Environmental Laws (Savvas)

Match the following terms from the history of U.S. environmental policy

Groups:

(a) First Period (1780s to late 1800s)

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(b) The Second Period (early to mid-1900s)

,

(c) The Third Period (mid- to late- 1900s)

,

(d) Modern US Policy (2000-current)

• world population has exploded to over 8 billion people

• public feeling was that resources and land were in endless supply

• polices tried to fix the problems that came after westward expansion

• management of public lands as the nation expanded west

• • Silent Spring and fires on the Cuyahoga River raised environmental awareness

• established national park service to protect land from exploitation

• debating issues like climate change, worldwide species extinctions, and renewable energy use

• increased populations, large cities, and industrialization led to increased pollution

Tags

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Civil War era law gave citizens and future citizens the opportunity to claim 160 acres of land to help settle the West.

• Homestead Act of 1862

• Emergency Conservation Work Act (1933)

• General Mining Law (1872)

• National Environmental Policy Act (1969)

An early U.S. law that encouraged individuals and companies to explore, claim rights, and mine for valuable minerals (like gold and silver) on public lands, especially in the western United States.

• Homestead Act of 1862

• Emergency Conservation Work Act (1933)

• General Mining Law (1872)

• National Environmental Policy Act (1969)

Created national parks, monuments, and reservations to protect important natural and historic sites.

• National Park Service Organic Act (1916)

• General Mining Law (1872)

• National Environmental Policy Act (1969)

• Land Ordinance of 1785

Tags

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Which federal law contributed to the environmental changes displayed in this graph?

• Clean Air Act (1970)

• Clean Water Act (1970)

• Endangered Species Act (1973)

• “Superfund” (1980)

One of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, it made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source (like a pipe, ditch, or factory) into navigable waters (such as rivers, lakes, or coastal areas) unless a permit was obtained.

• Clean Air Act (1970)

• Clean Water Act (1972)

• Endangered Species Act (1973)

• Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)

Tags

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"Save the Whales" - he first major U.S. law to protect marine mammals—like whales, dolphins, seals, and sea otters—from human activities, not just as individual species, but as key parts of entire ocean ecosystems.

• Clean Water Act (1972)

• Endangered Species Act (1973)

• Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)

• Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)

Tags

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Federal law that empowers the EPA to regulate and ban chemicals (like PCBs, asbestos, radon, and lead-based paint) in the United States to protect human health and the environment.

• Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)

• Pollution Prevention Act (1990)

• Food Security Act (1985)

• “Superfund” (1980)

Passed in response to national attention resulting from the 1969 Cuyahoga River, Ohio fire.

• Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act (1977)

• Clean Water Act (1970)

• Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)

• Food Quality Protection Act (1996)

Tags

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Prohibits the harassment, hunting, capturing, collecting, or killing of whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea otters, ...

• Clean Water Act (1972)

• Endangered Species Act (1973)

• Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)

• Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

NGSS.MS-LS2-5