Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
Environmental Protection
&
Business Law
P.F. Ribeiro
Spring 98
MBA Program
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
The Big Picture - The Case for a Holistic Approach To Technological Design
The case for a holistic approach to design (planning and operation) rests primarily
on the fact that the technological tools and products produced by design and
fabrication enter everyday experience as unities. This being the case, design itself
should be holistic. Indeed, people’s lives are affected not by technological objects
per se, but by how these objects function in all aspects of reality. A car not only
conforms to the laws of physics and chemistry, but is also an object of proud
ownership, has a value relative to that of alternate purchases, and is a focus of trust,
because the buyer believes that if it is used correctly, it will not be harmful. If an
object is to function well in all of its aspects, they must be taken into account in its
design. And that is what holistic design seeks to do.
(Responsible Technology)
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
Outline
1. Introduction
2. TheNEPA and Policies
3. Air Pollution
4. The Business Side
5. Cases
6. Conclusions
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Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
1. Introduction
The Dialectic Nature of Environmental Protection
•Inevitable Population Growth Leads to Depletion of Earth’s Resources and Generates
Pollution
•Total Pollution Protection Is Impractical
•Advanced (Nuclear) Energy Generation: Catastrophic Failure Risk
The Inconsistent Approach: Public versus Private Requirements
•Electric Fields From Power Lines versus Hair Dryers
Facts and Fiction
•Global Warming Controversy - A Scientific Speculation
•Global Weather Conditions (Solar Flares, El-Nino)
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BUAD 635 - Business Law
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The Power System Value Business Chain
Power System Value Chain
Environmental
Maintainability
Availability
Safety
Efficiency
Reliability
Performance
Price
Power Quality
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
2. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Policies
NEPA
•Enacted in 1969, Effective 1970
•Mandates that the federal government consider the adverse impact of federal
actions on the environment.
EPA
•Created by congress in 1970
•Coordinate the implementation and enforcement of the federal environment
protection laws
Policies
• EIS, NAAQS, RACT, BACT, MACT, FWPCA, BPCT, MPRSA, OPA, RCRA,
CERCLA, NRC,
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
• NAAQS - National Ambient Air Pollution Standards
• RACT - Reasonably Available Control Technology
• BACT - Best Available Control Technology
• MACT - Maximum Achievable Control Technology
• FWPCA - Federal Water Pollution Control ACT of 1948
• BPCT - Best Practical Control Technology
• SDWA - Safe Drinking Water Act, 1972
• OPA - Oil Pollution Act, 1990
• RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
• CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act
• NRC - Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982)
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
3. Air Pollution
•Clean Act Air
•Standards
•Stationary Sources
•Mobile Sources
•Toxic Air Pollutants
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Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
4. The Business Side
Smog Swapping
•Business versus Environmentalism
•Market-basis Trading Scheme
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BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
5. Cases
Case 1 - Natural Resources Defense Council, INC.
V. Environmental Protection Agency, District of Columbia Circuit
Facts
•Vinyl Gaseous - Synthetic chemical used in the manufacture of plastic
•Strong carcinogen
•EPA rule establishes emission standards for vinyl chloride under section 112 of the Clean Air
Act.
•The standard provides ample margin of safety to protect the public health.
•The National Resources Defense Council sued the EPA
Issue
Must EPA set a zero level of emissions of the toxic pollutant vinyl chloride?
Decision
No.
Reason.
The court stated that zero level of emissions is unreasonable
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BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
Case 2 - TVA v. Hill, Secretary of the Interior
United States Supreme Court
FACTS
•TVA operates a series of dams, water and electric power plants.
•In 1967 TVA began construction of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River.
•In 1973, a University of Tennessee ichthyologist found a previously unknown species of perch called
Percina Tansai -- or “snail darter”--in the Littel Tennessee River. The snail darter was not
found anywhere else in the world. The Tellico Dam would destroy the snail darte’s food
and oxygen supplies, causing its extinction.
