Did you know that there are over ten major federal laws that deal with protecting the environment and the health and safety of U.S. residents? And this is not counting the multitude of other federal acts, rules, and regulations that also deal with the environment. Beyond the federal laws, rules, and regulations there are also scores of environmental laws that have been enacted by the states or local governments. Following is a summary of the major federal environmental laws.

The Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970 and contains detailed provisions that regulate air emissions from various different sources. Ensuring compliance with the Act, as with most other federal environmental laws, is the responsibility of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In that regard, the EPA was empowered by the Act to create National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which set acceptable levels of emissions from both stationary and mobile sources.

Initially, it was the goal of the EPA to establish and reach NAAQS for all areas of the country by 1975. Unfortunately, the goal was not achieved, and in 1977 the Act was amended to create, in effect, an extension of the deadline for areas that had not reached compliance levels.

Later, in 1990, the Act was again amended to address areas of concern that had come to the forefront in the twenty years since the Act was put into effect. For example, the initial version of the Act either did not address, or did not sufficiently address, issues such as acid rain, ozone depletion, and air toxins.

The Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act was passed in 1977 as an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. As with the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act is enforced by the EPA, with assistance in particular matters from state agencies or entities. In a nutshell, the Clean Water Act makes it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a source point into navigable waters of the United States unless he or she have obtained a special permit allowing such activity from the EPA. Ten years after its enactment, the Clean Water Act was amended to include provisions which focused on toxic pollutants, authorized citizen suits (as opposed to just government enforcement actions), and funded sewage treatment plants.