Introduction




What do we mean by "environment"?
The simplest definition for the word is surroundings.
What do we want to cover in the course?
This course provides an overview of environmental monitoring methodologies. The question one needs to ask is, Why do we need to monitor the environment? The answer is perhaps best summarized in the draft of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) enacted in 1969. It states that the U.S. Government should "use all practical means . . . to create and maintain conditions in which man and nature can exist in productive harmony." Signed into law January 1, 1970
Following that policy statement, nine legislative measures were enacted for clearer and safer development of the environment. At the national level, environmental legislation has arisen from at least three separate legal traditions.

1.The first is public health protection, a concept dating back to antiquity; e.g., anti-adulteration laws were enacted in the Babylonian Empire. In the United States this spirit was reflected in local ordinances which were enacted for regulating waste dumping, open burning and sewage treatment.
2.The second tradition derives from common law pertaining to property damage and personal injury; e.g., if a person dumps a proven pesticide in a yard and the neighbor children get sick, then the neighbor can bring a lawsuit against the other for damages. However, bringing a damage lawsuit against a normal plant operator was quite limited for private citizens. This started to change in the 1950s. The origin of the Clean Air Act can be traced back to a lawsuit brought by the Martin family of Troutdale, Oregon, against the Reynolds Company. Martin claimed that fluoride emissions from Reynolds plants were poisoning their dairy cattle and affecting their own health. The major issue then (as it is now) was to show the correlation between the exposure and health damage or the dose versus response.
In natural systems the task is difficult. For one, response in biological systems is difficult to gauge and is rarely linear. Furthermore, the possible injurious agents rarely occur by themselves. Thus, to establish what and how much is present, one must develop specific techniques for quantitation of chemical pollutants and then establish their effect.


In response to the Martin v. Reynolds issue, the State of Oregon set up a scientific panel to make the determination and passed laws giving the state the right to sue. Other states followed suit. Some Washington state residents across the river sued the same plant. The chaos created varied state legislation, providing impetus for establishing national rules for plant emissions.
3.The third tradition stems from conservation ethos and ecological consciousness. The message that came out of awareness efforts such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and increased reporting of oil spills and chemical accidents resulted in creating a crisis atmosphere demanding federal action. It was deemed necessary that the action be planned at the national level since a market economy could not be trusted to control and police itself.
This led to enactment of nine major environmental statutes which are administered in whole or in part by a single organization, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The U.S. EPA came into being in late 1971.
Council on Environmental Quality
Prior to the EPA, a presidential Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) was established under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). The Council laid the legislative base for many environmental laws:
€Clean Air Act
€The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
€The Noise Control Act
€The Ocean Dumping Act
€The Resource Recovery Act
€The Safe Drinking Act
€The Surface Mining Control and Reactivation Act
€The Toxic Substances Control Act
National Environmental Protection Act
NEPA was enacted in 1969 and signed into law January 1, 1970, by President Richard Nixon. It established a framework for the government to assess the environmental effects of its major actions. It requires federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements (EISs) to assess the environmental effects of proposed projects and requests for legislation.
The Act was created by the CEQ, a three-member advisory group that advises the President and prepares an annual environmental quality report for Congress.
According to EPA statistics, federal agencies had prepared more than 22,000 draft, final and supplemental environmental statements in the first 15 years of the Act. The number peaked in the early 70s at about 2000 statements but declined by the 1980s. In 1984 fewer than 600 EISs were issued.
Policies and Goals
Purpose: Declare a national policy which encourages productive and enjoyable harmony between man and environment.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
The RCRA was designed to regulate hazardous substances such that these substances do not get dumped into sanitary landfills. Part of the Act provides for "cradle to grave" regulations of hazardous substances and petroleum products in underground storage tanks.
Control of hazardous waste at the federal level began with the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965. The Act was amended and signed into law as the Resource Recovery Act. The law provided funds for collecting and recycling materials and required a comprehensive investigation of hazardous waste management practices in the U.S. Administration of the Act was given to the EPA.
The law spawned an industry to recycle and incinerate waste, laying the foundation for the present waste disposal industry.
The law in its present form was passed in 1976 and confirmed provisions on solid waste and resource recovery including the disposal of used oil and waste. It closed most open dumps, redefined solid waste to include hazardous waste and ordered the EPA to track hazardous waste "cradle to grave" and control hazardous waste facilities.
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
Congress enacted the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1976 and gave the EPA a new system for identifying and evaluating the environmental and health effects of existing chemicals and any new substances entering the U.S. market.
The intent of the law was to complete the chain of federal environmental protection statutes that were enacted piecemeal between 1970 and 1976.
In contrast to laws designed to improve and protect the quality of water, air and natural resources, TSCA was designed to evaluate the safety of raw materials. It gave the EPA authority to control chemical risks that could not be dealt with effectively under other environmental statutes.
The Act requires any manufacturer planning to make a new chemical to submit to the EPA a pre-manufacture notice with information on:
€identity
€use
€anticipated production volume
€workplace hazards
€disposal characterization
A substance is "new" if it is not listed in the inventory list of chemicals already in production, a list drawn up under the Act. The Act allows the EPA a maximum of 90 days to consider the notice and approve or disapprove production.
The EPA has the authority under the Act to ban or limit production. Manufacturers are also required to notify the EPA of any new use of an existing chemical or any substantial risk discovered in connection with its use.
The term "toxic" in the title of the Act is a misnomer, referring not to threats of acute poisoning but to long-term, chronic effects on human health and environment. Such effects include cancer, genetic damage, birth defects or bioaccumulation in the food chain with deleterious effect.
Testing of Chemicals
Effects on human health and the environment of a number of chemicals, even those in wide use, are not well established. One of the major goals of TSCA was to induce development of test data by producers of chemicals in commerce.
Two broad regulatory thresholds are contained in TSCA:
€the chemical may present an unreasonable risk
€the chemical is produced in large quantities
In either condition, the EPA must further determine:
€existing data are insufficient to resolve the question
€testing is necessary to develop data.
Clean Water Act
The CWA is designed to protect surface water and waterways of the nation and prevent discharge of certain types of untreated waste water into sanitary sewer systems.

The CWA also regulates deep well injection of wastes.
Objective: "The restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the National Water."
Two goals were also established:
1. Zero discharge of pollutants by 1985
2. Interim water quality should be "fishable" and "swimmable" by mid-1983
Two major parts of the act are Title II and Title IV:

€Title II authorizes federal financial assistance for municipal sewage treatment plants.
€Title IV sets regulatory requirements which apply to industrial and municipal discharge.
The Act has been termed a technology forcing statute because it sets increasingly higher levels of pollution abatement. Industries were given until July 1, 1977, to install " best practicable control technology" (BPT).
Exercise 1.1 Risk Assessment
Following is a list of activities common in the United States. In your opinion, what is the risk of each activity relative to the other items on the list? The most risky should be ranked "1" and the least risky "15."
Activity Your Rank 1) Traveling 40 miles in a car 2) Living near a nuclear power plant 3) Owning a handgun 4) Swimming in a lake, river, or ocean 5) Having medical x-rays taken 6) Living near non-nuclear power plants (coal, hydro, etc.) 7) Riding a bicycle 8) Being exposed to pesticides in food 9) Having a job as a police officer 10) Drinking alcoholic beverages 11) Smoking 12) Riding a motorcycle 13) Playing football 14) Mountain climbing 15) Using contraceptives