ESS233 Final exam study guide with complete
accurate answers .latest updates
Post WWII = lots of new chemicals with no regulations, 1953 Hooker Chemical sold site to Niagara Falls
School Board, 1,000 families affected (higher miscarriage rates, birth defects) - >>Love Canal
State said site could be harmful due to toxic waste and Carter declared it a federal disaster area, $200
million paid out to state/federal government/residents - >>Love Canal: 1978
Resident/primary organizer of the Love Canal Homeowners Association, brought public attention to Love
Canal (Beverly Paigen), founded the Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste in 1981 to train/support local
activists - >>Lois Gibbs
Love Canal study that showed higher birth defects in area, geneticists with NY State health department,
whistle blower - >>Beverly Paigen
1980, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act/Superfund, aims to
identify hazardous waste sites and clean them up on priority basis - >>CERCLA
Worse sites put on National Priorities List (NPL)/scheduled for cleanup, EPA can clean up sites, make
responsible parties pay, need to make sure fund is not drawn down, address brownfield problem by
protecting developers who agree to build on formerly hazardous sites - >>How does CERCLA achieve
goals?
1984, Union Carbide plant released 40 tons of Methyl Isocyanate, about 5,000 killed/500,000 injured,
small accident in Virginia, broad concern about risk - >>Bhopal, India
1986, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act/SARA Title III, aimed to increase
transparency to residents about chemical hazards by requiring EPA to establish the Toxic Release
Inventory (TRI), an inventory of toxic chemical emissions from large emitters - >>EPCRA
,1986, Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (amended CERCLA), added minimum cleanup
requirements, required most agreements with polluters enter in federal court to be subject to public
comment - >>SARA
Yes!, 456 NPL sites deleted by 2023 - >>Was CERCLA effective?
Initially funded by a tax on crude oil/imported petroleum products, chemical feedstocks/imported
chemical derivatives, and an environmental tax on corporate income; funding expired in 1995 -
>>Funding the CERCLA Superfund: 1995
Primarily financed from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury - >>Funding the CERCLA Superfund: 1995 -
2021
Infrastructure Act reauthorized Superfund chemicals tax through 2031, Build Back Better Act
permanently reauthorized the petroleum excise tax - >>Funding the CERCLA Superfund: Post-2021
1965, precursor to RCRA, encouraged states to develop waste management programs - >>Solid Waste
Disposal Act
1976, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, prior to 1960s poor/no requirements for waste disposal;
gave EPA authority to control hazardous waste from cradle-to-grave and to penalize; defined classes of
waste, tracking system, handling standards; prevent Superfund sites! - >>RCRA
All or nothing statue (covered or not), regulates disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste,
not waste that pasts through public water treatment plants (CWA), municipal garbage, or irrigation
waste - >>What waste is included under RCRA?
1984 RCRA amendment, Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment, extended RCRA regulation to liquid
underground storage tanks (LUSTs) - >>HSWA
Laws ban open dumping of waste, set minimum federal criteria for municipal waste and industrial waste
landfills - >>Non-hazardous waste/RCRA
, 1976, Toxic Substances Control Act, response to 1971 report from CEQ, requires federal government to
regulate both new and existing chemicals that present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the
environment, but don't create economic barriers (unlike ESA) - >>TSCA
Confidential business information, loop hole under TSCA that allows companies to not report what's in
chemicals - >>CBI
TSCA Section 5 - >>
TSCA Section 6 - >>
Very few chemicals regulated; six chemicals receive special attention, PCBs, asbestos, radon, lead,
formaldehyde, mercury; also regulated metalworking fluids, hexavalent chromium, dioxin - >>How
effective is TSCA?
