| Year | Acronym | Law/Amendment | Description |
| 1969 | NEPA | National Environmental Policy
Act | Established national environmental policy and goals. |
1970
Amended:
1977, 1990 | CAA | Clean Air
Act | Established air emission standards and control
requirements. |
| 1970 | OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health
Act | Required Department of Labor to promulgate occupational
safety and health standards. |
| 1972 | MPRSA | Marine Protection, Research and
Sanctuaries Act | Regulates ocean dumping of wastes that would
adversely affect human health and welfare. |
| 1972 | FIFRA | Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and
Rodenticide Act | Provides for Federal control of pesticide
distribution, sale, and use. |
1972
Amended:
1974, 1981 | FWPCA | Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act, or CWA) | Required
states to develop standards for waterways. Established program for USEPA
and approved states to administer permits to discharge to
waterways. |
1974
Amended: 1977 | SDWA | Safe Drinking Water
Act | Set minimum national standards for drinking water. Developed
maximum contaminant levels for coliform bacteria and hazardous waste.
Required that mechanisms be put in place to protect groundwater and that
water supplies be periodically monitored. |
| 1976 | TSCA | Toxic Substances Control
Act | The first comprehensive law to regulate toxic substances.
Gives USEPA authority to require testing of new and existing chemicals to
determine health effects. |
| 1976 | RCRA | Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act | Created cradle to grave system to manage hazardous wastes.
Regulates treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) of hazardous
wastes. |
| 1976 | SCCA | Spill Compensation and Control
Act | Prohibits discharges of hazardous substances, provides for
cleanup, and established notification procedures. |
| 1980 | CERCLA | Comprehensive Environmental Response
and Liability Act | Superfund established to create policy and
procedures for dealing with the clean-up of pollution problems at
existing and inactive sites. Provides for liability, compensation,
clean-up, and emergency response in connection with the remediation
work. |
| 1983 | NJ ECRA | Environmental Cleanup Responsibility
Act | Established preconditions on transfer of property to assure
that it is not contaminated. |
| 1984 | HSWA | Hazardous and Solid Waste
Amendments | Amended RCRA to include regulation of USTs. |
| 1986 | SARA | Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act | Amended CERCLA to include Title III Emergency
Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act. |
| 1990 | PPA | Pollution Prevention
Act | Emphasizes the implementation of protocol for the prevention
of hazardous waste generation. |
| 1993 | NJ ISRA | Industrial Site Recovery
Act | Amended ECRA. Requires that any environmental contamination
of property which poses a risk to public health and the environment be
identified and remediated by the seller of the property. |