•Also in 1973, Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act (Act)
•The Secretary of the Interior declared the snail darter an endangered species and the area that would
be affected by the Dam its critical habitat.
•In 1976, a conservation group field an action seeking to enjoin the TVA from closing the gates of the
dam.on the grounds that would violate Section 7 of the Act.
•The District Court held in favor of TVA.
•The court of appeals reversed the decision. TVA appealed to the US Supreme Court.
ISSUES
•Would the TVA be in violation of the Endangered Species Act if it operated the dam?
DICISION
Yes. Affirmed
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BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
Developing Cases
Regional Case - AEP Line
ROANOKE, Va. - American Electric Power has reaffirmed its commitment
to build a major transmission line in Virginia and West Virginia.
"The need for the proposed line, which has been confirmed by the Commission's
independent consultant Stone & Webster, by the hearing examiner and by the
Commission itself in the Interim Order, has received national attention in the wake of the
widespread blackouts experienced in the Western United States during July and August of
1996," AEP's filing said.
A recent report by the U.S. Department of Energy to the President on the Western Blackouts in
July identified delay in the Wyoming-Cloverdale project as being one of two specific areas of
significant concern regarding potential problems in the reliability of the nation's electricity
supply.
AEP's filing today stems from the release last June of the U.S. Forest Service's Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the proposed line.
"Notwithstanding the fact that the DEIS...preliminarily identifies a 'no-action alternative'
AEP recognizes that it must, in one way or another, do all it reasonably can to address a
demonstrated, substantial and urgent need for a significant reinforcement to the transmission
facilities serving (southern West Virginia and Virginia)," AEP said in its filing.
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
AEP said it had reconsidered alternatives to the transmission line. "The company also
has reviewed all realistic alternatives to the proposed line...and has concluded that the proposed
Wyoming-Cloverdale project remains far and away the best, and in fact the only reasonable,
overall solution to the compelling need for additional electric transmission capacity,
AEP's original preferred corridor, a 115-mile route from Wyoming Station near Oceana,
West Virginia, to Cloverdale Station near Roanoke, Virginia, was selected by a team of
experts from Virginia Tech and West Virginia University.
"The company now estimates that the project cannot be completed, even under a best-case
scenario, before December 2002," AEP said.
AEP plans to use existing and new operating procedures to limit the possibility of
widespread blackouts that could occur during certain conditions between 1998 and 2002.
Because the risk of conditions occurring that could lead to uncontrolled blackouts will
remain significant, even after implementation of these interim measures, AEP will develop a
load shedding program. This program will be designed to implement controlled partial
blackouts in order to mitigate growing susceptibility to uncontrolled widespread system
blackouts," the company said in its filing.
Lynchburg College
BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
Developing Cases
International - The Burning The Amazon Rain Forest
An analysis of satellite data by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) indicates that burning of
rainforest land in the Brazilian Amazon increased 28% between 1996 and 1997. The analysis of
data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite images examined
fires from August and September, the burning season, for each year.
A total of 19,115 fires are reported from the NOAA-12 satellite images in the sample in 1996,
while 24,549 fires appear in the 1997 data over the period, an increase of 28%. The average
number of fires per day increased from 466 to 599. The actual increase for the year may be even
greater, since 1997 is drier than 1996 and burning continues.
"Increased burning strongly suggests that deforestation rates continue to rise," said EDF senior
scientist Stephan Schwartzman. "Along with new data from the region showing that what appears
on the satellite pictures is only half the story, this is cause for serious concern. "
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BUAD 635 - Business Law
MBA Program
6. Conclusions
Environmenatl Protection
Very Complex Problem (Contradictory Interests)
Local versus Global Conditions
Gobal Picture: All Aspects of Reality Need to Be Considered
Need For Self-Sustainable Economy and Environmental Conditions
Shared Responsibiltiy: Citizen and Government