In: Economics
What role does the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) play in today's business environment?
How has laws and regulations that the EPA is tasked to enforce, contributed to business' bottom line? How can these laws and regulations aimed at protecting the environment help create profits for a business?
From the development of the EPA, it has sought to protect and preserve the natural environment and improve human health by researching the impact and restricting the use of pollutants. The EPA controls how chemicals and other contaminants are produced, stored, transmitted and used. In addition, the EPA is responsible for determining acceptable levels of tolerance in meat, animal feed, and water for contaminants and other pollutants. Through fines, penalties, and other processes, the EPA enforces its findings. The recent EPA regulations on carbon emissions from power plants, automobiles and other contributors to climate change under the Trump administration
The EPA also conducts programs aimed at preventing, monitoring and responding to oil spills; tracking air pollution and predicting air pollution levels; and promoting the development of cars that are more fuel-efficient. The EPA is working to enforce laws like the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the National Environmental Education Act, and the Clean Water Act, some of which predate the agency's own creation. The EPA is also responsible for environmental crime detection and prevention, monitoring pollution levels, and setting standards for the handling of hazardous chemicals and waste.
The Agency for the Protection of the Environment can only act under statutes, which are the authority of laws passed by Congress. Congress must approve the statute and have the power to authorize or prohibit certain actions to be implemented and enforced by the EPA. Appropriations statutes allow the amount of money that the agency can spend each year to implement the approved statutes. The Agency for Environmental Protection has the power to issue regulations. A law is a norm or rule that the government creates to define, administer and execute the legislation in circumstances. Congress requires the EPA to write regulations to solve a problem, but the agency must include a justification as to why it is necessary to implement the regulations. The court may challenge the regulations where the regulations are overruled or confirmed. The company is endorsed by many public health and environmental organisations and claims it is making a better world. Some critics believe that the department commits override by adding unnecessary regulations for company and property owners