2. Some trends in the environmental policy and new challenges.

Soon after becoming president Barac Obama told Congress that the environment should be made a high legislative priority.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act passed by Congress in 2011 requires a 17% cut in emissions by 2020 and sets a course to reach an 83% by 2050. According to the EPA, this would by 2020 have saved up to 12000 lives and 2.5 million working days and school days.

One of the trends of the US environmental policy is to break the country’s dependence on oil through the use of renewable energy (solar, wind, biofuels) and efficiency.

For instance, Bright Source Energy is a US company specialising in concentrated solar thermal power which is seen as one of the brightest spots in the renewable energy industry. When most people think of solar power, they think of panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. Concentrated solar thermal power is different. It is a way of converting the sun’s energy into electricity but without using the panels. Instead, mirrors concentrate the sun’s rays on to a tank of water. From then on, the process of generating power is much the same as in a power plant – the stream drives a turbine that produces electricity. In this case clean energy can be generated reliably, more efficiently and at lower cost than ever before.

In wind power, the US is engaged in installing wind turbines which will allow it to increase renewable energy consumption. Biomass – fuel derived from plant material, wood, agricultural and municipal waste – is an attractive source of energy but it is not widely used in the US yet.

Shell is a good example of how to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. It has spent nearly 30 years developing a liquid fuel from cleaner, plentiful natural gas. It is being introduced in some of the buses, taxis and trucks to help reduce air pollution.

While the US has achieved a great deal, officials recognise that much work remains. Tens of millions of Americans still breathe dirty air. According to the EPA, over 76 million people live in areas where the clean air standard is exceeded. Lung damage from polluted air is a risk faced by roughly 3 out of 5.

It should be noted in this respect that although America produces a quarter of the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet, the USA failed to ratify the 1997 Kyoto protocol on the grounds that regulating emissions would not do good unless all or most other countries do the same

Over 40 million tons of hazardous waste is produced in the US each year. America has taken the cheapest option in wast disposal: 90% of its rubbish is simply dumped in landfill sites and buried. But landfill sites are filling up; a third have closed since 1980.

The level of damage to the forests in the US is really high. This is explained by the construction of new roads, and the need for wood influenced the cuttings of large areas of forest.

Since the environmental movement of the 1970s, the nature of environmental issues has changed. While the initial emphasis was on conventional air and water pollutants, newer issues are long-term problems: air pollution resulting in acid rain, water pollution from runoff of pesticides and fertilizers; limited natural fresh water resources in much of the western part of the country, desertification, etc.

The environmental problems Americans are facing today are also more complex than those of 30 years ago. Recent national and industrial events, such as the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina, oil accident in the Gulf of Maxico, the advance of Avian flu, threats to homeland security are altering the environment in unprecedented ways. Although scientific advances and emerging technologies offer new opportunities for protecting human health and the environment, they also pose new risks and challenges.