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Environmental Laws: The Origin of Regulations
Typically, Congress writes legislation about an environmental or public health protection issue before EPA writes any regulations to address it. Public interest groups, citizens, businesses, or other government agencies contact Congress with an issue of concern. Congress may then decide to hold hearings and prepare a bill. If the bill gains approval in Congress, it then goes to the President for signature. If signed, the bill becomes a law. To see the text of bills Congress is considering or has considered, or to learn more about how bills are written and passed, visit the Library of Congress' Thomas Web site.
Through the years, Congress has passed and Presidents have signed numerous laws to protect human health and the environment. These laws give EPA most of its authority to write regulations, and serve as the foundation for achieving the nation's environmental and public health protection goals. However, most laws do not have enough detail to be put into practice right away. EPA is called a regulatory agency because Congress authorizes us to write regulations that explain the critical technical, operational, and legal details necessary to implement laws.
For example, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires us to write standards for managing hazardous waste. RCRA's central mandate requires EPA to develop standards to protect human health and the environment, but does not say precisely what those standards should be. As in many other laws, Congress entrusts EPA to develop most of the details for regulations based on our technical and policy expertise.
Each year, we issue approximately 130 substantive regulations that apply nationwide. Of these regulations, only about 5 to 10 are considered major, meaning they have the potential to impose cumulative costs of more than $100 million a year. In addition, the Agency publishes about 900 proposed regulations, technical corrections to existing regulations, State Implementation Plans (SIPs), and other information related to the enforcement and implementation of existing regulations.
