Introduction The first Earth Day in 1970 marked the commencement of the modern environmental movement (Jaffe et al. 1995, 132). Since that time, the United States federal government has initiated a number of command and control environmental policies to regulate activities. There is disagreement about rather these government controls are morally correct, though, such as with the recent Stream Protection Rule. Scholars like Robert Nozick would believe that environmental regulations impede on individuals’ rights, while John Rawls would claim that environmental regulations are vital in order to maximize the benefits for all of society. I will argue that you can alleviate these two opposing arguments by creating a market-based policy solution
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The mission of the EPA is to “protect human health and the environment” by writing and enforcing regulations (“Our Mission” 2017). The agency has initiated a number of general legislation bills to protect the environment that are still in place today such as the Clean Air Act, Safe Water Drinking Act, Endangered Species Preservation Act, and Solid Waste Disposal Act. For all of these legislations, the EPA officials place a maximum amount of pollutant that those stakeholders involved can pollute. The national government then depends on local branches to enforce and regulate the levels of the pollutant. Ideally, the government has enough knowledge to understand the appropriate amount of pollutant that can be emitted without harming environmental or human health.
Even though the EPA has had a strong influence over environmental regulations for the United States, there is disagreement rather this is the most effective measure. The new political transition, in particular, has highlighted the various opinions about government control and environmental regulations. These disagreements help display that there is a moral dilemma of rather or not national environmental regulation under the command and control method is an impairment on human rights or a necessity to human …show more content…
Mountaintop removal is “an invasive form of coal mining in which the soil, rock, and plant life of a mountain is destroyed… in order to mine the coal seams underneath” (Dawson 2012). This is an intensive process that requires massive deforestation, powerful explosives, and enormous machines. The machines remove the coal from the mountain and create waste called “overburden,” which are pieces of the mountain that have been broken down. This overburden is typically hauled away and “deposited in valleys, creating valley fills which block or bury headwater streams in the area” (Dawson 2012). The EPA estimates that these valley fills are responsible for burying more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian headwater streams (“Ecological Impacts on Mountaintop Removal” 2013). Additionally, the toxic metals of this mining debris can also cause serious health impacts. The Obama Administration published the Stream Protection Rule on December 19, 2016. This rule placed strict limits on the amount of waste coal companies could dumb into waterways. This environmental regulation also required companies to create a plan for restoring damaged waterways to their natural state (Plumer
The mission of the EPA is to “protect human health and the environment” by writing and enforcing regulations (“Our Mission” 2017). The agency has initiated a number of general legislation bills to protect the environment that are still in place today such as the Clean Air Act, Safe Water Drinking Act, Endangered Species Preservation Act, and Solid Waste Disposal Act. For all of these legislations, the EPA officials place a maximum amount of pollutant that those stakeholders involved can pollute. The national government then depends on local branches to enforce and regulate the levels of the pollutant. Ideally, the government has enough knowledge to understand the appropriate amount of pollutant that can be emitted without harming environmental or human health.
Even though the EPA has had a strong influence over environmental regulations for the United States, there is disagreement rather this is the most effective measure. The new political transition, in particular, has highlighted the various opinions about government control and environmental regulations. These disagreements help display that there is a moral dilemma of rather or not national environmental regulation under the command and control method is an impairment on human rights or a necessity to human …show more content…
Mountaintop removal is “an invasive form of coal mining in which the soil, rock, and plant life of a mountain is destroyed… in order to mine the coal seams underneath” (Dawson 2012). This is an intensive process that requires massive deforestation, powerful explosives, and enormous machines. The machines remove the coal from the mountain and create waste called “overburden,” which are pieces of the mountain that have been broken down. This overburden is typically hauled away and “deposited in valleys, creating valley fills which block or bury headwater streams in the area” (Dawson 2012). The EPA estimates that these valley fills are responsible for burying more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian headwater streams (“Ecological Impacts on Mountaintop Removal” 2013). Additionally, the toxic metals of this mining debris can also cause serious health impacts. The Obama Administration published the Stream Protection Rule on December 19, 2016. This rule placed strict limits on the amount of waste coal companies could dumb into waterways. This environmental regulation also required companies to create a plan for restoring damaged waterways to their natural state (Plumer