James Mahlon White V
Environmental Law and Sustainability, 3511
Take home exam
October 13, 2013

1. The phrase “the power of the purse” is defined as the influence that a legislative group has over public policy because they have the power to vote to use money for public purposes. This is shown by how the Congress has to authorize the president’s budget requests for any funds for agencies and programs of the Executive branch. This was relevant when President Bush wanted to send troops to the Middle East, he had to ask Congress for funding. The House of Representatives- is invested with the “power of the purse,” the ability to tax and spend public money for the national government. The power was given to the House because it was considered to more represent the people and the government wanted to give the people control over the purse-strings according to Massachusetts’ Elbridge Gerry. 2. EIS or Environmental Impact Statement are detailed analysis of the environmental impact of a proposed federal action follows the environmental assessment (EA) as part of the NEPA process. These are many different grounds in which a plaintiff can challenge the adequacy of an agency’s EIS. One of the most common is “improper development of the project, including the lack of authority, inaccurate description, deceptive segmentation of the project, and lack of the planning process that incorporates environmental goals.” http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a325367.pdf Other common examples are inadequate discussion of alternatives, inadequate discussion of environmental impacts, inadequate efforts to develop. Legal challenges are unlikely to succeed if the agency has prepared an EIS in good faith but the above examples demonstrate moments when an EIS may be successfully challenged. 3. Technology based effluent standards include the following: Best Practicable Technology (BPT), Best Conventional Technology (BCT), Best Available Technology (BAT), Best Available Demonstrated Technology (BADT). Each of these guidelines are based on past precedent depending on the industrial category such as the BPT which refers to the minimum level of require treatment for pollutants. These standards are set and followed based off category and are related to discharge-type standards. The water quality based effluent standards are ambient standards that represent a level of water quality that is meant to support the goal of “swimmable/fishable” waters. These standards are enacted under the Clean Water Act and enforce every state to adopt water quality standards to protect, and maintain and improve the quality of the nation’s surface waters. The standards consist of two elements: use classifications and water quality criteria. The water quality based effluent standards would more likely be associated with a stream designated as a cold water fishery. The reason behind this is the standards establish a maximum numerical level of a given pollutant in water used for a particular purpose. Because the stream serves the purpose of a cold water fishery the standards are established through formulas, taking into account, among other things which relates to the total maximum daily load (TMDL). The TMDL establishes the amount of pollutants a certain body of water can tolerate without exceeding applicable water quality standards.

4. SIP and FIP both relate to the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the minimum standards for the SIP. A State Implementation Plan must meet the minimum requirements set by the CAA in order to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) goals. The only time a Federal Implementation Plan is enacted is when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not satisfied with the state’s SIP and then the federal government may decide to enforce its own plan. A State Implementation Plan relates to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards because the NAAQS sets maximum levels of pollutants. The SIP’s have requirements in each state that they must meet such as: air quality data, contingency plans, monitoring and emission data, and the enforcement of operating permit program established by the CAA. These requirements and many more are set in order to protect human health and promote public welfare against pollutants such as: Carbon monoxide, Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 microns. If the State’s SIP has obtained the NAAQS goals they are called attainment states.
A nonattainment state is a state that does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. These states need to meet additional SIP requirements because they did not meet the standards originally set by the NAAQS. There are three special requirements when a new source is seeking to locate in a nonattainment area such as; the installation of the lowest achievable emission rate (LAER), emission offsets, and the opportunity for public involvement. By following LAER the new source has the most stringent emission limitation contained in the SIP of any state based on class or category of source. The offsets are emission reductions, gained from an existing source in the area that offset the emissions increase and provides a net air quality benefit.