Environment Laws are generally concerned with regulating depletion of natural resources, repairing the damages caused by various pollution, climate change, depletion of ozone layer, harmful chemicals released by factories, and balance all this with sustainable development and ensure growth of our green surroundings.
In this article, we will be listing out various environmental laws in the United States as well as case laws that paved the way to gain attention and momentum of the world in understanding the importance of preserving our environment. In addition to this, we will also be discussing environmental disaster that took place over various part of the world.
The first and the oldest environmental law in the United States was enacted in the year 1899, called The Rivers and Harbors Act which was later replaced by the Clean Waters Act also abbreviated as CWW. Prior to this law, various doctrines contained elements of environmental laws however regulations passed down before the 1890’s were not nearly as far-reaching compared to the current legislations. A book published in the year 1962, by Rachel Carson called the “Silent Spring” documented the effects of pesticides, especially DDT, on birds and other wildlife.[1] The book was responsible for the launch of various environmental movements in the country.
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
Santa Barbara Oil Spill 1969
On January 28, an oil well exploded on the coast of Sanat Barbara. “The disaster, which made headlines across the nation, helped create the modern environmental movement. It also led to restrictions on offshore drilling — restrictions the Trump Administration is trying to loosen. The events that led to the spill began one morning on Platform A, a rig located about six miles from the coast and operated at the time by Union Oil. Workers had already drilled four wells from the platform and were drilling a fifth when they ran into a problem.”[2]
“You punch into some of these oil reservoirs, and you get a lot of back pressure,” says Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. McCauley has brought me out to Platform A on a boat, which circles the rig as he talks. He tells me that in this case, the back pressure overwhelmed the well’s safety systems. This allowed crude oil and natural gas trapped thousands of feet down to rocket toward the surface.”[3]
“So, they’re taking these big drilling pipes and shoving them back down the hole and these gigantic steel blocks on top of that to seal off this blowout,” McCauley says. It worked, but only for a few minutes. “They had capped off the blowout successfully,” McCauley says. “But they created so much pressure at the bottom of this well that it actually broke open the seabed.”[4]
Deepwater Horizon Spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the largest marine oil spill in the history of United States. It’s also commonly called as Gulf of Mexico oil spill, caused by an April 20, 2010, “explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig—located in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana—and its subsequent sinking on April 22. The Deepwater Horizon rig, owned and operated by offshore-oil-drilling company Transocean and leased by oil company BP, was situated in the Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, a valley in the continental shelf. The oil well over which it was positioned was located on the seabed 4,993 feet (1,522 metres) below the surface and extended approximately 18,000 feet (5,486 metres) into the rock.”[5]
On the night of April 20, “a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed by contractor Halliburton to seal the well for later use. It later emerged through documents released by Wikileaks that a similar incident had occurred on a BP-owned rig in the Caspian Sea in September 2008. Both cores were likely too weak to withstand the pressure because they were composed of a concrete mixture that used nitrogen gas to accelerate curing. Once released by the fracture of the core, the natural gas traveled up the Deepwater rig’s riser to the platform, where it ignited, killing 11 workers, and injuring 17. The rig capsized and sank on the morning of April 22, rupturing the riser, through which drilling mud had been injected in order to counteract the upward pressure of oil and natural gas. Without any opposing force, oil began to discharge into the gulf. The volume of oil escaping the damaged well—originally estimated by BP to be about 1,000 barrels per day—was thought by U.S. government officials to have peaked at more than 60,000 barrels per day.”[6]
Bhopal Gas Leak
A huge industrial disaster took place in 3rd of December 1984, at the Madhya Pradesh state, Bhopal, India. “About 45 tons of the dangerous gas methyl isocyanate escaped from an insecticide plant that was owned by the Indian subsidiary of the American firm Union Carbide Corporation. The gas drifted over the densely populated neighbor hoods around the plant, killing thousands of people immediately and creating a panic as tens of thousands of others attempted to flee Bhopal. The final death toll was estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000. Some half a million survivors suffered respiratory problems, eye irritation or blindness, and other maladies resulting from exposure to the toxic gas; many were awarded compensation of a few hundred dollars. Investigations later established that substandard operating and safety procedures at the understaffed plant had led to the catastrophe. In 1998 the former factory site was turned over to the state of Madhya Pradesh.”[7]
“In the early 21st century more than 400 tons of industrial waste were still present on the site. Despite continued protests and attempts at litigation, neither the Dow Chemical Company, which bought out the Union Carbide Corporation in 2001, nor the Indian government had properly cleaned the site. Soil and water contamination in the area was blamed for chronic health problems and high instances of birth defects in the area’s inhabitants. In 2004 the Indian Supreme Court ordered the state to supply clean drinking water to the residents of Bhopal because of groundwater contamination. In 2010 several former executives of Union Carbide’s India subsidiary—all Indian citizens—were convicted by a Bhopal court of negligence in the disaster.”[8]
Case Laws
- In the case of Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference Vs. Federal Power Commission, which was a Second Circuit Court of Appeals case. A group of US citizens initiated a legal action against the Federal Power Commission Order, that licensed Consolidated Edison to build pumped storage hydroelectric facility at Storm King Mountain on Hudson River in New York State.[9] Court held the same is void, and held:
