The Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is a pilot project to return idle or underused industrial and commercial facilities back to productive use, in situations where redevelopment is complicated by potential environmental contamination. The program is flexible, allowing cities to use a variety of approaches in utilizing grants of up to $200,000 to develop abandoned and underused sites, neighborhoods, and small regional areas. States and Indian tribes are eligible as well as local governments.
Under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for establishing tolerances for pesticide residues in or on foods and feeds. Tolerances are legal limits to the amount of pesticide residues that can be found on a raw agricultural commodity at the farm gate or in a processed food. The FFDCA has two sections, 408 and 409, which set up different and inconsistent criteria for setting tolerances for pesticide residues in foods.
A provision in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Delaney Clause, appears to lower risks in the setting of tolerances for pesticide residues. It prohibits any substance from being added to processed foods if it induces cancer in man or animals. In reality, the provision created a dilemma because the zero-risk statute makes it difficult to regulate pesticides. Because of the prescription of Delaney, tolerances (legal limits) are established differently for carcinogens and non-carcinogens and in raw and processed foods.
Japan's sea shipment of a ton of plutonium from France to Japan on Nov. 7, 1992, faced strong public opposition, as did a previous one in 1984, from various public interest groups, independent analysts, and Members of Congress. The shipment arrived safely in Tokyo Jan. 4, 1993. Several more shipments at intervals of about 3 years are expected. While the plutonium is owned by Japanese utilities, it was produced from uranium enriched in the United States and supplied under a U.S.-Japan agreement for nuclear cooperation, revised in 1988. Although the agreement ties some strings to what Japan can do with nuclear imports from the United States, it also in effect gives to Japan a 30-year advance consent to ship plutonium subject to informing the United States.
The federal Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act; as amended, established requirements for the detection and control of lead-based paint hazards in public and private housing. Only some local governments have implementation responsibilities, but all local governments are eligible for federal grants to establish poisoning prevention programs.
The 104th congress enacted significant changes to the Federal Insecticide, fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), governing U.S. sale and use of pesticide products, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), which limits pesticide residues on food. The vehicle of these changes was H.R. 1627, the "Food Quality Protection Act of 1996" (FQPA), enacted August 3, 1996, as Public Law 104-170. Under FIFRA, the new law will facilitate registrations and reregistrations of pesticides for special (so-called"minor") uses and authorize collection of maintenance fees of support pesticide reregistration. Food safety provisions will establish a single standard of safety for pesticide residue on raw and processed foods; provide information through large food retail stores to consumers about the health risks of pesticide residues and how to avoid them; preempt state and local food safety laws if they are based on concentrations of pesticide residues below recently established federal residue limits(called"tolerances"); and ensure that tolerances protect the health of infants and children.
On August 3, 1996, President Clinton signed P.L. 104-170, which contains significant amendments to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). Although it does not repeal the Delaney Clause, the new law removes pesticide residues from its purview. It requires EPA to set "safe" tolerances for residues of pesticides on both raw and processed food to provide "a reasonable certainty of no harm" from exposure to the pesticide residue, other dietary residues, and non-food sources. It also will expedite pesticide registration under FIFRA for minor uses; improve data collection on the effect of pesticides in children's diets; and prohibit states from regulating food based on pesticide residue concentrations below recently established federal tolerances.
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, governing U.S. registration, sale, and use of pesticide products, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, under which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets allowable pesticide residue levels for food (tolerances). The FQPA directs EPA to ensure a "reasonable certainty of no harm" due to pesticide exposure and requires reevaluation of 33% of existing tolerances against this new safety standard by August 1999, 66% by August 2002, and 100% by August 2006. The Act direct
Controlling the discharge of toxic pollutants into the Nation's waters is once again an issue as Congress considers reauthorizing the Clean Water Act. This report describes the evolution of programs and policies in the Act concerning toxic pollutants, discusses current problems with implementation of some of these programs and policies, and outlines a number of issues that are on the legislative agenda.
In 1986, Congress directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a national inventory of toxic releases to the environment by manufacturing facilities and to use the inventory to inform the public about chemicals used and released in their communities. Since enactment of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) more than 10 years ago, manufacturers have been required to report releases of hundreds of hazardous chemicals annually. EPA compiles the reported information into the Toxics Release Inventory (TM) and distributes it in various written and electronic forms.
The United States played a major role in developing the 1989 United Nations-sponsored Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, a key purpose of which is to protect countries from receiving unwanted shipments of wastes. The Convention entered into force in 1992, and by mid-1998, 121 countries (but not the United States) had ratified it. In 1991, the Bush Administration transmitted the Convention to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification aid offered implementing legislation. The Senate consented to ratification in 1992; however, implementing legislation has not been enacted. (Although existing U.S. law regulates hazardous waste,
This dialog allows you to filter your current search.
Each of the World Regions listed note their name and the number of records that will be limited down to if you choose that option.
This dialog allows you to filter your current search.
Each of the Countries listed note their name and the number of records that will be limited down to if you choose that option.
This dialog allows you to filter your current search.
Each of the Years listed note their name and the number of records that will be limited down to if you choose that option.
The list can be sorted by name or the count.
This dialog allows you to filter your current search.
Each of the Months listed note their name and the number of records that will be limited down to if you choose that option.
The list can be sorted by name or the count.
This dialog allows you to filter your current search.
Each of the Days listed note their name and the number of records that will be limited down to if you choose that option.
The list can be sorted by name or the count.