WET 219 - Applied Water Law

This book provides meaningful reports from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of the Inspector General. In addition to providing details of some key successful operations within the agency, the reports also provide details about operations within the agency that need updated measures and controls to be effective.

Guide to U.S. Environmental Policyprovides the analytical connections showing readers how issues and actions are translated into public policies and persistent institutions for resolving or managing environmental conflict in the U.S. The guide highlights a complex decision-making cycle that requires the cooperation of government, business, and an informed citizenry to achieve a comprehensive approach to environmental protection. The book's topical, operational, and relational essays address development of U.S. environmental policies, the federal agencies and public and private organizations that frame and administer environmental policies, and the challenges of balancing conservation and preservation against economic development, the ongoing debates related to turning environmental concerns into environmental management, and the role of the U.S. in international organizations that facilitate global environmental governance.  Key Features: 30 essays by leading conservationists and scholars in the field investigate the fundamental political, social, and economic processes and forces driving policy decisions about the protection and future of the environment. Essential themes traced through the chapters include natural resource allocation and preservation, human health, rights of indigenous peoples, benefits of recycling, economic and other policy areas impacted by responses to green concerns, international cooperation, and immediate and long-term costs associated with environmental policy. The essays explore the impact made by key environmental policymakers, presidents, and politicians, as well as the topical issues that have influenced U.S. environmental public policy from the colonial period to the present day. A summary of regulatory agencies for environmental policy, a selected bibliography, and a thorough index are included. This must-have reference for political science and public policy students who seek to understand the forces that U.S. environmental policy is suitable for academic, public, high school, government, and professional libraries.

On 25 March 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) jointly proposed a rule defining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The proposal would revise regulations that have been in place for over 25 years. This book describes the proposed rule and includes a table comparing the existing regulatory language that defines "waters of the United States" with the proposal. In 2006, the Supreme Court decided Rapanos v. United States, the most recent and well-known of three Supreme Court decisions wrestling with the question of which wetlands are covered by the wetlands permitting program in the Clean Water Act. This book also provides background including the pre-Rapanos Supreme Court opinions, then moves on to Rapanos itself and the Corps/EPA guidance documents.

What constitutes safe drinking water? For more than a century, the US government has attempted to answer this question by setting national standards for drinking water quality. In a federal system of governance, however, national standards only go so far. State and local governments have long considered it their prerogative to select water supplies and treatment technologies decisions that largely determine whether or not national standards will ever be met. Tragedies like the drinking water crisis in Flint, MI remind us that there are definite limits to what federal power can achieve. Nevertheless, the quest to raise the quality of drinking water through national standards remains an important and underappreciated episode in the history of US public health policy. In this book, Michael Zarkin traces the development of US drinking water standards, beginning with the earliest efforts by the US Public Health Service to craft national standards, and ending with the EPAs most recent efforts to implement the Safe Drinking Water Act. Along the way, Dr Zarkin tells the story of the ideas, political battles, and scientific controversies that shaped our nations drinking water regulations. In the end, Dr Zarkin concludes that drinking water regulation is made through an unconventional style of politics not found in other areas of US environmental policy.

In 1962, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sounded an alarm: the natural environment is being dangerously degraded because of human activity. Ever since, environmental protection has been a major societal concern. A robust system of environmental laws has emerged in the United States, commercial activities are increasingly scrutinized for their environmental impact, and communities around the world are becoming aware of the environment as a global issue requiring international attention. The most important evidence comes from the environment itself: the planet is warming, water supplies areat risk, ecosystems are under stress, and species are being lost at an unprecedented rate.Environmental Protection: What Everyone Needs to Know provides accessible information that will help readers navigate this complex and highly relevant subject. It gives background information on the origins and development of environmental protection; introductions to the main elements ofenvironmental protection with concrete examples; the context for understanding current issues; definitions of key terms; scientific, legal, and economic underpinnings; and discussion of hot-button current issues from nanopollution to climate change. The reader will gain familiarity with phenomenalike biodiversity, the greenhouse effect, fugitive emissions, and algal blooms while learning about the impact of landmark policy initiatives like the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement.