ABSTRACT
Environmental regulations deal with the problems of human activities and the environment, and the uncertainties the law associates with them. Federal laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act all mandate involvement by state and local government in the details of implementation. Enforcement approaches for environmental regulations are environmental management oriented in that they seek to remedy environmental harm and not simply a specific infraction of a given regulation. Tax laws and business regulatory laws are examples of laws not directly focused on environmental protection but that may also be used to encourage compliance and discourage noncompliance with environmental regulations. The state WQS are used as the basis for establishing both point-source-based effluent limitations and toxic pollutant limitations used in issuing NPDES permits to point-source discharges.
