to focus more on beneficial use of natural resources (US Bureau of Land Management 2018; US Forest Service 2018).
Federal agencies operate within the limits of federal jurisdiction. For example, EPA's jurisdiction under the CWA is limited to “waters of the United States.” In many cases, federal laws allow for more stringent regulation by states, and of transfer of certain federally mandated responsibilities from federal to state control. US state governments, therefore, administering state law adopted under state police powers or federal law by delegation, uniformly include environmental agencies (USEPA Heath and Environmental Agencies 2018). The extent to which state environmental laws are based on or depart from federal law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Thus, while a permit to fill nonfederal wetlands might require a permit from a single state agency, larger and more complex endeavors – for example, the construction of a coal‐fired power plant – might require approvals from numerous federal and state agencies.
2.14.8 Enforcement
In the United States, violations of environmental laws are generally civil offenses, resulting in monetary penalties and, perhaps, civil sanctions such as injunction. Many environmental laws also provide for criminal penalties for egregious violations. Some federal laws, such as the CWA, also allow a US citizen to file a lawsuit against a violator, if the government has failed to take enforcement action (USEPA Clean Water Act 1972).
Environmental agencies often include separate enforcement offices, with duties including monitoring permitted activities, performing compliance inspections, issuing citations, and prosecuting wrongdoing (civilly or criminally, depending on the violation). EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is one such agency. Others, such as the United States Park Police, carry out more traditional law enforcement activities.
Adjudicatory proceedings for environmental violations are often handled by the agencies themselves under the structures of administrative law. In some cases, appeals are also handled internally (e.g. EPA's Environmental Appeals Board). Generally, final agency determinations may subsequently be appealed to the appropriate court.
2.14.9 Education and Training
Environmental law courses are offered as elective courses in the second and third years of JD study at many American law schools. Curricula vary: an introductory course might focus on the “big five” federal statutes – National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Air Act, CWA, CERCLA (Superfund), and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (or, alternatively, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) – and may be offered in conjunction with a natural resources law course. Smaller seminars may be offered on more focused topics. Some US law schools also offer an LLM or JSD specialization in environmental law. Additionally, several law schools host legal clinics that focus on environmental law, providing students with an opportunity to learn about environmental law in the context of real world disputes involving actual clients (Babich 2004). U.S. News & World Report has consistently ranked Vermont Law School, Lewis & Clark Law School, and Pace University School of Law as the top three Environmental Law programs in the United States, with Lewis & Clark and Vermont frequently trading the top spot.
Many American law schools host student‐published law journals. The environmental law reviews at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, and Lewis & Clark Law School are regularly the most‐cited such publications (http://lawlib.wlu.edu/LJ).
International environmental lawyers often receive specialized training in the form of an LLM degree at US institutions, after having a first law degree – often in another country from where they got their first law degree.
2.14.10 Vietnam
Vietnam is currently working with the USEPA on dioxin remediation and technical assistance in order to lower methane emissions. In March 2002, the United States and Vietnam signed the US–Vietnam Memorandum of Understanding on Research on Human Health and the Environmental Effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin (Vietnam Environment Administration, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment 2002).
2.15 ISO 9000 and 14000
ISO, the International Standards Organization, is a worldwide program that was founded in 1947 to promote the development of international manufacturing, trade, and communication standards. The initial focus of body with representatives from all industrialized nations. ISO membership includes over 100 countries. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the US counterpart and representative to ISO. ISO essentially receives input from government, industry, and other interested parties before developing a standard. All standards developed by ISO are voluntary; thus, there are no legal requirements to force countries to adopt them. However, countries and industries often adopt ISO standards as requirements for doing and maintaining business.
ISO develops standards in all industries except those related to electrical and electronic engineering. Standards in those areas are developed by the Geneva‐based International Electrotechnical Commission, which has members from many countries, including the United States.
The purpose and goal of ISO is to improve the climate for international trade by “leveling the playing field.” The concept is that by encouraging uniform practices around the world, barriers to trade will be reduced. If the management processes of companies in any other country, then international trade would be made simpler.
2.15.1 Green Accounting Practices and Other Quality Manufacturing and Business Management Paradigms
Readers familiar with various quality industrial management paradigms might have noticed that green accounting and capital budgeting practices are frequently compatible with general strategies for improving manufacturing and business management. These various strategies tend to work together to form a general philosophy of quality improvement; companies and industries that are accustomed to tracking and improving the productivity of labor and capital are just now realizing that it benefits them to do the same for energy and other resources. In quality management, many companies seek external certification of their management systems through ISO or similar organizations at a national level. More recently, ISO standards have been set for management practices.
ISO 9000 lays down guidelines of how to establish and operate an efficient quality assurance system, covering most aspects of a business and its procedures, and specifies that such procedures must be documented in a quality assurance manual (ISO 9000 2018a). How the system is implemented, managed, and periodically reviewed to ensure compliance and continued effectiveness also has to be clearly documented. Customers of any ISO 9000‐approved company should feel assured that they are buying from an organization that exercises tight control over its whole business, and the end product will be consistent with the declared specifications. ISO 9000 is a recognized business management standards for quality systems or assurances, and certification is fairly common now. To be certified, companies and businesses must show that they have the required quality management system (QMS) in place (see also Section 8.1).
ISO 14000 has also developed standards for environmental management. ISO environmental management standards are similar to ISO 9000 quality management standards except that they focus on environmental management, of which total cost accounting is a component. Note that ISO 14000 certification is based on whether or not a company has systems in place for managing environmental responsibilities, but not on environment performance. It does NOT require compliance with the regulations of the country in which the company is located. In some countries, it is possible that regulations may be more stringent than the standard. It seems likely, however, that in some companies achieving
