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United States environmental law concerns legal standards to protect human health and improve the natural
environment of the United States The environment of the United States comprises diverse biotas, climates, and geologies. This diversity leads to a number of different distinct regions and geographies in which human communities live. This includes a rich variety of species of bot ...
. While subject to criticism at home and abroad on issues of protection, enforcement, and over-regulation, the country remains an important source of environmental legal expertise and experience.


Scope

The United States Congress has enacted federal statutes intended to address pollution control and remediation, including for example the Clean Air Act (
air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...
), the
Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...
( water pollution), and the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...
(CERCLA, or Superfund) (contaminated site cleanup). There are also federal laws governing natural resources use and biodiversity which are strongly influenced by environmental principles, including the Endangered Species Act,
National Forest Management Act The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976 (P.L. 94-588) is a United States federal law that is the primary statute governing the administration of national forests and was an amendment to the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Pla ...
, and
Coastal Zone Management Act The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA; , , Chapter 33) is an Act of Congress passed in 1972 to encourage coastal states to develop and implement coastal zone management plans (CZMPs). This act was established as a United States National po ...
. The
National Environmental Policy Act The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.Un ...
, governing
environmental impact review Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...
in actions undertaken or approved by the U.S. federal government, may implicate all of these areas. Federalism in the United States has played a role in the shape of national environmental legislation. Many federal environmental laws employ
cooperative federalism Cooperative federalism, also known as marble-cake federalism, is defined as a flexible relationship between the federal and state governments in which both work together on a variety of issues and programs. In the United States In the American f ...
mechanisms - many federal regulatory programs are administered in coordination with the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...
s. Furthermore, the states generally have enacted their own laws to cover areas not preempted by federal law. This includes areas where Congress had acted in limited fashion (e.g., state site cleanup laws to handle sites outside
Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
) and where Congress has left regulation primarily to the states (e.g.,
water resources law Water resources law (in some jurisdictions, shortened to "water law") is the field of law dealing with the ownership, control, and use of water as a resource. It is most closely related to property law, and is distinct from laws governing wate ...
).


History

The history of environmental law in the US can be traced back to early roots in common law doctrines, for example, the law of
nuisance Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...
and the
public trust doctrine The public trust doctrine is the principle that the sovereign holds in trust for public use some resources such as shoreline between the high and low tide lines, regardless of private property ownership. Origins The ancient laws of the Byzanti ...
. The first environmental statute was the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, which has been largely superseded by the
Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...
(CWA). However, most current major environmental statutes, such as the federal statutes listed above, were passed in the time spanning the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Prior to the passage of these statutes, most federal environmental laws were not nearly as comprehensive. '' Silent Spring,'' a 1962 book by Rachel Carson, is frequently credited as launching the environmental movement in the United States. The book documented the effects of
pesticides Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and la ...
, especially
DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
, on birds and other wildlife. Among the most significant environmental disasters of the 1960s was the
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters by that time, and now ranks third after ...
, which generated considerable public outrage as
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
was considering several major pieces of environmental legislation. (''See''
Environmental movement in the United States The organized environmental movement is represented by a wide range of non-governmental organizations or NGOs that seek to address environmental issues in the United States. They operate on local, national, and international scales. Environmen ...
.) One lawsuit that has been widely recognized as one of the earliest environmental cases is ''Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission,'' decided in 1965 by the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juris ...
, prior to passage of the major federal environmental statutes. The case helped halt the construction of a power plant on Storm King Mountain in New York State. The case has been described as giving birth to environmental litigation and helping create the legal doctrine of
standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
to bring environmental claims. The Scenic Hudson case also is said to have helped inspire the passage of the
National Environmental Policy Act The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.Un ...
(NEPA), and the creation of such environmental advocacy groups as the
Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, B ...
.


Legal sources

Laws from every stratum of the
laws of the United States The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...
pertain to environmental issues. Congress has passed a number of landmark environmental regulatory regimes, but many other federal laws are equally important, if less comprehensive. Concurrently, the legislatures of the fifty states have passed innumerable comparable sets of laws. These state and federal systems are foliated with layer upon layer of administrative regulation. Meanwhile, the US judicial system reviews not only the legislative enactments, but also the administrative decisions of the many agencies dealing with environmental issues. Where the statutes and regulations end, the common law begins.


