Environment Response
Uploaded by MafiaBoy85 on Mar 15, 2002
All around America, there are many examples of Federalism involving environmental protection and preservation. Often, states will take care of small situations or those that are situated in their state only. However sometimes, issues get too big or too important to be resolved by the state governments alone, so the federal government involves themselves. Because of our current political system, the federal government is dominant over the state’s rule. Things like Everglades’s revitalization, Chesapeake Bay cleanup/ protection, and toxic waste storage in the Yucca Mountains can be handled by the states since the territories are in the states themselves. Be that as it may, the territories are also located in America which is governed by the federal government. Thus, if the federal government intervenes, then the influence of the state will be constrained. This is the definition of federalism.
Both federal and state governments are concerned about the preservation of the Everglades. In fact, there has been a proposal passed to help keep the Everglades clean. “The Everglades Protection Area shall be defined as set forth in s. 373.4592, F.S. The phosphorus criterion for the Everglades Protection Area shall be 10 parts per billion (ppb) and shall apply to all predominantly freshwater portions of the Everglades Protection Area. Compliance with the phosphorus criterion shall be based upon a long-term geometric mean of concentration levels to be measured at sampling stations recognized from the research to be reasonably representative of receiving waters in the Everglades Protection Area, and so located so as to assure that the Everglades Protection Area is not altered so as to cause an imbalance in natural populations of aquatic flora and fauna and to assure a net improvement in the areas already impacted.” This proposes that the levels of phosphorus and pollution should be measured thoroughly at water sampling stations. These sampling stations will be located so not to alter the current land space of the Everglades. This is to prevent an imbalance in the population around the area. The state governments hope that this will allow us to monitor the water more carefully and at the same time not disturb the existing wildlife.
The Chesapeake Bay is currently being polluted by drainage and toxins carried by rainwater as it flows through streams and rivers towards the Bay. In the past, builders and constructors used to plan their buildings so “that rainwater was quickly...