SRS - Environmental Law (Lesson)

Introduction

In recent years there has been an emerging awareness of and concern over issues impacting our environment. This growing awareness has led to the development of many aspects of environmental law.

Environmental law not only governs the protection of the natural environment, specifically protection against pollution; it also focuses on the management of natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or wildlife and fisheries.

In this lesson, we will discuss some of the basic principles of environmental law.

Environmental Laws

Environment law is a network of treaties, statutes, regulations, common, and customary laws affecting human activity on our natural environment and our natural resources. There are numerous federal and state laws formed to assure that the environment be protected against both public and private actions that fail to take account of costs or harms inflicted on the environment. These laws regulate a number of factors relating to the environment and business operations, including but not limited to – clean air, clean water, endangered plants and animals, resource conservation, disposal of waste, and disposal and cleanup of hazardous waste.

Review the presentation below for a look at some of the primary legislations enacted in support of protection of the environment.

Let's Review!

Take a moment to participate in the following activity to practice your understanding of the topics in this module.  Reach out to your instructor if you have any questions.

Final Thoughts

Environmental law is a variety of protections with the goal of protecting our environment. It is a complex mix of federal, state, and local laws, regulations, policies, science, and health related concerns.

With a constantly changing environment, the legal system governing environmental issues must constantly adjust.

What we have covered in this microlesson very narrowly defines the overall capacity of environmental law. In general, environmental statutes grant power to administrative agencies, such as the EPA, to provide and promote regulations to protect and help sustain our environment.

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