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Environmental Law

While many might consider environmental law to be a relatively new development in the United States, it's actually been an important part of our society since the Colonial period. Back then, just as today, key issues surrounded water quality and property degradation as a result of pollution.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the federal government, through legislation like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, took a much larger, top-down role in environmental management. Part of the reason for the government's recent expanded role was not because there were not existing laws or ways to deal with environmental problems, but because the courts often failed to uphold the property rights of individuals while often favoring the interests of big businesses and government. In so doing, the courts abandoned the traditional Common Law approach to environmental issues. Additionally, many cities and states simply failed to uphold existing laws.

You can learn more about the development of environmental law in the United States and internationally below.

Animal rights is a hot topic on many high school and college campuses. Often, supporters of animal rights hold an emotionally-charged position based on images of animals in laboratory cages or slaughterhouses, while...

Proponents of cap-and-trade hope to harness the invisible hand of "the market" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), such as carbon dioxide.

The goal is to "cap" current GHG...

The Kyoto Protocol is a worldwide treaty, in effect since 2004, binding signatory countries to lower greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit possible impacts on global warming. The only problem is that few...

Passed in 1970, with significant amendments in 1977 and 1990, the Clean Air Act (CAA) has grown to be an 800-page statute. Under the CAA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets national ambient air quality...

After the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Ohio in 1969, new pressure was exerted on the federal government to increase its role in reducing water pollution in America. The efforts culminated in the Clean Water Act,...

President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) into law in 1973. Widely touted as one of the most important and successful environmental laws ever passed, the ESA's purpose is to conserve...

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed in 1969. The purposes of the act are: "To declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to...

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), more commonly known as Superfund, financed and created the federal program that cleans up hazardous substances nationwide. Initially...

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