1. HANNAH WALKER RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT

2. IN WHAT YEAR WAS THIS LAW FIRST ENACTED? In 1976 the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was enacted as an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act. It set national goals for:  Protecting human health and the natural environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal  Energy conservation and natural resources  Reducing the amount of waste generated, through source reduction and recycling  Ensuring the management of waste in an environmentally sound manner

3. WHAT ARE DATES OF AMENDMENTS? The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was enacted in 1980 to address the problem of remediating abandoned hazardous waste sites, by establishing legal liability, as well as a trust fund for cleanup activities. In 1984 Congress expanded the scope of RCRA with the enactment of Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA).The amendments strengthened the law by covering small quantity generators of hazardous waste and establishing requirements for hazardous waste incinerators, and the closing of substandard landfills. In 1986, SARA addressed cleanup of leaking USTs and other leaking waste storage facilities. The amendments established a trust fund to pay for the cleanup of leaking UST sites where responsible parties cannot be identified. The Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act of 1996 allowed some flexibility in the procedures for land disposal of certain wastes. The bill Reducing Excessive Deadline Obligations Act of 2013 would amend this law "to remove a requirement that the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) review and revise regulations declared under such Act at least every three years.

4. WHAT EVENTS OR SITUATIONS LED TO THE ENACTMENT OF THIS LAW? Congress enacted RCRA to address the increasing problems the nation faced from its growing volume of municipal and industrial waste.

5. WHAT CONTROVERSY, IF ANY, IS OR WAS CONNECTED TO THIS LAW? RCRA does not address the problems associated with inactive or abandoned dump sites or these associated with chemical spills or releases requiring immediate emergency response. The program has become controversial because various states have run out of funds without having finished testing and cleanup of the numerous leaking tanks within their borders.

6. WHAT IS THE BASIC PREMISE OF THIS LAW? RCRA only focuses on active and future facilities and does not address abandoned or historical sites which are managed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) usually known as Superfund.

7. WHAT IMPACTS HAS THIS LAW HAD? The RCRA has had an impact on the protection of human health and the environment. The RCRA has also helped reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous waste, and has helped reserve and conserve energy and natural resources. As an example: the Gulf Oil Spill. The act of RCRA helped in the cleaning up of the Gulf Oil Spill.

8. WORKS CITED: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Conservation _and_Recovery_Act#Implementation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Conservation _and_Recovery_Act#Implementation http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedi a/Res-Sec/Resource-Conservation-and-Recovery- Act.html http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedi a/Res-Sec/Resource-Conservation-and-Recovery- Act.html http://www.nyuelj.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/09/Osofsky-Post-macro-12- 301.pdf http://www.nyuelj.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/09/Osofsky-Post-macro-12- 301.pdf http://www.epa.gov/osw/laws-regs/rcrahistory.htm