Term
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Definition
| Precipitation containing a high concentration of acids produced by sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and other substances emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any pollutant for which a national ambient air quality standard does not exist, and which may reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer, developmental effects, reproductive dysfunctions, neurological disorders, or other serious or irreversible chronic or acute health effects in humans. |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Designation indicating whether a particular area meets a national ambient air quality standard for a pollutant. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under the 1990 amendments, an emission source may save or "bank" SO2 emission reductions that are in excess of regulatory requirements. |
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Term
| Best Available Control Technology (BACT) |
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Definition
| Technology standard determined on a case-by-case basis, required of major sources in PSD areas. |
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Term
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Definition
| Theory under which an imaginary structure is placed over existing and/or neighboring plants in determining the source of emissions for purposes of the Clean Air Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| A colorless, odorless gas. One of six criteria pollutants under the Clean Air Act. |
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Term
| Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) |
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Definition
| Chemical compounds containing carbon, fluorine, and chlorine atoms; these are easily liquified chemicals used in refrigeration, air conditioning, packaging, aerosol propellants, and insulating. CFCs are linked to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. |
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Term
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Definition
| Processes which convert coal to partially liquid form. |
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Term
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Definition
| A pollutant for which a national ambient air quality standard has been set by the EPA. Criteria pollutants include suspended particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, hydrocarbons, and lead. |
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Term
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Definition
| Policy adding flexibility to emissions control by utilizing bubbles, offsets, and banking of emission reduction credits. Generally, permits a course to emit more pollutants than is allowed if another source reduces its level of emissions by that amount. |
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Term
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Definition
| Emissions that do not pass through a stack, chimney, vent, or other equivalent opening. |
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Term
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Definition
| Occurs when the sun's energy passes through the air and is absorbed by the earth; the earth then radiates the energy as heat waves absorbed in the air. The air permits the passage of light but not of heat, creating an effect similar to a greenhouse. Absorption of radiated heat energy is due to pollutants or contaminants in the atmosphere, such as increased levels of CO2, not because of the air itself. |
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Term
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Definition
| Chemical compounds containing bromine, iodine, chlorine, and fluorine; halons are linked to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. |
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Term
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Definition
| A group of organic compounds containing hydrogen and carbon which contribute to photochemical pollution. |
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Term
| Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (LAER) |
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Definition
| Strictest possible limits on emissions from new or existing major stationary sources; applies in nonattainment areas. |
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Term
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Definition
| Source which emits or has the potential to emit a specified quantity of pollutants under the Clean Air Act. |
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Term
| Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) |
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Definition
| Emission rate based on best demonstrated control technology or practices; applies to air toxics under the Clean Air Act. |
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Term
| National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQSs) |
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Definition
| Include national primary and national secondary standards. National primary standards are set at a level of air quality necessary to protect the public health, allowing for an adequate margin of safety; national secondary standards are set at a standard necessary to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects associated with the presence of such pollutant in the ambient air. |
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Term
| New Source Performance Standards (NSPSs) |
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Definition
| Emission limitations for specific new or modified sources based on the best available control technology. |
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Term
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Definition
| Area shown by air quality modeling to exceed any national ambient air quality standard for a pollutant. Monitoring of nonattainment areas is required under the Clean Air Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| Photochemical oxidant significantly contributing to the formation of smog. Ozone is regulated as a criteria pollutant. |
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Term
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Definition
| Broad class of diverse substances existing as discrete particles in the air, including liquid droplets or solids. Particulate matter is regulated as PM10, that is, particulates of 10 microns or less, the respirable fraction. |
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Term
| Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) |
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Definition
| Program for attainment areas which requires preconstruction review and application of BACT for all firms within an industry category planning to construct or modify facilities within the area. |
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Term
| Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) |
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Definition
| Control equipment reasonably available and economically feasible for achieving the lowest emission limit applicable to a given source in nonattainment areas. |
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Term
| State Implementation Plan (SIP) |
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Definition
| Plan submitted by a state providing for attaining and maintaining established air quality standards. If the state does not submit an approvable plan, EPA must issue one for the state. |
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Term
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Definition
| Includes a building, structure, facility, or installation which emits or may emit an air pollutant. |
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Term
| Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) |
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Definition
| Petroleum-based organic compounds which mix with other substances in the air to form ozone. |
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Term
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Definition
| Best available technology economically achievable. |
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Term
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Definition
| Best conventional pollutant control technology. |
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Term
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Definition
| Best practicable control technology. |
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Term
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Definition
| Concentrated animal feeding operation, treated as "point source" under EPA CWA regulations. |
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Term
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Definition
| Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which as amended in 1972, became known as the Clean Water Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| Maximum contaminant level for drinking water set as close as feasible to the MCLG. |
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Term
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Definition
| Maximum contaminant level goals for contaminants under the Safe Drinking Water Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under the CWA, "waters of the United States, including the territorial seas" |
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Term
| Nonpoint Source Pollution |
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Definition
| Water pollution resulting from runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, or percolation. |
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Term
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Definition
| National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System under the CWA. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Oil Pollution Act of 1990. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under the CWA, an individual, corporation, partnership, association, state, municipality, commission, or political subdivision of a state, or any interstate body. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under the CWA, "any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance...from which pollutants are or may be discharged." The term does not include agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under the CWA, "dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials (except those regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954), heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water." |
