Environmental regulations and laws are common throughout the world, especially in the wake of increasing land, air, and water pollution. These regulations are concerned with controlling pollution, and the conservation and management of land. They touch on pertinent environmental issues, for example, greenhouse gas emissions, acid rain, climate change, hunting of endangered species, deforestation, and depletion of natural resources. Environmental regulations always differ from one country to another, although they all ascribe to a common goal. The core aim of this paper is to examine NEPA, one of the environmental laws in the U.S, and identify if it is different from other environmental laws. Moreover, the paper will review environmental policies regarding the Paris Climate Agreement in the U.S., and China, and compare and contrast them. The NEPA is one of the environmental laws in the U.S. It refers to the national environmental policy act that was signed into law by President Nixon in 1970. The act requires federal agencies to carefully access the environmental impacts of their proposed actions before making any decisions. The NEPA covers a wide range of measures, including constructing motorways and other publicly-owned facilities, making decisions on the allocation of permits, and adopting federal land management actions (Pepper, 2015). By using the laid down NEPA process, agencies can evaluate the environmental as well as social and economic impacts of their intended actions. Moreover, the agencies provide platforms for public assessment and comment on these evaluations. The NEPA is unique and is not just another environmental law. The uniqueness of the legislation stems from the fact that it is democratic to the core, giving citizens the only opportunity to air their concerns about the impacts of projects on their communities (Pepper, 2015). Active public engagement often produces ideas, information, and solutions that the government might underlook, thus leading to better decisions and outcomes for everyone. The U.S Supreme court upholds that NPPA serves purely to inform the decision-making process. Although it is mainly procedural, this does not make NEPA a failure, and it has indeed become a great success in the recent past (Pepper, 2015). In the recent past, NEPA has made various agencies take a hard examination at the potential environmental implications of their acts and has effectively brought the members of the public into the agency’s decision-making process like no other environmental agency. There are various success stories of NEPA. An excellent example of this is the Choctaw Point Shipping Terminal (Pepper, 2015). In Alabama. In early 2000, the state government sought to revise its Choctaw point shipping terminal. Business at the port had taken a turn for the worse since its dedication in 1928. The port was deemed inadequate for the modern shipping needs of the state. In 2002, the Army Corps Engineers submitted a plan to upgrade the port to world standards (Pepper, 2015). During the NEPA process, the engineers discovered they needed to alter the initial berthing configuration to avoid posing navigational safety issues. Moreover, the review helped the Corps reduce the environmental impacts of the port, including its effects on the wetlands, and increasing mitigation efforts (Pepper, 2015). Another success story is in the Hoover Dam Bypass in Arizona. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed a 3.5-mile Hoover Dam Bypass project to reduce congestion at the Hoover Dam crossing. During the NEPA process, the lead development team researched alternatives proposed environmental groups and included some critical features to the project in response to the public comments (Pepper, 2015). In the final design, the bypass features sidewalks, pedestrian facilities, and amble parking to facilitate pedestrian access. The U.S.A and China have differing environmental policies regarding the Paris Climate Agreement. These two nations are similar, considering they are the two largest carbon dioxide emitters, due to their sizeable industrial production capacity. The Paris climate agreement was a landmark consensus by the world nations to combat climate change and accelerate efforts towards a carbon-free world. It aimed at bringing all countries into a common course to combat climate change and its adverse effects (Denchak, 2018). Presently, 197 counties of the world are signatories. Since President Donald Trump accented into power in 2016, he has overseen a radical shift in the U.S environmental policy. Trump initiated the U.S exit from the Paris climate agreement in 2017. He claimed the agreement was a hoax, and suspended funding to the U.N environmental protection agencies (Dennis, 2019). The move raised eyebrows, considering that the U.S is the second top carbon dioxide emitter globally. The actions of Donald Trump point out to the role of policy and regulations in the determination of the environmental policy in the U.S. In the country, the federal government determines the environmental policy, and this is subject to change from one government to another. China had adopted a slightly different approach to the Paris Climate Agreement, unlike the U.S.China became a signatory of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016. In 2019, the country reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement, terming it irreversible. In this regard, China has committed its contributions against climate change. In the case of China above, it is clear that the policy and regulations shape the environmental policy of the government (Pennetier, 2019). The environmental policy in China is set by the National People’s Congress and is managed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Concerned by the increasing levels of pollution, the government amended its environmental law in 2014. The paper has highlighted the environmental regulations in the U.S by taking into consideration the NEPA legislation, which requires federal agencies to carefully access the environmental impacts of their proposed actions before making any decisions. The legislation is ideal since it is democratic to the core, giving citizens their only opportunity to air their concerns about the impacts of projects on their communities. Besides, the paper has examined the Paris Climate Agreement concerning the U.S. and China, highlighting similarities and differences in the adoption of the legislation, as well as the policy and regulatory factors. Environmental regulations are crucial and ought to be upheld throughout the world to help combat the ever-increasing threats to the environment.
References
Dennis, B. (2019). Trump makes it official: U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Climate accord. Retrieved from HTTPS://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/04/trump-makes-it-official-us-will-withdraw-paris-climate-accord/
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Denchak, M. (2018).Paris Climate Agreement: Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved fromhttps://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know
Pennetier. M. (2019). China. France reaffirm support of Paris climate agreement, call it irreversible. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-france-paris-agreement/china-france-reaffirm-support-of-paris-climate-agreement-call-it-irreversible-idUSKBN1XG0QJ
Pepper, E. (2015). Never Eliminate Public Advice: NEPA Success Stories. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/resources/never-eliminate-public-advice-nepa-success-stories
