1 / 10

Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy. Environmental Policy Overall. Very hectic and varied opinions Activist scientists vs skeptic scientists Clean Air Act passed in 1963 and revised in 1970, 1977 and 1990

hamish-medina
Download Presentation

Environmental Policy

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Environmental Policy

  2. Environmental Policy Overall Very hectic and varied opinions Activist scientists vs skeptic scientists Clean Air Act passed in 1963 and revised in 1970, 1977 and 1990  -> created to control air pollution and requires EPA to enforce laws that will protect the public from contaminants that are hazardous to human health People show little interest in the environment. For example, great opposition to Endangered Species Act of 1973 and of states trying to implement car pools 1

  3. Why Acid Rain Is the Most Pressing Issue All issues are pressing:     Lack of clarity = hard for Congress to fix the problems         ->Cannot come to a consensus over an act, so problems go unsolved However, acid rain has been the source of the most problems:     Incorporates most environmental problems into one         ->Acidification of lakes = Danger to species            Destruction of forests = Species lose habitats   Possibility that acid rain taints the soils used to grow crops            Visibility is lessened by air particles            Materials and resources- dry depositation causes damage             HUMAN HEALTH- chemicals can enter the system through various manners (airborne, in fish that are consumed, metals seeping into pipes)  1, 2

  4. Causes of Acid Rain Burning of fuel that is sulfuric "Some of the sulfur (along with nitrogen) will turn into sulfuric (or nitric) acid as it comes to earth" Steel mills and electric power plans with high sulfur coal are mostly in the Midwest and Great Lake regions of the U.S. Winds carry the fumes eastward, causing acid rain all over the U.S.Controversial to solve this because these are sources of energy 1

  5. Possible Solutions and Compromises Solution/Compromise:                     Pros and Cons:     Burn low-sulfur coal                           - Very expensive                                                                         - Low-sulfur coal is in West                                                                         - Electric powerplants are in MidWest                                                                            -> Costly to manufacture low-sulfur      Install smokestack scrubbers          - Allow use of inexpensive high-sulfur            ->devices that would  take            coal               sulfurous fumes out of             - Scrubbers are costly and not always               the gas before it leaves                 effective               the smokestack 1,3

  6. Congress Takes Action Congress voted for scrubbers  Protected jobs of high sulfur coal miners, environmentalists preferred it because "far preferable to relying on incentives to induce power plants to buy low sulfur coal." Eastern governors liked it because putting scrubbers in Midwestern factories is costly, so factories in their states would not close down and move to the West

  7. Disadvantages of Solutions  Scrubbers did not work well 13-year stalemate in Congress because of opposition between interest groups      ->when there was a solution it was only a compromise President Bush proposed a two- step regulation:     Before 1995-         fixed amount of reduction in sulfur emissions that powerplants were required to meet         some power plants could choose their approach      After 1995:          sharper emission reductions for more plants          required some use of scrubbers 1

  8. What We Can Do Conserve energy Car pool What Congress Can Do Solar power Wind power Burn low-sulfur coal   3 What Should Be Done?

  9. Bibliography Pictures http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1600&bih=664&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=r8Ra_XYspPQm4M:& imgrefurl=http://www.gasdetection.com/news2/health_news_digest55.html& docid=L4JGCprOqIFaxM&imgurl=http://www.gasdetection.com/news2/acid_ rain_4_hnd.gif&w=270&h=270&ei=GkcWT8-kGMPu0gGYreyIAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=203&sig=111281398563770913 295&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=161&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0& tx=102&ty=48  http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1600&bih=664&tbm=isch&tbnid=E-J2nhKUF1xhtM:&imgrefurl=http://my.opera.com/musickna/albums/showpic. dml%3Falbum%3D464865%26picture%3D6603112&docid=ErgJ4YXm7E5z8M&imgurl=http://files.myopera.com /musickna/albums/464865/smokestacks.jpg&w=800&h=533&ei=fUcWT-qXFMnZ0QGt_PH9Ag&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=93&sig=1112813985637709 13295&page=2&tbnh=150&tbnw=166&start=24&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:7, s:24&tx=35&ty=81 http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1600&bih=664&tbm=isch&tbnid=dndip02EVD0MaM:&imgrefurl=http://queenbstudio.blogspot.com/2010/06/ whoa-earthquake.html&docid=AUQRupETeF_4sM&imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ZNQAcy6pe2Q/TCYHXYsmz5I/AAAAAAAABW s/oYsw6hTnu8U/s1600/band-aid-earth.jpg&w=337&h=319&ei=tEcWT-6MDobm0QGCqdDxAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=141&sig=111281398563770913295&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=146&start=0&nd sp=24&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=90&ty=87 http://www.maine.gov/dep/air/acidrain/images/arain1.jpg http://www.larkins.ie/assets/images/environmental-policy.jpg http://www.bayareaalliance.org/images/e-Environment.jpg

  10. Bibliography • Wilson, James Q. American Government. Edited by Jean L.       Woy. Charles Hartford, 2004.   2. Campbell, Neil A. and Reece, Jane B. "Campbell Biology     Sixth Edition." Illinois: Pearson Education Inc.                     2002. 3.  "Acid Rain." New York State Department of Environmental      Conservation. Accessed January 14, 2012. http://www.dec.       ny.gov/chemical/8418.html. 

More Related