FIFRA was passed by Congress in 1972 and is enforced by the EPA, which has the power to prohibit the sale, distribution, or use of pesticides such as insecticides, fungicides, and rodenticides under the Act. If a threatened or endangered species will be adversely affected, the EPA can also issue an emergency suspension of certain pesticides.

FIFRA requires that farmers, utility companies, and other users of pesticides register when they purchase pesticides. These individuals are also required by the Act to take and pass a certification examination in order to apply pesticides. FIFRA also contains provisions which require that all pesticides used in the United States be approved and licensed by the EPA.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

NEPA is one of the oldest federal environmental protection laws, having been passed in 1969. The overall purpose of NEPA is to ensure that the government researches and gives proper consideration to potential environmental effects before undertaking any major federal action, such as construction of a new highway. As part of this consideration, the government must complete Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for any action they contemplate.

The Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)

In 1970, concerned with the increasing lack of worker and workplace safety, Congress passed OSHA. The main thrust of OSHA is to require employers to provide their workers with a safe workplace. While some OSHA requirements do not directly affect the environment (such as the requirements concerning safety for workers on elevated sites), other provisions specifically address environmental issues (such as the use of toxic or hazardous substances in the workplace).

OSHA is one of the few federal laws that relate to the environment that is not controlled by the EPA. Instead, OSHA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor in concert with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which was specifically created to deal with OSHA issues. In addition, many states have their own workplace safety and health acts. The state acts must have provisions in place which meet, if not exceed, the federal OSHA requirements.

The Pollution Prevention Act

One of the newer federal environmental protection laws, the Pollution Prevention Act, was passed in 1990. The Act includes provisions on reducing the amount of pollution in the environment by making changes in production, operation, and use of raw materials by both private industry and the government. In other words, the Act is proactively focused on source reduction of pollution, rather than reactively focusing upon how to deal with pollution once it has entered the environment, as many other federal environmental laws do. An area of the Pollution Prevention Act which has had a dramatic and recognizable impact on the general public is the push towards recycling and reuse of materials.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

This Act, which is pronounced "rick-rah" allows the EPA to control the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA also contains provisions for the management of nonhazardous solid wastes. In practice, RCRA complements CERCLA and the two, together, provide mechanisms for controlling all hazardous waste situations. While RCRA focuses upon active and future facilities, CERCLA deals with abandoned or historical sites and emergency situations.

In 1984, the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA-pronounced "hiss-wa") were passed by Congress. HSWA amends RCRA to require the phasing out of land disposal of hazardous waste. To accomplish this goal, and to respond to other insufficiencies in RCRA, HSWA also created greater enforcement authority for the EPA and more stringent hazardous waste management standards. With the phasing out of land disposal of hazardous waste, the EPA soon discovered that new storage issues were coming to the forefront. Therefore, in 1986 an amendment to RCRA was passed which allowed the EPA to focus upon and address specific issues and concerns related to the underground storage of petroleum and other products.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

This 1974 law, as the name implies, addresses issues relating to the quality and safety of drinking water in the United States. Under SDWA, the EPA is authorized to establish purity standards for both aboveground and underground sources of water that are either designated for, or potentially designated for, human consumption. SDWA contains both health-related standards and nuisance-related standards. Both are enforced with the cooperation of state governments.

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

This 1986 federal act reauthorized CERCLA to continue efforts to clean-up hazardous waste abandonments, spills, and releases. Some provisions of SARA specifically address problems or concerns that arose at specific CERCLA involved sites.