“Commission violated requirements of §§ 10(a) and 313(b) of Federal Power Act by failing to compile record adequate to support its findings and by failing to consider alternatives to the proposed project, including no project at all. Commission failed to weigh adequately the need to preserve an area of unique beauty and major historical significance for “recreational purposes” as expressly mandated by Act. Commission illegally failed to consider as alternatives a gas turbine system, an interconnection with other systems, or a combination of the two. Commission illegally failed to consider the possibility that no device could adequately protect fish and fish larvae in the project area and further failed to consider the desirability of running segments of the transmission lines underground. Public has right to receive “active and affirmative protection at the hands of the Commission,” whose horizons cannot be limited to parties’ interests alone. That the Commission cannot order the construction of a more desirable alternative does not mean it cannot reject original proposal. Association of conservation organizations, which by its activities and conduct has shown a special interest in aesthetic, conservational and recreational aspects of power development, is an “aggrieved party” under § 313(a) of the Federal Power Act and thus has standing to challenge the Commission’s order, because the Act creates a legal public interest in the scenic, historical and recreational values of the area. Parent conservation group which owns 17 miles of trails in area further enhances standing of conservation association. Nearby towns also have sufficient interest in litigation to maintain standing.”[10]
- In the case of, Juliana Vs. United States, “The case involved a lawsuit brought against the federal government by a group of children and their guardian. They claimed that the government’s failure to take concrete steps to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions violates the government’s public trust-related obligations to future generations, as well as the plaintiffs’ substantive due process rights. A divided three-judge panel ruled that the young plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the lawsuit, reversing the district court. The third panel member wrote an impassioned dissent, arguing that the children did have constitutional standing, and that their substantive claims have legal merit. Of critical importance, both the majority and dissenting opinions agreed that climate change is real and poses an existential threat to the planet.” [11]
- In the case of Sackett Vs. EPA, “In perhaps the biggest environmental ruling of 2023, the Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by early summer, potentially narrowing the scope of the Clean Water Act. At issue in the case is the definition of which streams and wetlands qualify as “waters of the U.S.,” or WOTUS”.[12]
LIST OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN THE USA
- Clean Air Act (CAA): “designed to protect air quality by regulating stationary and mobile sources of pollution.” [13]
- Endangered Species Act (ESA): “establishes protections for fish, wildlife, and plants that are listed as threatened or endangered” [14]
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): “governs the disposal of solid and hazardous waste.” [15]
- Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA): “Also known as the “Superfund,” this Act is aimed at cleaning up areas which are already polluted. This statute assigns broad liability to parties associated with the improper disposal of hazardous waste. The statute also provides funding for cleaning up the impacted areas.” [16]
- Clean Water Act (CWA): “Aims to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution in the nation’s water in order to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” [17]
U.S. Constitution and Federal Statutes [18]
- 7 U.S.C. Chapter 6 – Insecticides and Environmental Pesticide Control
- 16 U.S.C. -Conservation
- 22 U.S.C. § 274a – International Biological Program for the Earth’s Ecology
- 22 U.S.C. § 2151p – International Environmental and Natural Resources
- 22 U.S.C. § 2151p-1 – Tropical Forests
- 22 U.S.C. § 2151q – Endangered Species
- 26 U.S.C. Chapter 38 – Environmental Taxes
- 33 U.S.C. Chapter 9 – Protection of Navigable Waters
- 33 U.S.C. Chapter 27 – Ocean Dumping
- 33 U.S.C. Chapter 33 – Prevention from Pollution from Ships
- 33 U.S.C. Chapter 40 – Oil Pollution
- 42 U.S.C. § 300g-1 – National Drinking Water Regulations
- 42 U.S.C. Chapter 23 – Atomic Energy
- 42 U.S.C. Chapter 55 – National Environmental Policy
- 42 U.S.C. Chapter 65 – Noise Pollution
- 42 U.S.C. Chapter 73 – Development of Energy Sources
- 42 U.S.C. Chapter 82 – Solid Waste Disposal
All living and non-living aspects are part of our lives, we are surrounded with it and as such also constitutes what we call environment. The earth is considered the only planet in the universe that supports life, whilst the environment can be understood as a blanket that keeps life on the planet sage and sound.[19] Most human activities harm environment in some way or other. Legal provisions, however, do not eradicate this problem entirely nor address the root cause of the problem but merely keep them in check and balance. In addition, it also every human being’s duty to ensure that we don’t cause additional harm to the environment than what already is.
[1] Carson, Rachel (2002) [1962]. Silent Spring (40th anniversary ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780618249060. [2] 50th Anniversary Of Santa Barbara Oil Spill: An Environmental Turning Point : NPR [3] Ibid. [4] Supra 2. [5] Deepwater Horizon oil spill | Summary, Effects, Cause, Clean Up, & Facts | Britannica [6] Ibid. [7] Bhopal disaster | Causes, Effects, Facts, & History | Britannica [8] Ibid. [9] Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. FPC (elr.info) [10] Refer Footnote 9. [11] Top 10 Environmental Law Decisions of 2021 | UC Davis [12] 7 cases that reshaped environmental law in 2022 - E&E News (eenews.net) [13] environmental law | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu) [14] Endangered Species Act | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov) [15] Refer Fotnote 13. [16] Supra 13. [17] Clean Water Act (CWA) and Federal Facilities | US EPA [18] The list has been retrieved from: environmental law | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu) [19] Essay on Environment for Students and Children | 500+ Words Essay (toppr.com)