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Environmental Law: A Focus into Superfund and the Paris Agreement

Increased manufacturing activities have increased environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; hence, environmental laws and agreements have been enacted towards promoting environmental decontamination. This paper focuses on Superfund as a US environmental law while looking into the Paris Climate Agreement and the impact of compromising on environmental policies.

Superfund (CERCLA)

In 1980, US Congress instituted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) to address increased dumping of hazardous waste materials, which posed a risk to human health through environmental contamination. As an alternative name, Superfund emanates from the fund set up by Congress to clean up long-term hazardous waste dumpsites (US EPA, 2017). Under the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA), Superfund helps clean contaminated sites while also enforcing parties responsible for hazardous waste dumps to carry out state-mandated cleanups or face penalties for environmental contamination.

CERCLA has joined hands with communities in cleanups through participation and training that allow citizens to gain knowledge and achieve environmental decontamination (US EPA, 2017). The community involvement helps align CERCLA’s goals of reclaiming dumping sites and repurposing them for safe human use, and promoting human health through sustained clean environments suited for living.

The Paris Climate Agreement

Formed in 2015 in Paris, the Paris Climate Agreement, also known as the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aims at reducing global warming to the preferred 1.5⁰C by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. For its success, developed countries provided funding to help achieve the world’s desired climate-neutral goal. The Paris Climate Agreement advocates for technological advancements that help environmentally friendly gadgets sustain human life and reduce carbon emissions (United Nations Climate Change, 2016). The agreement also charters programs that help developing countries strengthen skills and processes that help in more global climate-saving-related initiatives. Since its enactment, the agreement has seen the production of low carbon technology, especially in transportation. While CERCLA and the Paris Climate Agreement have been successful in environmental decontamination, a few laws had to be reassessed through negotiations for their formations before its formation.

Importance of Superfund and the Paris Climate Agreement

            I consider Superfund an important environmental law as it has brought a change in the environment. By cleaning up all harmful waste, public health is safeguarded. I carry this important virtue forward, as I believe when the climate and environment are looked after, human health is safeguarded, and life all-around is protected. On the other hand, the Paris Climate agreement has brought to light an understanding that global warming can be controlled with low carbon emissions. Therefore, as a citizen and environmentalist of a COP21 member state, I must reduce greenhouse emissions by conserving and protecting the environment.

Negotiations and Compromises to Achieve CERCLA and the Paris Climate Agreement

The most notable negotiations that led to the formation of CERCLA were the 1978 Love Canal environmental disaster. President Carter issued a state of emergency at Niagara Falls after increased reported cases of babies born with congenital disabilities, miscarriages, and skin rashes in people around the New York area. Congress convened in 1979 holding discussions on the severity of the increased untreated hazardous waste dumps, stating concern over public health and safety for communities around chemical waste dumpsite all over the country (US EPA, 2018). Bills presented to both houses of Congress were passed with the formation of CERCLA in 1980 to help in environmental preservation, preserving and promoting human health and safety, which are goals of CERCLA.

During the 2015 United Nations climate change conference in Paris, developed countries reached a compromise to fund lowered carbon emissions through diplomatic climate talks. Developing and under-developed countries would benefit from this through the funds through capacity-building initiatives that promoted environmental conservation (Leal-Arcas & Morelli, 2018). Reaching the 1.5⁰C limit in atmospheric warming would mean that the world, in general, had reached a zero limit on carbon emissions. Therefore, developed countries would then profit by manufacturing low emissions means of transportation. Eventually, these compromises brought rise to the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Conclusion

In the end, government-funded initiatives like CERCLA or global agreements like the Paris Agreement have seen the environment protected. CERCLA has achieved land reclamation and preservation fit for human encroachment and settlement by controlling, treating, and properly dumping chemical and hazardous wastes. On the other hand, the Paris Climate Agreement has advocated for a better understanding of the consequences of global warming to all countries and united them all under one initiative. When the climate and environment are looked after, human health is safeguarded, and life all-around is protected.