Environmental Protection Overview
NCSL tracks environmental protection issues in six major categories: air quality, brownfields, environmental health, environmental cleanup, healthy community design and water quality.
Air Quality is receiving the greatest federal and state attention. Recent federal actions include designation of ozone and fine particulate matter nonattainment areas by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Recent state actions include Wisconsin’s new mercury rule that places a cap on mercury emissions from power plants and requires future reductions, and Connecticut's clean car legislation that applies California’s tough standards to SUVs and light-duty trucks.
Brownfields are typically abandoned or underused commercial and industrial properties that contain some contamination that may affect their future constructive use. Once cleaned up to acceptable environmental standards, brownfields can become viable economic development centers, attracting growth that may otherwise spill out onto the urban-rural fringe. The main obstacles to brownfields cleanup and redevelopment are liability concerns of prospective property owners and developers; insufficient financial incentives to make the necessary cleanup and redevelopment investments; and lack of institutional controls that ensure sites are cleaned up to levels based on future use. Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia have recently enacted new brownfields laws.
Nuclear Waste Cleanup encompasses a range of waste categories. The focus of state solid waste management efforts has been on recycling in recent years, especially electronic waste. Transporting and disposing of high-level radioactive waste is receiving prominent national attention as the federal government attempts to cite a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel that is currently stored on-site in three-fourths of the states. Environmental management of radioactive waste found in former nuclear weapons facilities is also a major concern.
Environmental Health concerns include indoor air quality, asbestos, lead hazards, asthma and radon. In addition, NCSL focuses on children's environmental health issues. The latter issue is of special concern because a growing body of evidence, including rising developmental disability and asthma rates, indicates that children are more sensitive than adults to environmental contaminants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is revising pesticide residue limits to make sure they provide a margin of safety for children as well as adults. States may be required to update environmental standards to comply with federal regulations. Currently, most state and federal regulations are based on adults. Only within the last few years has state legislation been passed in California and Maryland, for example, to take children's special vulnerabilities into account. Legislation addressing environmental health issues can be tracked on NCSL's Environmental Health Legislation database.
Healthy Community Design links public health benefits to community design. State and local governments are increasingly seeing the value of incorporating walking and biking opportunities and access to health foods into land use, transportation, education, agriculture and health policies. “Healthy community design” means designing and planning for development that achieves health goals in addition to other community goals, such as urban revitalization or promotion of the arts. In healthy communities, residents and policymakers collaborate to make decisions about how the communities will change and/or grow in ways that allow people to choose healthy behaviors. These decisions include where schools and markets that offer healthy foods are located, how much green space and farmland are conserved, and the transportation options that are available. Legislation addressing healthy community design can be tracked on NCSL's Healthy Community Design Legislative database.
Water quality concerns have included protecting water security information as a result of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and protecting watersheds through stormwater runoff controls and other areawide mechanisms.
NCSL staff working on environmental protection issues include: Linda Sikkema, director of the Environment, Energy and Transportation Program, Glen Andersen, Sia Davis, Doug Farquhar, Robert Fry, Scott Hendrick, Kate Marks, Christina Nelson, Melissa Savage and Douglas Shinkle in NCSL's Denver office, and Tamra Spielvogel and Lee Posey in the Washington, D.C. office. Melissa, Kate, Doug Farquhar and Tamra staff NCSL's. Agriculture, Environment and Energy Committee.
The Denver office phone number is (303) 364-7700. To contact the Washington, D.C. staff call (202) 624-5400. General email for environmental protection issues is environment-info@ncsl.org. |
