LAWS, RULES, AND REGULATIONS

These laws include (see the appropriate chapters in this book for more detailed information about these laws):

• 1. The Clean Air Act of 1970, and its subsequent amendments, which established goals and standards for the quality of air in the United States
• 2. The Clean Water Act of 1972, and its subsequent amendments, which established goals and standards for water quality in the United States
• 3. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, amended in 1986 and 1996, which established drinking water standards and rules for groundwater protection and underground injection
• 4. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, which helped prevent the creation of toxic waste dump sites by establishing standards for the management of the storage and disposal of hazardous waste
• 5. The Toxic Substances Control Act, which gave the EPA the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, import, and processing of specific toxic chemicals
• 6. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, and its subsequent amendments, which requires the cleanup of sites contaminated by toxic wastes, even those which had been placed there many years before
• 7. The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA-Underground Storage Tanks)
• 8. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, which requires companies to inform communities about toxic chemicals that they release into the air, water, and land
• 9. The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986
• 10. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which enacted a rapid and well-thought-out federal response to oil spills from oil storage facilities and vessels, while making the polluters responsible for the cost and damage to natural resources
• 11. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947 amended in 1996