USA Law

Category: Environmental Law

  • Mobile Sources

    Mobile Sources in the United States Mobile Sources in Environmental Law This term includes motor vehicles and aircraft that are regulated as pollution sources under the Clean Air Act. Mobile sources contribute carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and particulate pollution to the […]

  • National Ambient Air Quality Standards

    National Ambient Air Quality Standards in the United States National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQSs) in Environmental Law Limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for air pollutants it believes may endanger public health (primary standards) or welfare (secondary […]

  • Major Source

    Major Source in the United States Major Source in Environmental Law Under the 1970 Clean Air Act, a pollution source is considered a major source if it is stationary and has the potential to emit 100 tons per year or more of a regulated air pollutant. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 made […]

  • Material Safety Data Sheets

    Material Safety Data Sheets in the United States Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) in Environmental Law Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Hazard Communication Standard, these data sheets are required to contain information that must accompany hazardous chemicals to the […]

  • Maximum Contaminant Levels

    Maximum Contaminant Levels in the United States Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) in Environmental Law An EIS must be prepared for federal actions unless the agency can demonstrate that the project will have no significant impact on the environment [see finding of no significant impact]. Any […]

  • James Watt

    James Watt in the United States Watt, James in Environmental Law Secretary of Interior appointed by President Ronald Reagan [see Ronald Reagan].Based on Environment and the Law. A Dictionary.

  • Land Disposal Restrictions

    Land Disposal Restrictions in the United States Land Disposal Restrictions (LDRs) in Environmental Law The prohibitions against waste disposal in, on, or under the ground that were built into the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. During […]

  • Listed Wastes

    Listed Wastes in the United States Listed Wastes in Environmental Law The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulates solid and hazardous wastes from the time they are considered discarded until they are finally disposed of. The focus of the statute is on hazardous waste and […]

  • Love Canal

    Love Canal in the United States Love Canal in Environmental Law A hazardous waste site in Niagara Falls, New York. Discovered in the midtolate 1970s, the site was highly publicized and focused national attention on what had become of the byproducts of industrialization. In 1980, Congress […]

  • Integrated Risk Information System

    Integrated Risk Information System in the United States Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) in Environmental Law A database, created and maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that provides health information on specific substances. It reflects the EPA consensus opinion […]

  • Interim Status Facility

    Interim Status Facility in the United States Interim Status Facility in Environmental Law A treatment/storage/disposal facility (facility that handles hazardous waste) in existence on 19 November 1980. A facility built after that date and not regulated when it was built is also an interim […]

  • Industrial User

    Industrial User in the United States Industrial User in Environmental Law An industrial firm that does not discharge wastewater directly into a stream or other water body but uses a public treatment facility to treat its waste before it is discharged. An industrial user is also referred to as […]

  • Innocent Purchaser

    Innocent Purchaser in the United States Innocent Purchaser in Environmental Law A person who is not liable as an owner or operator of contaminated property because he investigated the property prior to acquiring it and did not discover the contamination. The term is important under the […]

  • History of Environmental Law

    History of U.S. Environmental Law in the United States Environmentalism in the 1960s and 1970s The energy that fueled the civil rights movement and catalyzed the counterculture also stimulated an environmental movement in the mid-1960s. Many were aroused by the publication in 1962 of Rachel […]

  • Hazardous Ranking System

    Hazardous Ranking System in the United States Hazardous Ranking System (HRS) in Environmental Law The method used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate the dangers posed at a site where hazardous waste has been disposed. The system is spelled out in the regulations, and it […]