ENV LAW Flashcards
A rule that states “persons over 40 years of age must provide more insurance coverage to drive a car”, might be a violation of what constitutional right?
Equal Protection
Section 5.011 of the Texas Water Code creating the TCEQ states that the agency shall have jurisdiction over “the issuance of water rights permits, water rights adjudication, cancellation of water rights, and enforcement of water rights.” This is an example of what kind of power?
Explicit or expressed power
Under the above language do you believe that TCEQ has the authority to conduct studies to analyze how much water is available in the various river basins within the state of Texas, to determine how much water is available for water rights permitting purposes?
This asks what you believe so you cannot get it wrong
If you concluded that the agency was authorized to conduct the studies referenced in question 4, please state the legal principle that would allow them to conduct such studies. If you concluded that the agency was not authorized to conduct the studies referenced in question 4, please state the legal principle that would prohibit such action
Implicit or Implied Power
Provide two reasons that a state agency might use Civil Enforcement instead of Administrate Enforcement in pursuing a violation of one of its rules.
Higher Penalties/Injunctive/Long Arm Jurisdiction
Your idiot college buddy has landed a plum job with a large manufacturing company. He is responsible for handling their waste disposal needs. Unfortunately, he is clueless. He has a drum of liquid he needs to dispose of and has asked you what he should do. What advice do you give him, assuming you are not going to assist him in getting fired.
He must first determine exactly what is in the drum. If it is hazardous, he will dispose of as hazardous waste, if it isn’t hazardous, he will dispose of as solid waste.
Persons who compact or transport Type 4 Waste in enclosed containers are allowed to do so pursuant to a Permit by Rule arrangement. What is the logic for the lesser permitting requirement for these activities.
This type of waste poses very little threat to ground water
True or False - During trial the attorney is asking questions so that he can find out the answer
False
Under the discovery process, prior to a hearing or trial, an attorney might send the opposing party a list of questions inquiring about various aspects of their claim or defenses. Questions such as these are called
Interrogatories
Under the discovery process prior to hearing or trial, an attorney wishes to find out about the opposing party’s expert witnesses. What discovery procedure would he/she use?
Request for Disclosure
In order to narrow the issues and resolve mundane uncontroverted facts an attorney might send a series of brief statements of facts that the opposing party must agree with, deny or explain why they can neither agree with, or deny. These brief statements are called this
Request for Admissions
In order to investigate the details of an opposing expert witness’s opinion or report, an attorney might require that the expert participate in one of these as part of the discovery process
Deposition
In order to obtain photos and other physical evidence in the possession of the opposing party, an attorney would use this discovery process.
Request for Production
If you have been directed by your boss investigate a tract of land that your company is interested in purchasing. In conducting your investigation, you might first contact with a consulting firm to conduct one of these
Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment
The document you received from your consultant is identified in #17 indicates that there was a gas station and auto repair business on the tract of land in question from 1960-1980. Your boss indicates that he is still interested in the property. What might you contract for next? Please explain why in sufficient detail to justify the cost to your boss
Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment to determine if any contamination actually exists and the extent of that contamination
What are the four general philosophies or justification that describe how to regulate or protect the environment?
Aesthetic, Moral, Ecological, Utilitarian
If the four justifications or philosophies described above, which is most likely to be accepted by the Board of Directors of a large mining company?
Utilitarian
Of the four justifications or philosophies described in your response to question of which is most likely to be held by a card carrying member of PETA?
Moral
Negligence
Duty, Breach of duty, Proximate Cause, Damages
Fraud
Material misrepresentation
Trespass
You or your stuff is on my property
Nuisance
Interfering with someone’s use or enjoyment of their property
True or False- The legal principle that says you can’t sue the government without permission is called pre-emption.
False
What type of landfill is used for the disposal of construction and demolition debris?
Type 4
The legal principal under CERCLA that allows EPA to pursue the deep pocket PRP and leave the entity to seek contribution from the other PRP’s.
Joint and Several Liability
The legal principle of deference, whereby a court will defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own rules, requires that the agency’s interpretation of that rule be
Reasonable
Identify three practices that might be used to reduce the amount of waste that needs to be sent to landfills.
Reuse, Source Reduction, Recycle
Characteristics of the groundwater at a proposed landfill site is critical to the design of this component of the landfill.
Liner
In regards to former industrial sites, offering the property as a low cost or the availability of tax breaks aimed at getting the sites back into productive use are referred to as this
Brownfield Initiatives
You are representing a client in a case where the opposing party proposes the introduction of a summary of a scientific study that is based upon a voluminous amount of data collected by their consultants. In addition to the criteria discussed in the DuPont case, you might urge the court to also consider this in deciding whether to admit the summary into the record
The reliability of the underlying data
Of the three common types of air emissions control technology discussed in class, which is used to control particulate matter in the emissions?
Bag House
You and two classmates are being given a tour of a facility used to store bulk containers of various pesticides. While you are there, one of the containers is accidentally knocked over resulting in a spill. One of your classmates is quickly becoming ill form the fumes of the pesticide in the air. Before you evaluate the facility you use your phone to take a picture of the MSDS for the pesticide spilled. What info should your photo focus on?
