I. Introduction
Regulating the toxic waste emissions of polluting organizations has been a costly and time-consuming element of environmental policy for as long as there have been restrictions on these emissions. However, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), signed into law in late 1986, set forth a number of standards that required polluters to disclose information about their emissions levels to the public and started a chain of events that has led to the creation of numerous information disclosure policies. One of the main thoughts behind these laws, aside from the benefit of increased public awareness of pollution in the community and the ability to plan for emergencies involving the wastes from polluters, was that with firms’ toxics use information available to the public, polluting firms would be motivated to regulate their own emissions in an effort to maintain positive public images. Many other laws were later passed with the same ideas in mind, so that there now are a number of different laws requiring information disclosure and encouraging self-regulation by polluting firms and facilities.
Information disclosure policies, as a relatively new concept in environmental policy-making, are quickly gaining popularity over command and control techniques. Subsequently, a fair amount of research has been conducted on whether or not this type of legislation is actually effective in achieving its goal of encouraging firms to self-regulate—some sources sing its praises, while others point out its flaws. This paper will discuss the background and regulation methods of so-called “right-to-know” and information disclosure policies, examine their successes and failures, and will provide an analysi...
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The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA is the result of a 1970 executive order by President Richard Nixon for the purpose of protecting the environment of the United States through regulation on business and citizens. Public opinion on the Environmental Protection Agency has been divided fairly evenly across the population of the United States as of recently, as compared to the widespread public concern of the 50’s and 60’s that led to the agency’s creation. Recently the agency has come under scrutiny for its contributions of millions of dollars in grants to researchers in order to hide the potential trade off of its actions in order to further the agency’s agenda. The EPA’s ever-expanding regulation could end up harming more than it actually
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates air pollution through various policies passed through the Supreme Court. The scope of this paper is to investigate the Clean Air Act of 1970, and to analyze the impact it has on businesses and society. It provides a rationale for the policy, and contains a brief overview of governmental involvement in regulating air pollution. Further investigation identifies key stakeholders in business, government, and society, and assesses the pros and cons of regulating air pollution. Finally, the paper concludes with limitations of this analysis and recommendations for future action.
The quality of air we intake on a daily basis is essential to our health, therefore, the EPA’s Clean Air Act provides the groundwork to support the quality of the air which we breathe. One of the goals of the Act was to set and achieve NAAQS in every state by 1975 to address the public health and welfare risks posed by certain air pollutants. The setting of these pollutant standards was coupled with directing the states to develop state implementation plans (SIPs), applicable to appropriate industrial sources in the stat...
Government regulations on businesses doesn’t only address negative externalities and control over natural monopolies, but it also helps achieve social goals that it deems to be in the public’s interest. One social goal of the government is to make sure that the people are kept informed of harmful products through labeling. Other government regulations for social goals require truth in advertising, products safety standards, weight and size information, grading standard, etc. Other examples of social goals include preservation of national security, allocation of scarce resources, and protection of those who provide essential services.
Firstly legislation is a law or a group of acts designed to fulfil various uses such as enforcing the law, to control processes, permit and to constrict some activities so that everything goes along more smoothly and to put in place a higher of level of accountability.
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...tained a streak of sustaining a strong society when suggesting their laws into the Criminal Justice System. Nonetheless, the recent proposal discussed on whether environmental harm should be criminalized has sparked controversy. There are many pros and cons that can be acknowledged in this case. One main thing is certain; the environment is very sacred to every human being and should be well cared for. Thus, there are many other techniques that can do this rather than it simply being placed in the Criminal Code. Civilians need to have a fair chance to deal with problems and as a whole; they can come together to help this environmental issue. Non-legal regulators can work together with society to better our world. Taking legal action would make things more complicated than need be when considering a law that has more negatives to our justice system than positives.
1. The United States government and Congress have implemented various legislations in order to hopefully reduce oil spills and aid in the clean up, should an oil spill occur. The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) was signed into legislation in August 1990. The OPA improved the nation's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills by establishing provisions that expand the federal governments's ability, and provide the money and resources necessary, to respond to oil spills. The OPA also created the national Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is available to provide up to one billion dollars per spill incident. The OPA also implemented new requirements for contigency planning both by government and industry. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contigency Plan (NCP) has been expanded into a three-tiered approach: the Federal government is required to direct all public and private response efforts for certain types of spill events; Area Committees -- composed of federal, state, and local government officials -- must develop detailed, location-specific Area Contigency Plans; and owners or operators of vessels and certain facilities that pose a serious threat to the environment must prepare their own Facility Response Plans. Finally, the OPA increased penalties for regulatory noncompliance, broadened the response and enforcement authorities of the Federal government, and preserved State authority to establish law governing oil spill prevention and response. Another legislation that was implemented was the Clean Water Act, formerly known as Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which was emplented in 1948. In 1972 the act was reorganized and expanded, adding ammendments and changing it's name to the Clean Water Act(CWA)....