Federal statutes


Federal regulation

Consistent with the federal statutes that they administer, US federal agencies promulgate regulations in the
Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. ...
that fill out the broad programs enacted by Congress. Primary among these is Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, containing the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other important CFR sections include Title 10 (energy), Title 18 (Conservation of Power and Water Resources), Title 21 (Food and Drugs), Title 33 (Navigable Waters), Title 36 (Parks, Forests and Public Property), Title 43 (Public Lands: Interior) and Title 50 (Wildlife and Fisheries).


Judicial decisions

The federal and state judiciaries have played an important role in the development of environmental law in the United States, in many cases resolving significant controversy regarding the application of federal environmental laws in favor of environmental interests. The decisions of the Supreme Court in cases such as ''Calvert Cliffs Coordinating Committee v. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission'' (broadly reading the procedural requirements of NEPA), ''
Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill ''Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hiram Hill et al.,'' or ''TVA v. Hill'', 437 U.S. 153 (1978), was a United States Supreme Court case and the Court's first interpretation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. After the discovery of the snail dart ...
'' (broadly reading the Endangered Species Act), and, much more recently, '' Massachusetts v. EPA'' (requiring EPA to reconsider regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act) have had policy impacts far beyond the facts of the particular case.


Common law

The common law of tort is an important tool for the resolution of environmental disputes that fall beyond the confines of regulated activity. Prior to the modern proliferation of environmental regulation, the doctrines of
nuisance Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...
(public or private), trespass,
negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
, and strict liability apportioned harm and assigned liability for activities that today would be considered pollution and likely governed by regulatory regimes. These doctrines remain relevant, and most recently have been used by plaintiffs seeking to impose liability for the consequences of global climate change. The common law also continues to play a leading role in American water law, in the doctrines of
riparian rights Riparian water rights (or simply riparian rights) is a system for allocating water among those who possess land along its path. It has its origins in English common law. Riparian water rights exist in many jurisdictions with a common law heri ...
and
prior appropriation Prior appropriation: In water rights, the legal doctrine of prior appropriation holds that the first person to take a quantity of water from a water source for "beneficial use" (agricultural, industrial or household) has the right to continue to ...
.


Administration

In the United States, responsibilities for the administration of environmental laws are divided between numerous federal and state agencies with varying, overlapping, and sometimes conflicting missions. EPA is the most well-known federal agency, with jurisdiction over many of the country's national air, water and waste and hazardous substance programs. Other federal agencies, such as the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
and National Park Service pursue primarily conservation missions, while still others, such as the United States Forest Service and the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's l ...
, tend to focus more on beneficial use of natural resources. Federal agencies operate within the limits of
federal jurisdiction Federal jurisdiction is the jurisdiction of the federal government in any country that uses federalism. Such a country is known as a Federation. Federal jurisdiction by country All federations, by definition, must have some form of federal jurisd ...
. For example, EPA's jurisdiction under the
Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...
is limited to "
waters of the United States Waters may refer to: *A body of water *Territorial waters *Waters (name), a surname *Waters (band), an American band * ''Waters'' (magazine), a financial technology magazine *Waters Corporation, an American corporation that produces products for c ...
". In many cases federal laws allow for more stringent regulation by states, and of transfer of certain federally mandated responsibilities from federal to state control. US state governments, therefore, administering state law adopted under state police powers or federal law by delegation, uniformly include environmental agencies. The extent to which state environmental laws are based on or depart from federal law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Thus, while a permit to fill non-federal wetlands might require a permit from a single state agency, larger and more complex endeavors—for example, the construction of a
coal-fired power plant A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a th ...
—might require approvals from numerous federal and state agencies.