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Term
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Definition
| Publicly owned treatment works. |
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Term
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Definition
| Standards for treating industrial discharges into a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) |
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Term
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Definition
| 33 U.S.C. 407 makes it unlawful to throw, discharge, or deposit any refuse matter, other than that flowing from streets and sewers and passing into a liquid state, into navigable waters. |
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Term
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Definition
| 33 U.S.C. 407 makes it unlawful to throw, discharge, or deposit any refuse matter, other than that flowing from streets and sewers and passing into a liquid state, into navigable waters. |
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Term
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Definition
| Spill prevention, control and countermeasure plans for owners and operators of non-transportation-related onshore facilities storing in excess of 1320 gallons of oil above ground or 42,000 gallons below ground. |
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Term
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Definition
| A collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs, and similar areas where land meets water. |
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Term
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Definition
| Contract provision which implies that a buyer is taking delivery of goods or property which may be defective and that he is purchasing the property upon the express condition that he must trust to his own examination. |
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Term
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Definition
| Traditional doctrine ""let the buyer beware". |
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Term
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Definition
| More modern doctrine "let the seller beware" |
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Term
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Definition
| Comprehensive general liability policy. |
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Term
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Definition
| Something of legal value given in exchange for an act or a promise. |
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Term
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Definition
| A legally enforceable promise. |
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Term
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Definition
| Contract promise or agreement. |
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Term
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Definition
| Compensation in money for a loss or damage. |
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Term
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Definition
| Contract provision whereby one party denies responsibility for certain events or occurrences. |
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Term
| Implied warranty of habitability |
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Definition
| Warranty implied in law that a new structure will be habitable and fit for occupation. |
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Term
| Implied warranty of merchantability |
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Definition
| Warranty imposed by law in contracts for the sale of goods that the goods are "merchantable" |
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Term
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Definition
| Third party who does not acquire the right to enforce a contract because the contract was not designed to benefit the third party even though benefit to the third party is a by-product of the contract. |
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Term
| Indemnification Agreement |
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Definition
| An agreement by which one person promises to reimburse another person, or hold him harmless, for loss of damage. |
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Term
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Definition
| Theories used in cases where plaintiffs seek to recover damages for personal injury or property damage as a result of a defective product. |
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Term
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Definition
| Express contractual provision giving a party the right to cancel a contract upon the occurrence of some event. |
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Term
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Definition
| Performance of a contract compelled by the court. |
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Term
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Definition
| Statute which prescribes time limits on the right to bring certain legal actions. |
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Term
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Definition
| Product liability theory which holds the manufacturer of a defective product liable for physical harm or property damage suffered by the purchaser even though the seller exercised all reasonable care in the preparation and sale of the product. |
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Term
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Definition
| A contract or contract term which is procedurally and substantively unfair; a contract which "no man in his senses would make and no fair and honest man would accept." |
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Term
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Definition
| A contractual promise that a fact is true. |
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Term
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Definition
| Provision of the Federal Food, Drug, and cosmetic ct which banned the intentional addition to food of substances known to cause cancer in animals. Repealed in 1996. |
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Term
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Definition
| Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act |
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Term
| Interagency Testing Committee |
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Definition
| Agency set up under TSCA which sets priorities for testing chemical substances and mistures. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
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Term
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Definition
| Premanufacture notice under the Toxic Substances Control Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| Significant new use rule issued under the Toxic Substances Control Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| Toxic Substance Control Act |
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Term
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Definition
| An inventory of all existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act. |
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Term
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Definition
| Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. |
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Term
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Definition
| Code of Federal Regulations |
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Term
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Definition
| Under RCRA, soil, groundwater, surface water, and debris contaminated with hazardous waste are considered hazardous waste. |
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Term
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Definition
| Parties at a site which have disposed of relatively small quantities of hazardous substances. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under RCRA, a waste generated from the treatment, storage, or disposal of a hazardous waste is also a hazardous waste unless exempted. |
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Term
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Definition
| Department of Transportation |
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Term
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Definition
| Emergency Planning and community Right to Know Act established in Title III of SARA. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under CERCLA, any site at which hazardous waste has come to be located. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under RCRA, a person whose act or process produces hazardous waste or whose act first causes hazardous waste to become subject to regulation. |
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Term
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Definition
| hazardous Materials Transportation Act, which gives the Department of Transportation authority to regulate the movement of hazardous substances. |
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Term
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Definition
| Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (to RCRA) of 1984 |
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Term
| Innocent Landowner Defense |
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Definition
| Under CERCLA, a landowner who acquired property after contamination is not liable if he had no knowledge of the contamination or no reason to know of the contamination. |
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Term
| Joint and Several Liability |
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Definition
| All defendants are liable for the entire amount of damages imposed by the court. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under RCRA, a mixture of a listed hazardous waste and solid waste is considered hazardous waste unless exempted. |
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Term
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Definition
| National Contingency Plan under CERCLA, which establishes procedures for cleanup response actions. |
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Term
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Definition
| national Priorities List under CERCLA, in which the EPA ranks each hazardous waste site with respect to priority to cleanup. |
