Environmental impact statements filed by federal agencies. Agency 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Federal Activities, unpublished data, 1991. Notes: Years refer to calendar years. Number of EISS includes draft EISS, EIS supplements, and final EISS filed during the specified year. Some proposed projects may have several draft and final EISS filed over a period of years. COE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. HUD=Department of Housing and Urban Development. EPA-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. GSA-General Services Administration. TVA=Tennessee Valley Authority. Pollution Prevention Also see Federal Facilities Management, Hazardous and Solid Wastes, Private Sector Initiatives, and related tables and figures in Part II. t is the national policy of the United States that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source. The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 gives the force of law to the common sense notion that very often, the best, most economically efficient way of reducing the impact of society's waste on the environment is to make less of that waste in the first place. Pollution prevention means changing the way the nation produces and consumes goods and services so that fewer pollutants are generated, and as a result, fewer pollutants are released into the environment. Conditions and Trends Federal initiatives, spurred on by the Pollution Prevention Act, have contributed to recent increases in the nationwide acceptance of the principles of pollution prevention. State Legislation In addition to federal legislation, 27 states now have pollution prevention laws. Most of these laws, enacted since 1987, target hazardous and solid wastes, and one state, Iowa, includes air emissions. Many follow the example of the federal Pollution Prevention Act and include a waste management hierarchy with the preferred option-pollution prevention or source reduction at the top, followed next by environmentally sound recycling and finally by waste treatment and disposal. Some of the laws extend technical and financial assistance to waste generators to speed pollution prevention efforts, and others require waste generators to formulate facility-wide pollution prevention plans. Such plans help the generators analyze their waste streams and identify opportunities for pollution prevention. Toxics Release Inventory The 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act requires many sources of toxic emissions and transfers to report the amount of such releases and transfers publicly. Public concern about toxic chemicals |