United States Command approach

The United States s approach toward dealing with environmental problems has evolved since the early stages of the environmental movement in the 1960s and early 1970s. Most approaches have centered around the command and control approach to pollution. In its earliest form this involved the government allowing potential releasers of toxic substances to release materials only in certain limited... 

He was a leader on the street, and in the committee rooms where the nitty-gritty of hazardous materials response in the United States is thrashed out. Chief John Eversole was approachable to all persons and eloquent in expressing his thoughts. He also had a definite command presence on an incident scene gained through long command experience. John, we are going to miss you. 

Coal from fossil-fuel fired electric utilities accounts for most of SO2 emissions in the United States. Title IV of the 1990 CAAA set an annual 9 million ton cap on SO2 emissions from all fossil fuel fired electric utilities. This cap, which is to be fully achieved by 2010, requires the affected electric utilities to reduce their aggregate SO2 emissions by 10 million tons below their 1980 levels. Along with requiring substantial SO2 reductions. Title IV also abandoned the command-and-control approach to the regulation of utilities, where utilities were required to meet individual emission standards set by regulators, in favor of a more flexible, cost-efficient tradable permit... 

In the late 1990s, three paradigm shifts converged to cause the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move away from command and control toward a more collaborative approach with its historic antagonists to achieve the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) policy goal that adequate data...be developed with respect to the effect of chemical substances and mixtures on health and the environment...[by] those who manufacture. .. [and]. .. process such chemical substances and mixtures. ... 

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was passed into law in 1976, the heyday of command-and-control environmental legislation supported by severe penalties for violations. In line with this approach, Congress gave the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the courts many tools to enforce the statute s provisions. 

The current status of environmental protection in the United States is constructed from a generation of statutes and regulations. The vast majority of these regulations were written at a time where command and control approaches to environmental protection was the order of the day. Many of these laws require... 

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