Essentials Of Business Law Chapter 32 Business And The Environment McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-2 National Environmental Policy Act Insures that the federal government does not contribute to the destruction of the environment Projects with significant federal involvement must have an approved Environmental Impact Statement EIS must answer several questions pertaining to the proposed project:  What is the environmental impact?  What negative environmental effects will result?  What are the alternatives?  What short and long term destruction of environmental resources will result?  What irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources will be consumed?

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-3 Environmental Protection Agency Responsible for regulating business activities related to the environment  Conducts environmental research  Assists states and municipalities with grants and technical advice  Administers the federal pollution laws that cover businesses

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-4 Clean Air Act Recognizes that pollution sometimes extends into two or more states  Federal laws are needed Stationery pollution  Caused by factories and other production facilities Mobile pollution  Caused by automobiles, trains, airplanes, etc Primary standards  Serve to protect human life and health Secondary standards  Serve to protect property, vegetation, climate, and aesthetic values

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-5 Clean Water Act Set minimum standards for water purity Standard for fishable and swimmable  Allows the navigable waterways to be used for the propagation of fish and wildlife  Allows waterways to be used for recreational purposes

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-6 Superfund Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act  Regulates the dumping of waste onto land  Companies can be held responsible for three times the actual cost of the cleanup Created a hazardous substance trust fund  Help allay costs in restoring environmentally scarred land

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-7 Lawsuits By Private Citizens Negligence  Tort allowing a plaintiff to bring a lawsuit against a defendant under state law for causing personal injury or property damage Nuisance  Public nuisance Created when the nuisance impacts public property  Private nuisance Created when the nuisance impacts private property Trespass  Unauthorized entry onto another person’s property  Particle trespass is created when businesses trespass with pollution particles

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-8 Types Of Pollution Noise pollution  Excess noise Pesticide control Solid waste disposal Toxic substance disposal  Medical waste and chemicals Natural resource conservation  Maintaining natural ecological order Acid rain  Created by sulfur emissions from manufacturing plants

Essentials of Business LawChapter 32-9 Global Environment The Greenhouse Effect  Burning fossil fuels loads the atmosphere with heat- trapping carbon dioxide creating global warming  Rising temperatures melt the polar icecaps, causing rising sea levels throughout the world Destruction of the rain forests  Deforestation alters the distribution and circulation of water  Leads to drought, flooding, soil erosion, changes in wind and ocean currents, and in rainfall distribution  Absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is substantially reduced

Essentials of Business LawChapter Global Environment Destruction of the ozone layer  Chlorofluorocarbons have created damage to the ozone layer in the atmosphere  Chlorofluorocarbons are present primarily in aerosol cans and in freon  Can affect human health by causing skin and other forms of cancer and disease

Essentials of Business LawChapter Other Environmental Issues Biodiversity  Thousands of species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate  Numerous federal statutes have been passed protecting endangered species Ocean pollution  Waste material is illegally deposited into the waters far off coastal areas Space pollution  Satellites no longer in use or in disrepair circle the earth  Estimated to be 10,000 of these satellites in orbit