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Page Outline:

1. Basic Facts
2. Major Pollutants Found in America
3. Recycling Facts
4. Pollution Prevention
5. What Is Washington Doing?
6. Sources

Basic Facts

• The two types of water pollution as defined by the EPA are “point” and “non-point.” According to the EPA, “point sources of water pollution are stationary locations such as sewage treatment plants, factories and ships. Non-point sources are more diffuse and include agricultural runoff, mining activities and paved roads.”¹

• “An air pollutant is any substance in the air that can cause harm to humans or the environment. Pollutants may be natural or man-made and may take the form of solid particles, liquid droplets or gases.”²

• “The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and waste management activities reported annually by certain industries as well as federal facilities.”³ To access this database, click here.

Major Pollutants Found in America

Detailed information on all of the pollutants listed below can be found on the Pollutants/Toxics webpage of the EPA. The lists below were compiled from data found on that webpage.

Air Pollution Case Study: Diesel

The following information comes from the Clean Air Task Force,⁴ a non-profit organization created in 1996 which is made up of 20 senior scientists, lawyers, MBAs, economists, and public outreach professionals. According to its webite, CATF is “dedicated to restoring clean air and healthy environments through scientific research, public education, and legal advocacy.”⁵

• “Nationally, diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 7.5 times higher than the combined total cancer risk from all other air toxics.”

• “In the U.S., the average lifetime nationwide cancer risk due to diesel exhaust is over 350 times greater than the level U.S. EPA considers to be ‘acceptable’ (i.e., one cancer per million persons over 70 years).”

• “People who live in metropolitan areas with a high concentration of diesel vehicles and traffic feel their impacts most acutely. The risk of lung cancer from diesel exhaust for people living in urban areas is three times that for those living in rural areas.”

• “Tens of thousands of Americans suffer each year from asthma attacks (over 400,000), heart attacks (27,000), and respiratory problems associated with fine particles from diesel vehicles. These illnesses result in thousands of emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and lost work days. Together with the toll of premature deaths, the health damages from diesel fine particles will total $139 billion in 2010.”

Recycling Facts

The following information comes from the article “Recyclers Wanted” at the USEPA website.⁶

• 33.4 percent of the solid waste created annually in America is recycled.

• “Americans recycled and composted 85 million tons of the 254 million tons of total municipal solid waste produced [in 2007].”

• “[In 2007] each person produced 4.6 pounds of trash per day, of which 1.5 pounds were recycled or composted.”

• “Recycling 85 billion tons of municipal solid waste in 2007 saved the energy equivalent of more than 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline and prevented the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 35 million passenger vehicles.”

• The American recycling and reuse industry is a $200 billion dollar enterprise involving more than 50,000 recycling and reuse establishments, employing more than 1 million people, and generating an annual payroll of approximately $37 billion.

• November the fifteenth is national recycling day.

Pollution Prevention

According to the EPA pollution prevention is “. . . reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and re-using materials rather than putting them into the waste stream. . .”⁷

What Is Washington Doing?

Clean Air Act

The following information comes from the USEPA.⁸

• “The economic value of the public health and environmental benefits that Americans enjoy from the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 exceed their costs by a margin of four to one.”

• “In the year 2010 the Amendments of 1990 will prevent 23,000 Americans from dying prematurely, and avert over 1,700,000 incidences of asthma attacks and aggravation of chronic asthma.”

• “In addition, in 2010, they will prevent 67,000 incidences of chronic and acute bronchitis, 91,000 occurrences of shortness of breath, 4,100,000 lost work days, and 31,000,000 days in which Americans would have had to restrict activity due to air pollution related illness. Plus, 22,000 respiratory-related hospital admissions would be averted, as well as 42,000 cardiovascular (heart and blood) hospital admissions, and 4,800 emergency room visits for asthma.”

Get Involved

On the EPA website, there is a webpage which provides information on how individual citizens and or businesses can become involved in the work of the EPA. Involvement possibilities range from receiving daily updates of EPA activities to having the opportunity to comment on pending and or passed environmental regulations. To visit this webpage and learn more, click here.

Guide for Small Businesses

The EPA has a webpage of tips and success stories for small businesses interested in learning how to reduce various forms of waste and pollution.

Federal Mandates

The following information comes from the USEPA. ⁹

• Pollution Prevention Act: “EPA mandated to develop and implement a strategy to promote source reduction.”

• Clean Air Act: “Encourages cooperation amongst the federal departments, states, and local governments for prevention and control of air pollution.”

• Clean Water Act: America’s “national goal is to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters.”

To view a full list of all pollution prevention mandates in federal statutes, click here.

The EPA

Since its inception in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency, an organization of about 17,000 employees has been monitoring and regulating various aspects of the American environment in an attempt to keep the American public and their possessions safe from harmful air, water, and soil pollutants. ¹⁰

One responsibility of the EPA is to create environmental regulations. In its first year of operation, the EPA created the Clean Air Act of 1970. As part of this law, the EPA was given the power to “establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.” ¹¹ In 1990 amendments were added to the Clean Air Act which made the EPA responsible for monitoring and regulating over 188 different air pollutants. ¹²

For more information on pollution and other environmental issues you can visit the EPA’s well laid out website.

To view a complete list of the laws and executive orders related to environmental regulation visit the “Laws that We Administer” webpage of the EPA.

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