Research Reports

Environmental site hazards may arise from contamination caused by historical uses of a property, or from nearby activities that remain a source of pollution or other environmental health concerns. Identifying and remedying such hazards before a child care facility is licensed, as well as during facility operations, can help prevent and reduce harmful exposures to staff and children.  It is especially important to prevent environmental exposures to young children, because their developing bodies may make them more vulnerable to the effects of contaminants.

Minimizing waste generation includes diverting waste streams to reuse and recycling as well as recapturing materials. In devising new approaches for the management of materials and the diversion of wastes under RCRA, federal regulators can draw on their knowledge and years of experience working with particular sectors and materials. In the retail sector, managing discarded and returned consumer aerosol cans can hit the "tripwire" for RCRA ignitability, requiring their management as hazardous waste.

As a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a number of different funding processes have been put in place to help restore and recover the Gulf of Mexico. The three main ones are the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA), the RESTORE Act, and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF), which together will distribute over $16 billion. Each of these processes has its own objectives, timelines, governance structure, and opportunities for the public to engage.

As a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a number of different funding processes have been put in place to help restore and recover the Gulf of Mexico. The three main ones are the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA), the RESTORE Act, and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF), which together will distribute over $16 billion. Each of these processes has its own objectives, timelines, governance structure, and opportunities for the public to engage.

In response to growing concerns over increased air and water pollution, by the early 1970s the United States Congress had begun enacting a series of statutes that continue to shape environmental law today, more than four decades later.  The laws authorize federal agencies to regulate air quality, water quality, the management and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes; and to protect threatened or endangered species of plants and animals. Congress, in enacting these environmental laws, knew that it was imposing significant compliance costs on regulated sectors of the economy.