17

• Ceiling Concentration Limits (CCL) are maximum
  concentrations of each pollutant allowed in land
  applied biosolids.
• Pollutant Concentration Limits (PCL) are the
  highest concentrations of pollutants that
  biosolids may contain without cumulative
  pollutant additions needing to be tracked (i.e.,
  calculation of CPLRs is not required). The PCLs
  are also used as quality standards for
  exceptional quality biosolids and pollutant
  concentration biosolids, discussed later in this
  bulletin

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• Cumulative Pollutant Loading Rate (CPLR) is the
  maximum amount of pollutant that can be applied
  to a site in its lifetime by all bulk biosolids
  applications when one or more PCLs are exceeded
  but all pollutant concentrations are less than
  the CCLs.
• Annual Pollutant Loading Rate (APLR) is the
  maximum amount of a pollutant that can be applied
  to a unit area of land during a 365-day period.

19

• Class A and B for pathogens
• The goal of Class A biosolids requirements reduce
  the pathogens to below detectable Processes to
  further reduce pathogens as heat treatment,
  composting, heat and gamma ray irradiation,
  pasteurization thermophilic aerobic digestion
  are used to meet Class A requirements. Class A
  biosolids are essentially pathogen-free with no
  restrictions relative to pathogens for land
  application. Can be sold or distributed in urban
  areas landscaping or turf fertilization.

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21
The Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 1980

• Superfund law.
• Established the principle that polluter pays
• Passed in response to the Love Canal mess.
• Created a tax on chemical and petroleum
  industries and provided broad Federal authority
  to respond directly to the need to clean up old
  sites of hazardous substances.
• Provides for cleanup even when the responsible
  parties (RPs) are not immediately identified.

22
CERCLA cont.

• Over five years, 1.6 billion was collected from
  the chemical industry and that went to a trust
  fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled
  hazardous waste sites
• Short-term removals where prompt response is
  deemed necessary.
• Long-term remedial response actions that
  permanently and significantly reduce the dangers
• Money is gone and CERCLA funds now come from the
  US treasury.

23
CERCLA cont.

• Applies to sites on the National Priority List
  (NPL)
• http//www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl.htm
• Amended by the Superfund Amendments and
  Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986.
• State of Minnesota superfund Minnesota
  Environmental Response and Liability Act MERLA
• http//www.pca.state.mn.us/programs/superf_p.html

24
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
1976

• Gave EPA the authority to control hazardous waste
  from the "cradle-to-grave."
• This includes the generation, transportation,
  treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous
  waste.
• RCRA also set forth a framework for the
  management of non-hazardous wastes.
• RCRA focuses only on active and future facilities
  and does not address abandoned or historical
  sites, (see CERCLA).

25
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),
1986 amendments

• The Federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments
  (HSWA).
• Required phasing out land disposal of hazardous
  waste.
• More stringent hazardous waste management
  standards.
• Enabled EPA to address environmental problems
  that could result from underground tanks storing
  petroleum and other hazardous substances.

26
Implementation of RCRA waste disposal rules
(since 2000 this is RCRAInfo)
27
RCRA permits for waste disposal
28
TRI reports

• http//www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm
• TRI Explorer
• http//www.epa.gov/triexplorer/

29
Pollution Prevention Act, 1990

• Goal Reduce the amount of pollution through
  cost-effective changes in production, operation,
  and raw materials use.
• Reduce regulatory barriers and the industrial
  resources required for compliance.
• Focus on waste source reduction rather than waste
  management or pollution control.

30

• Increase efficiency in the use of energy, water,
  or other natural resources,
• Practices include recycling, source reduction,
  and sustainable agriculture.

31
Regulatory monitoring of of industrial waste
32
Facility Identification
33
Tracking of industrial releases
34
Reporting of Recycling
35
Reporting of onsite treatment
36
RCRAInfo

• http//www.epa.gov/enviro/html/rcris/rcris_query_j
  ava.html

37
Role of State and Local Agencies

• State agencies are very involved in implementing
  the regulations under EPA.
• MPCA, e.g.
• CERCLA
• At TCAAP both a region 5 EPA person and MPCA
  personnel are involved in all decisions involving
  the Superfund cleanup.
• RCRA
• Regulations of landfills etc.
• Clean Air Act
• The former automobile inspection in the Twin
  Cities.

38
Role of State and Local Agencies cont.

• MPCA enforcement of State regulations not under
  EPA.
• Ground water quality
• Surface water quality (EPA involved in interstate
  waterways)
• This is how they get to regulate manure
  utilization.
• Land application of waste materials except sewage
  sludge.
• E.g. application of power plant coal ash

39
Role of State and Agencies cont.

• MN Department of Agriculture (MDA)
• FIFRA
• Regulate agricultural chemical sales.
• Regulate cleanup activities.

40
Some links for to State and Local Agencies

• http//www.greenguardian.com
• GreenGuardian.com was launched in 2003 to help
  citizens living in the six-county Twin Cities
  metro area (the counties of Anoka, Carver,
  Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington)
  understand the urgent need to make
  environmentally-responsible purchasing and
  disposal decisions in their daily lives.
• http//proteus.pca.state.mn.us/programs/sbap_p.htm
  l
• Small Business Environmental Assistance Program

41
Community Involvement, some examples

• EPA drinking water program has a National
  Drinking Water Advisory Council.
• Involved in new MCLs
• CERCLA
• Now requires a community advisory board when
  requested by a community group.
• Department of Defense
• Requires restoration advisory boards (RABs) for
  cleanups when requested by a community.
• State
• Various citizen boards advise different MPCA and
  MDA programs.
• Have industry, user, and environmental group
  representatives.

42
Summary

• The few environmental laws before 1970 dealt with
  controls of disease organisms in drinking water,
  the regulation of pollutants dumped in navigable
  waters and the sale of pesticides.
• Since 1970 the EPA was established and given
  increasing authority over surface water and air
  pollution and over cleanup of badly polluted
  sites.
• Source reduction is well established as a major
  method of reducing pollution.

43
Summary cont.

• State agencies do much of the implementation and
  regulation.
• Citizen advice is generally a part of the process
  developing and implementing environmental
  regulation.

44
Daily assignment Nov. 29

• Locate a NPL site in Minnesota.
• Briefly describe the nature of the problem and
  the progress toward cleanup

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Daily assignment Mon. Nov. 28

• Report a TRI data for a facility in Minnesota
  with air emissions.
• List the quantity of and disposition of all of
  the chemicals listed.

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