picture: http://askmissa.com/2010/04/06/aveda-institute-washington-dc-hosts-fundraisers-to-support-clean-water-initiatives/
article: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/10/25/25greenwire-slide-in-epa-clean-water-criminal-enforcement-83471.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Under the Obama administration, criminal enforcement of federal water-pollution is now in place, according to the EPA. 32 new Clean Water Act convictions have been reported also. The last count had been 42, and this year is down from 28 to 21. Nearly 60 percent of these cases have been dropped recently.
All "navigable" waters are protected by this law, and this causes controversy. Congress has repeatedly failed in eliminating the word "navigable."
With Obama's consent, EPA is now going to toughen the enforcement of our nation's water pollution laws by working to close legal loopholes, hiring more investigators, and bringing more cases against polluters. This is being done to decrease the amount of legal ambiguities that have dodged the Clean Water Act enforcement.
Opinion: I think it's great that the number of polluters has gone down, but it's not good to hear that people have been getting away with polluting. At least the EPA is working on fixing this problem, and making sure that everyone pays for their actions. To me, polluting water is a crime that should be accounted for. Another thing that was brought to my attention was the fact that it's only illegal to pollute a "navigable" waterway. This means that streams, ponds, and such aren't protected! This is a problem that should be fixed in my opinion.
1) Can you find any more information regarding the number of people accused for polluting waters?
2) Do you think that it's a good or a bad thing that the numbers of polluters (caught) have gone down? Does this mean that there are less, or just less caught?
3) What else do you think could fix this problem if there is a way?
This is great to hear that it is going down. At least he knows we have the laws and is taking a great action to help stop them or slow them down. I think they also need to stop the people from getting away with polluting though. That is horrible that someone would do that knowing they're polluting the earth. #1- I found that drug companies in India are polluting their waters. #2-I think it is a great thing because less polluters means less pollution.#3-I think this is the best way going right now because Obama is in on it and who else better would you want working on it than our own president.
ReplyDeleteHere is a site i found expanding on the topic and it helped me answer question #1:
http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/drug-companies-accused-of-polluting-water-in-india
I was expecting a number in the hundreds for water pollution crimes. It's good that we have a low amount of criminal acts with water, but as Obama noticed, that does not mean we should dismiss and ignore the subject. If polluters noticed that the punishments weren't very severe, there would most likely be a larger number of polluting. Now that the laws are even tougher, we should expect the numbers to go down even more. The only thing that I don't get is why people would even pollute waterways. Do they even know that some of the water they are polluting could very well be the water they are drinking a few weeks later? Their stupid act could turn around and bite them in the butt.
ReplyDelete#2: Of course it's a good thing! Just as Chris said, the less polluters means the less pollution.
#3: Other than what the government is doing now (which is great), I still believe that there should be more public awareness of the laws and consequences of these acts.
Here is what most signs are like today that warn people not to pollute: http://aquafornia.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/no-dumping-drains-to-ocean.jpg
If there would be public awareness of the rules and consequences of polluting in waterways, I think that the number of water polluting acts will decrease dramatically.
i think polluting is probably one of the worst crimes a person can commit. I think this because it affects everybody on the planet not just one person or a group of people. Im glad to hear that people are starting to get really strict on pollution because it affects so many people and Im glad they are passing so many laws against it. I do however have 3 nmore questions to ask. 1)Why doesnt the government just pass a law that says "No pollution or you will be punished" erather than a lot of little laws that still have some loop holes? 2) what are some ways people can cut back on pollution? and 3) Why has it taken the government this long to start being more strict about pollution? On one hand I'm glad that the government is becoming more strict on this, but on the other hand I'm thinking Why wait until now and also how strict is the goverment really about this. I would have thought that they were already doing their best but obviously they werent. How can we be sure the new changes are making the laws the best they can be?
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ReplyDeleteAlong with Jake, hearing that there is only a few dozen crimes of pollution is very astounding considering I thought it would easily be a couple hundred. This is a very positive step the government is taking to help our severely damaged waters. Also, rebutting what Nicole said, even though unnavigable sources of water are not being helped currently, the fact that the government is targeting the large bodies of water that can be sailed upon is still good. And think, if something is unnavigable, doesn't that mean that it is too small for any sort of ship/boat/canoe which in turn means that it is not a large, important source of water that needs to be dealt with immediately. But I do agree with Nicole when I say that even though no action is taken now, some must be soon. Also , answering Jakes question, a lot of people know that the government can't find them as a individual and punish them. But also, it is more monetarily efficient to just dump crud in rivers rather than go through the process of getting it filtered and cleaned.
ReplyDeleteI do have one suggestion though, and that is for the government to make the public more aware of the severity of the punishments. If the people know there is a huge penalty for polluting it will surely help cut back the number of crimes.
Questions:
1. I can not find an exact number of polluters but I found a good organization that could help (The INTERPOL Pollution Crime Working Group)
2. It is a very good thing. The only way I can think of it being bad was if the "ex-polluters" stopped dumping into water bodies and focused their pollution into some other field. Also, I do think that there is a less number, not less caught considering how well the government investigates these things.
3. Other than just increasing public awareness, I have one other idea but it would stink if society was forced to completely block bodies of water from the public unless they got some type of permit.
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ReplyDeleteSorry about the extra posts I was having some technical problems.
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