Environmental Law Newsletters

Indoor Air Pollution

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers indoor air pollution to be one of the top five environmental risks to public health. Pursuant to increased Congressional interest in indoor air quality in the 1980's, the EPA established an Indoor Environments Division, which has created a comprehensive program to identify sources of indoor air pollution and their health effects, to develop technologies and methods for reducing indoor air pollution, and to gather information about indoor air pollution for dissemination to researchers and the public.

SLAPP--Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Suits

The increased criticism and litigation against big business in the environmental arena led to the invention of the SLAPP suit, the shorthand for "strategic lawsuit against public participation."

The Coastal Barriers Resources Act

The Coastal Barriers Resources Act (CBRA) was the result of the realization by Congress that coastal barrier land masses were a tremendously valuable natural resource and that because of their inherent vulnerability to erosion and storms, they were not well-suited to development. In order to both protect coastal barrier habitats and minimize the wasteful expenditure of federal funds, the CBRA was passed in 1982 to identify undeveloped coastal barrier land masses and restrict federal funding for such areas.

The EPA's NOx SIP Call

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instituted a ruling requiring 22 states to submit revised state implementation plans (SIPs) that incorporated new, lower nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. This ruling is commonly called the NOx SIP call, which refers to the EPA's authority to "call in" new SIPs. The purpose of the rule is not to require NOx reductions in any particular state but to reduce the overall transport of ozone that contributes to nonattainment of air quality standards for ozone in some downwind states.

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act

Pursuant to federal policy that the safe and efficient management of radioactive waste is best done on a regional basis, the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act (Act) requires each state to take responsibility for providing, either by itself or in cooperation with other states, for the disposal of the low-level radioactive waste that is generated within its borders.