Environmental laws and environmental improvement

The present complex of environmental laws in the United States may hamper rather than enhance environmental improvement. They have in most part been single media laws which can be characterized as "pollution abatement" rather than "environmental" statutes. Thus clean water requirements do not consider related impacts upon land and air while clean air requirements do not consider land and water impacts. On the other hand the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act requires net environmental improvement. An example of an environmental problem arising from the single media Clean Water Act with possible amelioration arising from the 1977 Congressional enaction of Section 301(h) of the Act is presented.