The problem with pollution prevention is that it requires people to understand more than the intimate details of the production process; they must also understand the technical possibilities. Many corporations have environmental managers, which are generally responsible for helping corporations comply with the law. According to the case study, the work of environmental managers often expose them to many pollution prevention solutions, but they often have trouble getting access to production areas. Production often sees Environmental Managers as "the compliance police".
Stan 's plan to operate a toxic waste disposal business as a sole proprietorship raises two significant concerns. As a sole proprietor, Stan will assume unlimited personal liability for all business obligations as there is no legal or practical separation between the business and the owner. Any financial obligations or legal torts would apply to the business, and also, his personal assets. Secondly, Stan, as sole proprietor, can only borrow money directly, limiting growth, and could be considered a risky investment for lenders when they assess his ability to repay the debt, and the nature of the business.
These chemicals produced although the knowledge of their harmful effects could welcome lawsuits against Amvac and the United States. Amvac could argue because they are illegal in our country does not mean in another country with their acceptable standards these pesticides may not be harmful. If Amvac is not forthcoming and makes the nation aware of the dangerous effects, then they are not socially responsible. A relationship exists between sustainability, culture, reputation, corporate citizenship, environment, and financial performance. A corporation’s reputation and ability to reach satisfactory resolutions are essential assets that influence performance (Miles & Covin, 2000). Governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and culture have a direct impact on sustainable profitability. The possible issue here could be a shortage of resources, money, or something else that would facilitate the production of something that would protect their agriculture, their fruits, and vegetables. Accountability is one of the processes whereby a leader, company, or organization seeks to ensure integrity. In a global stakeholder society, ac¬countability is among the key challenges of organizations. Responsible lead¬ers are concerned with reconciling and aligning the demands, needs, interests, and values of employees, customers, suppliers, communities, shareholders, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the environment, and
For regulation to be effective, state enforcement is required. When it comes to the regulation of mercury being disposed in Grassy Narrows the state must follow one of two measure, economic or social regulations. Regulations require for a degree of commanding for the alternations of the behaviours. However, this can be only done when there is state enforcement. The government even though indirect has the power to control by posing rules and regulations. For example, through the state, sanctions will be used on factories that improperly use mercury. For instance, a sanction could be place to punish those who dispose mercury into Grassy Narrows. Furthermore, penalties could be applied to these factories that use mercury unsafely. The use of sanctions and penalties is a serious process. By using sanctions and placing penalties on companies who carelessly dispose mercury into rivers will eventually lead these companies to stop their improper disposal due to the fear of sanctions. Sanctions can be harsh, but it is useful since mercury has poisoned hundreds of residents in Grassy Narrows and if these companies are not stopped then they could take this further by disposing mercury in other locations. This method has efficiency since it does use lower amount of sources to solve a policy issue. As well as, the rationale of equity is present in this
Environmental law primarily aims to internalise an externality, by forcing or incentivizing the polluter to take into account the pollution it is causing in its decision making process. Hence, environmental law and economic principles are deeply intertwined in order to better tackle environmental problems in a cost effective way. In fact, environmental law is viewed through the lens of economic efficiency by many economists and legislation-making bodies. Important economic principles apply to environmental law which shall be briefly discussed in this article.
Wildavsky, A. (1995). But is it true? A citizen’s guide to environmental health and safety issues. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Regulations provide the baseline environmental standards that industry is required to follow. Without environmental regulations, industry would not be able to meet the same standards by themselves. Environmental regulations may not always be in the best interest of the industry due to their costly and sometimes prohibitive nature. In response to these concerns, the establishment of incentive programs increases the likelihood of industry complying with and potentially exceeding the minimum environmental standard. Incentive programs motivate industry to meet and exceed environmental standards by allowing them to benefit financially by aiming for higher than regulation