This section provides some of the key provisions of nine federal environmental statutes that all engineers, in particular chemical engineers, should know. Taken together, these laws regulate chemicals throughout their life cycle, from creation and production to use and disposal.
The nine laws are as follows:
- The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), 1976 (regulating testing and necessary use restrictions on chemical substances)
- The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 1972 (the manufacture and use of pesticides)
- The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), 1970 (to protect health and safety in the workplace)
- The Clean Air Act (CAA), 1970 (to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation’s air resources)
- The Clean Water Act (CWA), 1972 (to restore and maintain the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s water resources)
- The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 1976 (primarily the regulation of hazardous and nonhazardous waste treatment, storage, and safe disposal)
- The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund), 1980 (the cleanup of abandoned and inactive hazardous waste sites)
- The Emergency Planning and Community Right‐to‐Know Act (EPCRA), 1986 (responding to chemical emergencies and reporting of toxic chemical usage)
- The Pollution Prevention Act (PPA), 1990 (a proactive approach to reducing environmental impact using pollution prevention hierarchy: minimize generation, minimize introduction, segregation, reuse, and recycle, recover energy value in waste, treat for discharge, and safe disposal)
A summary of these prominent federal environmental statues is provided in Table 2.1. The most important regulatory backgrounds for each statute are slated along with a listing of some key provisions for chemical processing facilities.
Table 2.1 Summary table for selected environmental laws.
Source: From https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/⋯/ch3‐green‐engineering‐textbook_508.pdf and USEPA (2000).
| Environmental statute | Date enacted | Background | Key provisions |
| Regulation of Chemical Manufacturing The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) | 1976 | Highly toxic substances, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), began appearing in the environment and in food supplies. This prompted the federal government to create a program to assess the risks of chemicals before they are introduced into commerce. | Chemical manufacturers, importers, or processors, must submit a report detailing chemical and processing information for each chemical. Extensive testing by companies may be required for chemicals of concern. For newly created chemicals, a Premanufacturing Notice must be submitted. |
| The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) | Enacted, 1947 Amended, 1972 | Because all pesticides are toxic to plants and animals, they may pose an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment. FIFRA is a federal regulatory program whose purpose is to assess the risks of pesticides and to control their usage so that any exposure that may result poses an acceptable level of risk. | Before any pesticide can be distributed or sold in the United States, it must be registered with the EPA. The data is difficult and expensive to develop and must prove that the chemical is effective and safe to humans and the environment. Labels must be placed on pesticide products that indicate approved uses and restrictions. |
| The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) | 1970 | The agency that oversees the implementation of the OSH Act is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). All private facilities having more than 10 employees must comply with the OSH Act requirements. | Companies must adhere to all OSHA health standards (exposure limits to chemicals) and safety standards (physical hazards from equipment). The OSH Act’s Hazard Communication Standard requires companies to develop hazard assessment data (material safety data sheet), label chemical substances, and inform and train employees in the safe use of chemicals. |
| Regulation of Discharges to the Air, Water, and Soil Clean Air Act (CAA) | 1970 | The CAA is intended to control the discharge of air pollution by establishing uniform ambient air quality standards that are in some instances health based and in others technology based. The CAA also addresses specific air pollution problems such as hazardous air pollutants, stratospheric ozone depletion, and acid rain. | The CAA established the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for maximum concentrations in ambient air of CO, Pb, NO2, O3, particulate matter, and SO2. States must develop source‐specific emission limits to achieve the NAAQS. States issue air emission permits to facilities. Stricter requirements established for hazardous air pollutants and for new sources. |
| Clean Water Act (CWA) | 1972 | The CWA is the first comprehensive federal program designed to reduce pollutant discharges into the nation’s waterways (“zero discharge” goal). Another goal of the CWA is to make water bodies safe for swimming, fishing, and other forms of recreation (“swimmable” goal). This act is considered largely successful because significant improvements have been made in the quality of the nation’s waterways since its enactment. | The CWA established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program that requires any point source of pollution to obtain a permit. Permits contain either effluent limits or require the installation of specific pollutant treatment. Permit holders must monitor discharges, collect data, and keep records of the pollutant levels of their effluents. Industrial sources that discharge into sewers must comply with EPA pretreatment standards by applying the best available control technology. |
| Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) | 1976 | The RCRA was enacted to regulate the “cradle‐to‐grave” generation, transport, and disposal of both nonhazardous and hazardous wastes to land, encourage recycling, and promote the development of alternative energy sources based on solid waste materials. | Generators must maintain records of the quantity of hazardous waste generated, where the waste was sent for treatment, storage, or disposal, and file this data in biennial reports to the EPA. Transporters and disposal facilities must adhere to similar requirements for record keeping as well as for monitoring the environment. |
| Clean‐Up, Emergency Panning, and Pollution Prevention The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) | 1980 | CERCLA began a process of identifying and cleaning up the many sites of uncontrolled hazardous waste disposal at abandoned sites, industrial complexes, and federal facilities. EPA is responsible for creating a list of the most hazardous sites of contamination, which is termed the National Priority List (NPL). It was amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986. | After a site is listed in the NPL, EPA identifies potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and notifies them of their potential CERCLA liability, which is strict, joint and several, and retroactive. PRPs are (i) present or (ii) past owners of hazardous waste disposal facilities, (iii) generators of hazardous waste, and (iv) transporters of hazardous waste. |
| The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) | 1986 | Title III of (SARA) contains a separate piece of legislation called the (EPCRA). There are two main goals of EPCRA: (i) to have states create local emergency units that must develop plans to respond to chemical release emergencies and (ii) to require EPA to compile an inventory of toxic chemical releases to the air, water, and soil from manufacturing facilities. | Facilities must work with state and local entities to develop emergency response plans in case of an accidental release. Affected facilities must report annually to EPA data on the maximum amount of the toxic substance on‐site in the previous year, the treatment and disposal methods used, and the amounts released to the environment or transferred off‐site for treatment and/or disposal. |
| Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) | 1990 | The act established pollution prevention as the nation’s primary pollution management strategy with emphasis on source reduction. Established a Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse whose goal is to compile source reduction information and make it available to the public. | The only mandatory provision of the PPA requires owners and operators of facilities that are required to file a Form R under the SARA Title III to report to the EPA information regarding the source reduction and recycling efforts that the facility has undertaken during the previous year. |
| Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) (2000) Section 303(d) of the CWA | 2000 | Requires states to develop prioritized lists of polluted or threatened water bodies and to establish the maximum amount of pollutant (TMDL) that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standard. | A TMDL is the sum of (i) the individual waste‐load allocations (WLAs) for point sources (industrial and municipal), (ii) load allocations for nonpoint sources, (iii) natural background levels, and (iv) a margin of safety (USEPA 2000). |
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