Enforcement

In the United States, violations of environmental laws are generally civil offenses, resulting in monetary penalties and, perhaps, civil sanctions such as
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in ...
. Many environmental laws also provide for criminal penalties for egregious violations. Some federal laws, such as the Clean Water Act, also allow a U.S. citizen to file a lawsuit against a violator, if the government has failed to take enforcement action. Environmental agencies often include separate enforcement offices, with duties including monitoring permitted activities, performing compliance inspections, issuing citations and prosecuting wrongdoing (civilly or criminally, depending on the violation). EPA's
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) is the law enforcement arm of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is made up of attorneys, special agents, scientists and other employees. Organization The OECA ...
is one such agency. Others, such as the
United States Park Police The United States Park Police (USPP) is one of the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agencies in the United States. It functions as a full-service law enforcement agency with responsibilities and jurisdiction in those National Park Servic ...
, carry out more traditional law enforcement activities. Adjudicatory proceedings for environmental violations are often handled by the agencies themselves under the structures of
administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), a ...
. In some cases, appeals are also handled internally (for example, EPA's Environmental Appeals Board). Generally, final agency determinations may subsequently be appealed to the appropriate court. As environmental law becomes more widespread in the United States, another form of enforcement is emerging. Economic sanctions and incentives are the next wave of enforcement techniques. However, other researchers believe that the best way to enforce environmental regulation is to enforce non-environmental laws that can also have positive results for the environment. Some researchers have found that this leads to better environmental performance with bipartisan support


Education and training

U.S. News & World Report has consistently ranked
Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the As ...
, The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, and the
Vermont Law School Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) is a private law and public policy graduate school in South Royalton, Vermont. It offers several degrees, including Juris Doctor (JD), Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law, Master of Environmental Law ...
in the top 5 of its list of Environmental Law programs in the United States.US News and World Repor
Environmental Law
/ref> Environmental law courses are offered as elective courses in the second and third years of JD study at many American law schools. Curricula vary: an introductory course might focus on the "big five" federal statutes—
NEPA The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The law was enacted on January 1, 1970.Un ...
, Clean Air Act,
CWA CWA or Cwa may refer to: Organisations * CWA Constructions, a Swiss manufacturer of gondolas and people mover cabins, a division of Doppelmayr Garaventa Group * Catch Wrestling Association, a former German professional wrestling promotion * Contin ...
, CERCLA (Superfund) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (or, alternatively, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act)—and may be offered in conjunction with a natural resources law course. Smaller seminars may be offered on more focused topics. Some US law schools also offer an
LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...
or JSD specialization in environmental law. Additionally, several law schools host legal clinics that focus on environmental law, providing students with an opportunity to learn about environmental law in the context of real world disputes involving actual clients.See, e.g., Adam Babich, The Apolitical Law School Clinic, 11 Clinical L. Rev. 447 (2005). International environmental lawyers often receive specialized training in the form of an LL.M. degree at US institutions, after having a first law degreeoften in another country from where they got their first law degree.


Environmental protection


Water

*''EI duPont de Nemours & Co. v. Train,'' *''
Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. ''Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc.'', 528 U.S. 167 (2000), was a United States Supreme Court case that addressed the law regarding standing to sue and mootness. The Court held that the plaintiff residents in the ...
'' (2000) *'' Rapanos v. United States'', 547 U.S. 715 (2006) *'' County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund'' (2020)


Air pollution

*''Union Elec. Co. v. EPA,'' *'' Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council,'' *'' Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency'',


See also

* US administrative law *
Environmental policy of the United States The environmental policy of the United States is a federal governmental action to regulate activities that have an environmental impact in the United States. The goal of environmental policy is to protect the environment for future generations whi ...
*
Energy policy of the United States The energy policy of the United States is determined by federal, state, and local entities. It addresses issues of energy production, distribution, consumption, and modes of use, such as building codes, mileage standards, and commuting polic ...
*
US corporate law United States corporate law regulates the governance, finance and power of corporations in US law. Every state and territory has its own basic corporate code, while federal law creates minimum standards for trade in company shares and governa ...


Notes


External links


US Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Law Institute


- the advocacy group which brought the landmark case ''Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission''

* ttp://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/subjects/environmental_protection/6038 Federal Environmental Protection Bills - GovTrack.us( GovTrack) {{DEFAULTSORT:United States Environmental Law * fr:Politique environnementale des États-Unis