Question #3 Two acts passed by congress, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) were made to control the creation, distribution, and disposal of hazardous waste from cradle to grave. They hold people who have mishandled toxic substances accountable for the damage they have done there is a spill or leakage, both past and present. RCRA seeks to prevent spills before they happen by imposing strict regulations on the handling of hazardous wastes. CERCLA (or the Superfund) main goal is to clean up hazardous sites after a spill has occurred, and generate the money to do so.…
Abstract This paper details the causes and extent of the pollution at Tar Creek Superfund site in Ottawa County, Oklahoma. This Superfund site is a heavy metal-contaminated area that was created by the aftermath of zinc and lead mining operations throughout the 1900s. The pollution has put local inhabitants at risk of different health issues, and while risk assessments have shown that no significant health risks are obvious compared to the rest of the state of Oklahoma, blood lead levels have been recorded to be high in Ottawa county children. Many different organizations, both government and private, are involved in the remediation of Tar Creek Superfund site.…
The regularly acknowledged issues of oilfield drilling are clearly faced in Pinedale, and these issues have been handled nicely in both the Jonah field and the Pinedale anticline. In a personal interview with Pinedale’s local high school energy explorations teacher, Debra Noble, the effects of the oilfield on both the citizens of the town, as well as its environmental impacts are discussed. The teacher points out that throughout Sublette County, most of the wells are located on public land which is thought to make the “operators take better care of the land. They have to follow all of the BLM's guidelines and make sure that they monitor wildlife, air quality, water quality, and recreational opportunities.” While, in areas of the country where all the wells are on private land, the companies are able to cut corners and not be as environmentally conscious.…
This chemical water pollution has affected the quality of the Wynnum creek because……; which essentially will later affect Moreton Bay and its wildlife and waterways because the oil will not…
It has been complicating issue what the US government approach regarding the use of plastic material. In case study revealed Lake Apopka, Florida’s third largest lake encountered a chemical spill in 1980 abolishing alligator population and other agricultural affect with endocrine disrupters. The function of plastic provides utilization in our day to day life. Products manufacture creates flexible material cause to exist it in our society though convenient in our day to day use. Plastic contribute our society in unique meaning in a number of improvement in technology development including advancements in satellites, shuttles, aircraft, and missiles.…
The Chattahoochee River, Georgia’s most heavily-used water source, is home to a variety of fish and a supplier of over 70% of the drinking water in metro Atlanta; it was also ranked number three on America’s ‘most endangered’ list. Each day, more than 250 million gallons of sewage waste water is dumped in to river, so news that the river is constantly contaminated with E. coli is no surprise. Even with the vast amount of contamination, Georgia allows the dumping of waste to continue; they give out permits to dump in the waters. Without proper laws and regulations, the continued dumping of waste on the Chattahoochee River will eventually cause it to become too contaminated for human use and wildlife survival. The Chattahoochee River begins in the northeast of Georgia and continues down 524 miles to Apalachicola Bay, Florida.…
The United States’ has been using oil to fuel the needs of people and businesses for an extensive period of time. The country’s reliance on oil is a huge factor in maintaining the stability of the country. Though many advocate as to why the Keystone XL Pipeline will leave a positive impact on the country through economic prosperity and secured borders, many are consumed by the thoughts of potential damages and…
The effects of the environmental damage on the navajo nation was that there was a giant waste spill tainted rivers on August 25 in southwestern Colorado. Which this caused damage to the people, river, and life blood. 88,000 pounds of metals poured into the rivers, EPA has taken full responsibility. This was mentioned on page 2. Pages 1 and 2 talk about what has happened and what they are going to do to fix the issues and if they will do anything.…
It is left with gaping holes. But the reality is that these toxic eventually find their way to clean water streams used for domestic purposes. This is evident from the plight of communities living around the Northern Alberta are in Canada. At Fort Chipewyan, small towns of less than 1500 people, hundreds of people have died of cancer ranging from skin cancers to those affecting the internal organs (Friends of Earth). This is just the beginning; the construction of Keystone XL will see this multiply and spread.…
The Pacific Northwest was once full of an abundance of untapped resources, it was barely populated and was the definition of a hinterland. As the Pacific Northwest started to become known and resources started to become majorly exploited and shipped, we slowly become what we are now, not a hinterland. After all the overuse and misuse of the land we are not and will never hinterland again. The definition of a hinterland is defined as parts of the country that is less developed and unchartered. The Pacific Northwest use to be a hinterland, but as this area grew with the railroad system that brought people here.…
total of 283 million tons of coal were mined, providing about 64% of the state’s electrical production (Reese and Loughlin, 61). ” Mining has caused severe environmental impacts ranging from the toxic chemicals seeping into the watershed, the altering of landscapes, and large amounts of waste (Reese and Loughlin, 61). New laws have been developed in order to reverse the negative trends from mining, which include the following: Abandoned Mine Land law, Open Cut Land Reclamation Act, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (Reese and Loughlin, 62)…
Rash throughout his poems reviles many aspects of what life was like in the Appalachian world. The writer shows the different hardships that were faced and the values that were taught in the Appalachian. The hardships from the farmland to timberland to mill work have a large impact on the members of the Appalachian and not in a positive way. Rash sets up a common theme through his poems that indicates that life was not easy in his world. These themes are most vividly expressed in, “Spring Fever” where the writer talks about how six weeks of work could easily be destroyed in minutes.…
Air Pollution Policy and Controversy Rachel Carson boldly warned the American people in 1962 that if the United States continued its agricultural and industrial practices, songbirds would cease to exist. Losing an important part of the ecological food chain would have repercussions, possibly worse than we could imagine. While literature like Silent Spring helped bring attention to environmental concerns in the mid to late 1900s, several fatal disasters struck a stronger chord. Smog in Pennsylvania and the fire-lit Cuyahoga, for example, illustrated just how dearly the environment needed policy reform.…
I have a dream of a future where humans take care of the environment. A society that takes pride in keeping the air clean, our natural habitats untouched, and our oceans free of pollution. It is time to become more educated about how our environment is damaged by contamination caused by fracking, oil drilling, and raw sewage. The pollutants leak into the land, enter the water systems, and air at nearby sites.…
Vast areas of wildlife habitat, the most biologically diverse forest in North America, have been obliterated. 2000 miles of streams have been filled or severely degraded by mining waste, all in the pursuit of coal (Butler, 2009). The rather benign term flyrock is defined as everything that scatters when the explosives are detonated (Reece, 2007 p 88). This decimation seems to only be for one thing, profit. Coal corporations are profiting ridiculously from this heinous activity and there seems to be nothing to stop it.…