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Each year, five hundred thirty thousand tons of hazardous waste are disposed of in the United States alone. Most houses, with an average of four people, produce about twenty pounds of this waste (Solid). Hazardous waste is special because it is harmful and very dangerous. It is deemed hazardous if it contains one or more carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic compounds. This means that they are either cancer causing, capable of damaging our DNA, or can interfere with human fetal development. They are either flammable, may explode, may release toxic fumes, or may break down metal containers that would hold normal waste (Garbage). It is illegal to dispose of hazardous waste incorrectly, however, many humans do regardless. Batteries, e-waste from old computers and electronics, cleaners, solvents, antifreeze, oil-based paints, and thinners are examples of household hazardous waste that is often disposed improperly (Garbage).There are governmental regulations that work to prevent improper disposal and encourage the cleanup of improperly disposed waste. The EPA has the power to manage hazardous waste and how it is disposed of including superfund sites. A Superfund site is a declared site that has been used as a hazardous waste disposal area, and has high toxicity levels. Within the superfund, there is the NPL, the National Priorities list, that has the most toxic sites, lots of times located in family neighborhoods and communities. The main reason for the NPL is to cleanup the most dangerous cases as soon as possible, but why? Hazardous waste must be controlled because it is impacting our communities’ health, economies, and quality of life.
Hazardous waste is impacting health in communities. Hazardous waste contains many toxins such...
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...ironmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. .
"Superfund Provides Communities with Significant Human Health, Environmental and Economic Benefits." EPA. United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. .
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Dec. 2002. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. .
"This is Superfund: A Citizen's Guide to EPA's Superfund Program." EPA. United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014. .
Tox Town. National Library of Medicine, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. .
Ashton, John. "KENEDY, MIFFLIN." 15 June 2010. Handbook of Texas Online. Web. 5 May 2014. .
...fund Site. EPA Cooperative Agreement #V-006449-01-N. U Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 2006.
All three of these examples prove that pollution is happening in Texas and that it is important for residents to get involved if they want a change to happen. Sometimes, even governmental agencies cannot stop pollution. We must take care of our natural resources, especially land and water, because they are non-renewable. We want our state to be clean for our grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. This will not happen unless residents of these toxic waste sites take action and let their voices be heard. Besides, whatever happened to the slogan, “Don’t Mess With Texas?”
City of Los Angeles Environmental Affairs Department. “L.A. Made a Difference!” Los Angeles, CA: US. 1998. www.cityofla.org/EAD/article3.htm
The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA is the result of a 1970 executive order by President Richard Nixon for the purpose of protecting the environment of the United States through regulation on business and citizens. Public opinion on the Environmental Protection Agency has been divided fairly evenly across the population of the United States as of recently, as compared to the widespread public concern of the 50’s and 60’s that led to the agency’s creation. Recently the agency has come under scrutiny for its contributions of millions of dollars in grants to researchers in order to hide the potential trade off of its actions in order to further the agency’s agenda. The EPA’s ever-expanding regulation could end up harming more than it actually
The Superfund program, which was better known as just Superfund, is also known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability act (CERLA) of 1980 was developed by the federal government as a way to preserve and protect the ecosystem and to clean up toxic, uncontrolled, abandoned hazardous waste sites. (Boorse & Wright, 2011, p.577). The Superfund program cleans up any hazardous waste, be it abandoned, accidentally spilled, or illegally dumped; any of which may pose a threat to future or current health or the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency works with the community, the responsible parties or the potential responsible party in identifying these hazardous waste sites in formulating plans to clean up these sites. Superfund provides laws and standards for the disposal and storage of such wastes. In addition, the Superfund program provides emergency financial support to existing environmental agencies to monitor removal of toxins, and to provide emergency cleanup services, provide monetary reparation to people who faced health or financial difficulties and concerns from toxic waste, and, if needed, to help enact emergency evacuation procedures. Superfund also provides for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites, and can establish a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries to make available for cleanup when no responsible party could be recognized. The National Priorities List, or NPL, is a list of the worst hazardous waste sites that have been identified by Superfund. (Boorse & Wright, 2011, p. 578). Any site on the NPL is eligible for cleanup using Superfund Trust money.
The environment and the health of the surrounding population go hand in hand. The Environmental Protection Agency takes on this ever so important mission of protecting them both. The mission statement of the EPA states, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Small Business Programs is to support the protection of human health and the environment by advocating and advancing the business, regulatory, and environmental compliance concerns of small and socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, and minority academic institutions (US Enviromental Protection Agency, 2010).” The impact of its mission can be defined clearly as it examines the impact of contamination in the air, the water, and the land on human health.
Toxic substances and Areas of concern: includes pollution prevention, clean up of the most polluted areas in the Great Lakes. Although many so...
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website is impressive with its cornucopia of data for maps that are area specific for information on energy, health-related issues, community activism, land (commercial or private property), water (private or public) and air quality. Although I knew the agency existed, until now I had had no reason to visit.
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Watershed Management Division Regional assessment of water quality in the Rio Grande Basin Austin, TX. 1994. Search." Accessed December 3, 2013.
Hazardous materials are in almost every community placing everyone at some level of contact with various chemicals almost daily as they exist throughout the community and in our households. Chemicals are used for a variety of purposes such as in the water purification process, by farmers to produce a higher crop yield and are used in households and almost every business. Not all chemicals are hazardous but most pose some level of risk to people...
In old batteries, there is a toxic lead that is causing health problems for the Taiwan people who are disposing these batteries (Gay, 12). Space is becoming a landfill from the excess of space flights and the radioactive supplies from nuclear reactors, which could come to our atmosphere and explode (Gay, 13). When businesses run out of space to dump their toxic trash they go to poor nations because they do not have strict safety regulations (Gay, 31). The landfills on Earth are not the only place trash is getting put. The ocean is being trashed with plastic bags, soda can holders, and large fishnets, which are harming dolphins, turtles, sea lions, and others (Gay, 69). Military bases in the U.S have more hazardous waste and are responsible for contamination in soil and waters (Gay, 83). There are other hazards happening because we are throwing away so much stuff that companies have to remake all of those products. Incinerators are places where waste is burned to ashes and if we recycle these can go away. Incinerators cause sulfur dioxide, carbon m...
Wildavsky, A. (1995). But is it true? A citizen’s guide to environmental health and safety issues. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Traditional methods of waste disposal have proven to be ineffective and have caused harmful effects on the environment. The most popular and inexpensive way to get rid of garbage is burial, but burying your problems does not necessarily mean getting rid of them. Landfill sites pose as severe ecological threats as these mass garbage dump yards overflow with trash and frequently contaminate our air, soil and water with hazardous wastes. About 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year1. A large-scale release of these materials can cause thousands of deaths and may poison the environment for many years. For example many industrial companies around the world cannot afford to enforce the strict pollution regulations set by many developed countries. This usually forces these types of companies to move to developing countries where pollution regulations are very lenient. These developing countries knowingly accept environmentally hazardous companies usually because they are in desperate need of employment. The harmful effects of these companies were clearly illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. The root was later found to be a local industry that had released mercury, a highly toxic element, into Minamata Bay. The disaster had claimed the lives of 400 people1. Since 1970 you can bet that a lot more than 400 people have died as a result of waste disposal. If the type of waste disposal were cheaper and effective we wouldn’t have to deal with waste problems, which still plague mankind today.
"What YOU Can Do to Prevent NPS Pollution." Home. EPA, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.