Polychlorinated biphenyls, 1929-1979 (banned), chlorinated = don't break down easily, lots of negative
health impacts (cancer, immune system, etc.), singled out in original TSCA law in 1976 through phased
ban - >>PCBs
1899, required a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for discharge of "refuse" into rivers/harbors
to prevent obstacles for boats, Supreme court ruled it could be applied to pollution - >>Rivers and
Harbors Act (Refuse Act)
1924, authorized the Secretary of the Army to regulate oil discharge from ships - >>Oil Pollution Control
Act
1948, CWA lead up, Congress becoming interested in clean water (state/local issue before), federal
government can aid states/local governments with water pollution through grants, limited enforcement,
water quality continued to decline - >>1948 Water Quality Act
1956, CWA lead up, expanded 1948 WQA, water quality continued to decline - >>Federal Water Pollution
Control Act
accurate answers .latest updates
Post WWII = lots of new chemicals with no regulations, 1953 Hooker Chemical sold site to Niagara Falls
School Board, 1,000 families affected (higher miscarriage rates, birth defects) - >>Love Canal
State said site could be harmful due to toxic waste and Carter declared it a federal disaster area, $200
million paid out to state/federal government/residents - >>Love Canal: 1978
Resident/primary organizer of the Love Canal Homeowners Association, brought public attention to Love
Canal (Beverly Paigen), founded the Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste in 1981 to train/support local
activists - >>Lois Gibbs
Love Canal study that showed higher birth defects in area, geneticists with NY State health department,
whistle blower - >>Beverly Paigen
1980, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act/Superfund, aims to
identify hazardous waste sites and clean them up on priority basis - >>CERCLA
Worse sites put on National Priorities List (NPL)/scheduled for cleanup, EPA can clean up sites, make
responsible parties pay, need to make sure fund is not drawn down, address brownfield problem by
protecting developers who agree to build on formerly hazardous sites - >>How does CERCLA achieve
goals?
1984, Union Carbide plant released 40 tons of Methyl Isocyanate, about 5,000 killed/500,000 injured,
small accident in Virginia, broad concern about risk - >>Bhopal, India
1986, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act/SARA Title III, aimed to increase
transparency to residents about chemical hazards by requiring EPA to establish the Toxic Release
Inventory (TRI), an inventory of toxic chemical emissions from large emitters - >>EPCRA
,1986, Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (amended CERCLA), added minimum cleanup
requirements, required most agreements with polluters enter in federal court to be subject to public
comment - >>SARA
Yes!, 456 NPL sites deleted by 2023 - >>Was CERCLA effective?
Initially funded by a tax on crude oil/imported petroleum products, chemical feedstocks/imported
chemical derivatives, and an environmental tax on corporate income; funding expired in 1995 -
>>Funding the CERCLA Superfund: 1995
Primarily financed from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury - >>Funding the CERCLA Superfund: 1995 -
2021
Infrastructure Act reauthorized Superfund chemicals tax through 2031, Build Back Better Act
permanently reauthorized the petroleum excise tax - >>Funding the CERCLA Superfund: Post-2021
1965, precursor to RCRA, encouraged states to develop waste management programs - >>Solid Waste
Disposal Act
1976, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, prior to 1960s poor/no requirements for waste disposal;
gave EPA authority to control hazardous waste from cradle-to-grave and to penalize; defined classes of
waste, tracking system, handling standards; prevent Superfund sites! - >>RCRA
All or nothing statue (covered or not), regulates disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste,
not waste that pasts through public water treatment plants (CWA), municipal garbage, or irrigation
waste - >>What waste is included under RCRA?
1984 RCRA amendment, Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment, extended RCRA regulation to liquid
underground storage tanks (LUSTs) - >>HSWA
Laws ban open dumping of waste, set minimum federal criteria for municipal waste and industrial waste
landfills - >>Non-hazardous waste/RCRA
, 1976, Toxic Substances Control Act, response to 1971 report from CEQ, requires federal government to
regulate both new and existing chemicals that present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the
environment, but don't create economic barriers (unlike ESA) - >>TSCA
Confidential business information, loop hole under TSCA that allows companies to not report what's in
chemicals - >>CBI
TSCA Section 5 - >>
TSCA Section 6 - >>
Very few chemicals regulated; six chemicals receive special attention, PCBs, asbestos, radon, lead,
formaldehyde, mercury; also regulated metalworking fluids, hexavalent chromium, dioxin - >>How
effective is TSCA?
Polychlorinated biphenyls, 1929-1979 (banned), chlorinated = don't break down easily, lots of negative
health impacts (cancer, immune system, etc.), singled out in original TSCA law in 1976 through phased
ban - >>PCBs
1899, required a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for discharge of "refuse" into rivers/harbors
to prevent obstacles for boats, Supreme court ruled it could be applied to pollution - >>Rivers and
Harbors Act (Refuse Act)
1924, authorized the Secretary of the Army to regulate oil discharge from ships - >>Oil Pollution Control
Act
1948, CWA lead up, Congress becoming interested in clean water (state/local issue before), federal
government can aid states/local governments with water pollution through grants, limited enforcement,
water quality continued to decline - >>1948 Water Quality Act
1956, CWA lead up, expanded 1948 WQA, water quality continued to decline - >>Federal Water Pollution
Control Act
