From Deseret News archives:
Toxic Utah: Mending toxic Utah
Environmental laws score hits and misses
Not only that, the water is safer to drink and the lands are less polluted.
And they point to myriad environmental laws, most passed in the mid-1970s over the objections of industry, that established then-unprecedented limits on pollution. Those laws have been tweaked over the years, but they remain hallmarks of a radical shift in policy toward the environment.
"Personally, I believe most of the environmental legislation that passed, though I had concerns at the time, have proven workable," said U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, who participated in those environmental debates as a novice lawmaker in the early 1970s. "The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act are clear successes, and wilderness, too."
But there have been failures, too.
Superfund, the program designed to clean up the nation's worst environmental disasters, has helped lawyers more than the envi-
"By and large, I think our environmental legislation has been on the plus side," he said.
Conservationists, while unified in their belief Congress hasn't done enough for the environment and has moved too slowly when it has, admit things are better than they were before passage of the 1970s laws.
But many conservationists wonder what the future holds. They are suspicious a new Republican administration may be too sympathetic to industry, and those fears are heightened by conservatives in Congress pledging major revisions to laws that have been hallmarks of environmental protection.
Voluntary compliance
The administration of environmental laws generally falls to state regulators under cooperative "primacy" agreements that allow for local enforcement. Those agreements mandate that states must have laws at least as stringent as the federal laws, but they can have tougher laws if they so choose.
Recent comments
this is great news for utah it ashameabout the rest of the world
mystery | Oct. 8, 2007 at 11:50 a.m.
- Snowstorm hits Utah; 1 dead 1:11 p.m.
- GameDay in Fort Worth 1:10 p.m.
- NASA sets Monday shuttle launch 11:53 a.m.
- WVC robberies investigated 11:41 a.m.
- Funeral today for Utah soldier 11:16 a.m.
- Vaccination clinic set in St. George 11:15 a.m.
- $47B in suspect Medicare claims 11:11 a.m.
- 3 dead in Reno helicopter crash 11:02 a.m.
- Galaxy headed to MLS Cup 10:45 a.m.
- Veteran climber dies in Himalayas 10:36 a.m.
- Attack meant to kill apostle
- Short-handed Jazz fly past Sixers
- Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
- D-Will home for daughter
- Man killed during 3rd I-15 crash
- Bench proves fruitful for Y.
- Williams leaves, won't play tonight
- Utes excited for 'dream' game
- Born of water and the spirit
- Trial begins in toddler death
- SLC council OKs gay rights policies
351 - Editorial: Mormons and gay rights
199 - Senators want food tax restored
162 - Will state consider gay rights law?
145 - Letters: Strange breed in Utah
129 - Utes remain silent about BCS
120 - Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
117 - S.L. vote pending on gay protections
113 - Celtics crush Jazz
104 - Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
103
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