EPA registration #, chemical formulation #, this will enable the treating physician to get info on all of the chemicals in the pesticide not just the active ingredient.
Of the four types of Air Quality Permits discussed in class, which is likely to be the most expensive and time consuming to obtain?
Type V
The George Shorthose Hose Company has applied for an Air Quality Permit for its proposed new manufacturing facility The permitting process is designed to prevent significant deterioration of existing air quality unless the proposed facility is located in one of these.
Non-attainment zone
The allocation of state water in Texas is based upon this system.
Prior Appropriation
Explain the difference between the terms “environmental flows” and “return flows”.
Environmental flows reflect the amount of water that must be present to sustain a given habitat or ecosystem. Return flows is water put back into the receiving stream after is has been put to a beneficial use.
A city is discharging the treated wastewater into a water course. The city’s plan is to convey the water downstream to its surface water treatment plant, withdraw the water, treat it to drinking water quality and use it to provide potable water to its citizens. What sort of permit does the city need to use the water course as its pipeline?
Bed and Banks
The fact that aquifers don’t’ stop at the county line or otherwise recognize political boundaries is the underlying basis for Groundwater District belonging to these
Groundwater Management Area
At what point are a person’s groundwater rights fully vested?
When reduced to possession
Of the three components that make up Water Quality Standards, which component might include terminology like “contract recreation”?
Designated uses
A Waste load allocation + b. load allocation =
Total maximum daily load
If a stream segment has excessive quantities of mercury it might appear on this list under the CWA.
303d
According to the SDWA, list the following in order of the frequency of their testing, going from most often to least often. Chemical, Microbial, Disinfectant by products
Microbial, Disinfectant BP, Chemical
A wastewater treatment facility that has experienced extremely low in-flows during July causing its activated sludge to die. It might be said that the plant is experiencing this type of event
Upset Conditions
Describe two advantages to Regional or Area Wide wastewater treatment facilities that might contribute to improved water quality.
Economics of scale, more highly trained operator, stricter permit parameters.
The regulatory requirement where a public utility must provide adequate and continuous service at just and reasonable rates is a regulatory substitute for this market force.
Competition
Under a state’s power to regulate land use in the interest of public health and welfare, the interest of public health and welfare fall under this general term for the state’s power.
Police Power
Although land use regulation is often done in the name of public health and welfare, it is most often doe for this purpose
Protect property value
A court case involving the City of Euclid, Ohio and its zoning regulations, serve as the basis for the name of the most common method of zoning. What is the method of zoning called?
Euclidian
An agency has performed dozens of EAs related to very similar projects and each time the EAs have resulted in a FONSI. Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. In order to avoid insanity, the agency might develop one of these
Categorical Exclusion
True or False. The most common way that a court will overturn a FONSI after an EA is if the court finds that the EA exposed a violation of the substantive provisions of NEPA
False
In order for the State of Louisiana to have utilized the Emergency provisions of NEPA to build sand bars during the BP oil spill, they would have had to show these two things
Actual emergency and that the plan was limited in time and scope to address just the emergency
In order to avoid a species being listed as threatened or endangered within its jurisdiction a state might develop one of these
Habitat conservation plan
Your best friend from childhood has inherited 500 acres from his grandfather. He tells you that he has been offered $4,000/acre for a conservation easement to protect habitat of the golden cheeked warbler. The conservation easement is for 150 acres of his 500-acre tract. Because of your great knowledge in the area of environmental regulation, he asks you if there is anything he should do before selling the easement. What might you advise him to do?
Obtain a safe harbor agreement from the appropriate agency
Large animals such as elephants are more likely to become threatened or endangered than small animals such as armadillos. Identify two factors that contribute to this reality
Longer gestation periods, lower reproductive rates, need for more range
In the state of Texas it is permissible to impound up to 200 acre/feet of state water without a water rights permit and for what purposes
Domestic and livestock
Which water rights permit would you prefer to have and why? A water rights permit that originated from the Republic of Texas or one issued in 1990 by the Texas Water Commission
Republic of Texas, first in time first in right
You are the project coordinator for a large reservoir project to be constructed by the SFA Water Authority. After review of your Environmental Assessment, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has determined that you must provide them with an Environmental Impact Statement. The Board of Directors for the Authority has asked you whether they should let the USACE do the EIS in-house or, if they should have a third party consultant. What do you tell them and why?
3rd party. Likely to be cheaper, faster, and you have some control over their activities
You and the Board have made the decision as discussed in number 29 above. Now the determination must be made as to exactly what will be include in the EIS. This process of determining what will be included in the EIS is called
Scoping
Kyoto Protocol
Reduction of green house gases that cause anthropogenic interference with the climate system
General issue with treaties
Difficult to enforce
What is global warming
Build up of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that causes the planet to warm
NASA Modeling regarding the relationship between atmospheric carbon and temperature
As atmospheric carbon goes up the temperature goes up
Work Place Safety
to protect against known hazards of a given workplace
PPE
Personal Protective Equipment - PPE never works if you’re not wearing it
WPS
Worker Protection Standard