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Term
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Definition
| Potentially responsible party under Section 107 of CERCLA. |
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Term
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Definition
| Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976. |
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Term
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Definition
| Long-term permanent cleanup responses under CERCLA. |
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Term
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Definition
| Short-term emergency response actions under CERCLA. |
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Term
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Definition
| Costs of cleanup which may be recovered under CERCLA. |
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Term
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Definition
| Liability imposed for acts done prior to passage of the law imposing such liability. |
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Term
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Definition
| Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. |
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Term
| Security Interest Exemption. |
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Definition
| Under CERCLA, exemption from liability fora person who, without participating in the management of a vessel or facility, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect his security interest. |
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Term
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Definition
| Under RCRA, generators of hazardous substances between 100 and 1,000 kilograms per month. |
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Term
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Definition
| Liability without proof of negligence. |
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Term
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Definition
| A facility for the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes. |
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Term
| Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest |
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Definition
| Control and transport document required by RCRA originating with the generator and accompanying the hazardous waste to the place of disposal. |
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Term
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Definition
| Underground storage tanks, regulated under Subtitle I of RCRA. |
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Term
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Definition
| One of the "Five Pillars" of the Rio Conference (along with the Rio Declaration, Statement of Forest Principles, Convention on Climate Change, and Convention on Biological Diversity), the agenda is a lengthy document identifying and addressing global environmental problems and describing action necessary to address those problems. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Agreement forbidding the export of hazardous waste to countries unless notice and consent is given. |
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Term
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Definition
| Issued in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development, this stressed the importance of environmental protection for the developing world and introduced the concept of sustainable development. |
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Term
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Definition
| An international treaty or agreement. |
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Term
| Convention on Biological Diversity |
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Definition
| A controversial proposal presented at the Rio conference (which the U.S. refused to sign), this convention outlined the need to preserve biological diversity and addressed the financial interest of developing countries in plant and animal life. |
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Term
| Convention on Climate Change |
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Definition
| Adopted at the Rio Conference, a convention generally recognizing the need to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. |
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Term
| Customary International Law |
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Definition
| General guiding principles recognized by nations as a source of international law. |
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Term
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Definition
| A program facilitating international cooperation in research activities, monitoring, and information exchange first established by the Stockholm Conference |
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Term
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Definition
| The European Economic Community established under the Maastrict Treaty. |
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Term
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Definition
| The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade |
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Term
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Definition
| International Council of Scientific Unions, which undertakes and updates environmental research. |
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Term
| International Law Commission |
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Definition
| Commission created by the United Nations General Assembly, charged with developing and codifying international law. |
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Term
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Definition
| The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and supports international conventions designed to conserve such resources. |
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Term
| Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer |
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Definition
| Effective in 1989, an international agreement wherein parties agreed to take certain specific actions to address the problem of changes in the atmospheric ozone layer. |
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Term
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Definition
| The North American Free Trade Agreement |
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Term
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Definition
| Nongovernmental organizations which are often very active and effective in lobbying for environmental policies to protect the environment. |
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Term
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Definition
| Nongovernmental organizations which are often very active and effective in lobbying for environmental policies to protect the environment. |
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Term
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Definition
| Organization of African Unity |
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Term
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Definition
| Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, responsible for adopting environmental policies which have led to international conventions. |
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Term
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Definition
| Office of the United States Trade Representative. |
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Term
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Definition
| Declaration of principles adopted at the 1972 Rio conference for the ecologically sound management of the environment. |
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Term
| Statement of Forest Principles |
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Definition
| A non-legally binding statemnt of principles for management, conservation, and sustainable development of forests adopted at teh 1972 Rio Converence. |
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Term
| Stockholm Conference on the Environment |
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Definition
| The first "Earth Summit," held in 1972, which adopted a Declaration on Principles of the International Law of the Environment. |
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Term
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Definition
| Economic development which meets the demands of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. |
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Term
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Definition
| 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, also known as the Rio Conference and the Earth Summit. |
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Term
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Definition
| United Nations Environment Program, which coordinates global environmental initiatives. |
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Term
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Definition
| U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-level post who coordinates and formulates international trade policy. |
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Term
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Definition
| U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-level post who coordinates and formulates international trade policy. |
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Term
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Definition
| World Health Organization, created under the auspices of the United Nations. |
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Term
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Definition
| Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1982, this charter recognizes humans' responsibility to maintain the quality of nature and to conserve the world's natural resources. |
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Term
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Definition
| Organization created under the Uruguay Round of GATT to oversee the global trade agreement. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Worldwide Fund for Nature, which collects and distributes funds for global conservation activities. |
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