Mitigating Man-Made Disasters

Mitigating Man-Made Disasters

Under the Clean Water Act 33 U.S.C. S1251 et seq. of 1972, it was made unlawful to discharge pollutants from a point into the navigable water to ensure quality water standards (“Clean Water Act (CWA) and Federal Facilities,” n.d). In this case, navigable waters encompass waters that can be used to move goods from one state to another or waters used for foreign commerce (“Definition of Waters of the United States Under the Clean Water Act,” n.d). However, the Act allows pollutants into water bodies unless a permit is obtained under its provisions. While the CWA regulates the protection of the United States water by preventing, reducing, and eliminating pollution, the Environmental protection Agency has the broad authority to conduct compliance inspections to identify waters that do not meet the applicable water quality standards. The EPA is also mandated to enforce legal actions against private contractors who discharge pollutants into the waters of the United States or violate the terms of the granted permit. 

Ideally, as Beatty and Samuelson (2015) note that environmental issues are very complicated, but the EPA is mandated to regulate pollutants released into waters of the United States. In this case and to address the issue comprehensively, my first responsibility is to reach out to EPA to determine if the source of the navigable waters and where the waste is coming from. The idea would be to help determine whether there are large plants that have been permitted to use the waters but may be returning high levels of waste than allowed. After the EPA, the next step will be to explore and understand the different laws or provisions that exist within the state that I may be able to rely on to investigate and act upon the issue affecting the river. After I have sufficiently carried my investigation, the other step is to approach the EPA again and the appropriate state representatives and request them to carry out an investigation on why the river is slowing down and take the necessary legal actions. Consequently, I will sensitive the significance of this issue to my business by pointing out that I only use the river to enhance the environment and include how the pollution has affected my business revenue. 

References

 “Clean Water Act (CWA) and Federal Facilities.” (n.d). Environmental Protection Act. Retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/clean-water-act-cwa-and-federal-facilities

“Definition of Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act.” (n.d). Environmental Protection Act. Retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/cwa-404/definition-waters-united-states-under-clean-water-act

Beatty, J. F., Samuelson, S. S. (2015). Business Law and the Legal Environment, Standard Edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.