The alphabet soup of environmental regulations

As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, our desire to protect and preserve our environment is stronger than ever. Many of the developed and developing countries of the world have enacted legislation to aid the protection of their people and the environment by regulating the manufacture, import, and use of industrial chemicals. In the United States, government regulations at the national, state, and local levels typically complement the legal system's common law remedies. The most significant development in modern environmental law in the second half of the 20th century has been the growth in environmental statutes that take on the anticipatory, proactive regulatory function that the common law does not.