outline

Thesis Statement

Heather Fuller

LS302: Environmental Law

10/22/2015

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency is the principal regulatory agency of the United States Federal government that is responsible for controlling pollution. The EPA works together with the state Department of Environmental protection to ensure that pollution is controlled. Just like any other organization, RRE International is required to comply with the regulations set by EPA and state Department of Environmental protection (Binns, 2003). The paper will look at the regulatory process of both the EPA and state Department of Environmental Protection. The regulatory process of the agency and state Department of Environmental protection involves a wide-range of duties that are related to the protection of the environment. These duties include carrying out research on the causes and effects of particular environmental problems. The other duty is to determine how best to regulate activities that lead to environmental harm. They also provide oversight of states that have taken up the responsibility for the Federal environmental program. Finally, they enforce environmental laws in different cities and states (Binns, 2003).

The federal environmental laws are normally set by the national government to ensure that there is environmental protection. A state can assume the primary responsibility of ensuring the standards are enforced and adopts laws that are similar to the federal laws. States assume this responsibility through the delegation of some programs. However, the federal government has enforcement authority in all cases. The EPA has oversight responsibility over all the activities carried out by the states and also monitor tribal and state implementation of the programs that have been approved by EPA. Some of the factors to be considered regarding oversight of agency action include severity of a risk to the environment, public concerns, and complexity of a particular site. There are some assumptions that have been made about provisions of the law. One of the assumptions is that the activities carried out by different organizations have an impact on the environment. The other assumption is that all organizations are ready to comply with the regulations that have been set by EPA.

Heather

Nice overview of both agencies. A additional comment that I have is how will you advise the company to handle relations with both the EPA and state agencies? Overall nice work.

References

Binns, T. (2003). The EPA: Environmental Protection Agency. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library.