Environmental Quality

Overview:
	The topic "environmental quality" is intended here to focus on pollution of air, water and land. The impacts of natural resource use on environmental quality (e.g., water diversions and timber harvests) are addressed elsewhere, as is the pollution of the atmosphere (climate change). Pollution occurs for two reasons. First, all economic activities generate some form of waste byproducts that must be disposed of in some fashion (including recycling - and activity which creates its own waste products). The amount, type, and means of disposal of these waste byproducts determine whether the effects of pollution are small or large. Second, when individuals, firms or governments make decisions affecting the amount, type or disposal of waste byproducts, they are unlikely to take full account of the environmental costs. This situation constitutes a classic "externality" problem where individual incentives and collective social goals will conflict, and corrective action will often be justified to "internalize" the external costs (degradation of environmental quality) that individual actions (polluting) impose on the rest of society. Sources of pollution include the burning of fossil fuels, the disposal of chemicals from industry, and the use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in agriculture. Public awareness of the potentially high social cost of pollution in the U.S. rose in the 1960s and led to the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969, which required agencies to publish environmental impact statements prior to conducting projects. This was followed by the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 to administer environmental policy. The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 was intended to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters" (EPA 2005). The EPA and the state Departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ) were charged with establishing and regulating the levels of these chemicals in bodies of water and ensuring that they were below key concentrations. In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act was established, intended to ensure that high quality water was delivered to the people of the U.S. [more]
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
	FAQs from the USGS Office of Water Quality
	How prevalent are "economic incentive" or "market-based" environmental policies?
Publications, Presentations and Working Papers and Publications:
	Economics of Water Quality Protection from Nonpoint Sources: Theory and Practice (ERS/USDA) [PDF].
	Experience with Market-Based Environmental Policy Instruments. In The Handbook of Environmental Economics [PDF]. R. N. Stavins. 2001. Edited by K. Mäler and J. Vincent: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
	Lessons from the American Experiment with Market-Based Environmental Policies [PDF]. Robert N. Stavins.
	Market-Based Environmental Policies [PDF]. Robert N. Stavins.
	Markets for the Environment. R. T. Woodward. 2005. Choices, 1st Quarter.
	The United States Experience with Economic Incentives for Protecting the Environment [PDF]. National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE). 2001. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Other Resources and Internet Links:
	Resources for the Future
	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
	EPA topics and links alphabetically
	Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
	Water quality and water pollution topics (EPA)
	U.S. Geological Survey Office of Water Quality
	U.S. Clean Water Act
	U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act
	National Agriculture Laboratory Water Quality Information Center
	Air and air pollution subtopics (EPA)
	EPA Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act
	Clean Air Task Force
	EPA Indoor Air Quality