Shows you how to: find out which permits you need, from who, for each situation; obtain wetlands, safe drinking water, clean air, clean water, solid waste, hazardous waste, asbestos, and other types of environmental permits.

The handbook consists of eight chapters addressing permitting and licensing requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (CERCLA/SARA), the Atomic Energy Act (AEA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Federal Insectide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Each chapter consists of: (1) an introduction to the statute and permitting requirements; (2) a diagram illustrating the relationship between permitting requirements under the statute being discussed and permitting requirements from other environmental statutes which may have to be addressed when applying for a particular permit (e.g., when applying for a RCRA permit, permits and permit applications under the CWA, CAA, SDWA, etc. would have to be listed in the RCRA permit application); and, (3) a compilation of the permitting requirements for the regulatory program resulting from the statute. In addition, the Handbook contains a permitting keyword index and a listing of hotline telephone numbers for each of the statutes.

Environmental permits enable regulatory agencies to control the disturbance and degradation of the environment caused by man's activities. Created by governments through legislation, the permit processes are administered by elected officials. Environmental legislation is relatively new as an independent field of the law: the laws themselves are primarily a conglomeration of older legal doctrines from other fields of law, modified and adapted for particular situations (Landau and Rheingold 1971). Like other laws, environmental laws are meant to serve and protect the rights and well-being of the public. However, like other laws, they have created confusion, a proliferation of costly paperwork, and some inequities. Numerous statutes, dealing with most aspects of pollution, exist at every level of government-so many, in fact, that they frequently conflict and overlap. These statutes establish a public policy toward polluters. They also empower the regulatory bodies that issue permits. It would be impossible to compile a list of requirements for each type of permit. Therefore, this book will acquaint the reader with the common aspects of environmental permits: their terminology, components, and application processes. This book covers the permit process from initial agencies/applicant contacts through application parts and procedures, to application approval. Special emphasis has been placed on bringing together copies of laws and lists of agencies as appendices. The appendices give the reader easy access to materials that will help clarify the permit process.