Let’s talk about social government policies in the economy. Social government policies aim to improve human welfare and to meet human needs for education, health, housing and social security. For example, The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is considered a social policy. The NEPA is a national environmental law that the U.S. established promoting the enhancement of the environment and to regulate activities that have an environmental impact in the United States. January 1st 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the NEPA which then proceeded to create the Council on Environmental Quality which would analyze the environmental impact of federal actions. The legislation during this period concerned primarily first-generation pollutants in the air, surface water, groundwater, and solid waste disposal. Air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone were put under regulation, and issues such as acid rain and global warming were also concerns. In surface water, the contaminants of concern were bacteria, suspended and dissolved solids, nutrients, and toxic substances such as metals. Finally, solid waste contaminants from agriculture, industry, mining, municipalities, and others were put under control. The NEPA goes through a series of actions before making a decision in order to document everything properly not in any particular order but in a common one. An Environmental Assessment (EA) is a screening document used to determine if an agency will need to prepare either an EIS or construct a FONSI. If it is determined that there will be significant (positive and/or negative) impacts, an EA facilitates preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Categorical Exclusion (CE) is a category of action; it is based on an agency’s experience with a particular kind of action and its environmental effects like if they’ve done it before and what its results were. Finally a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) presents the reasons why an action will not have a significant effect on the human environment. Although government policies intentions are good and are made to help the economy, they don’t always succeed in doing so. Government policies have often been misguided and have resulted damaging the people economically. The negative consequences don’t always kick in immediately because it takes some time for them to work their way through the economy and produce all their destructive effects. The NEPA however, does not have that problem besides the minor group of people that may oppose to it. The reason for the NEPA not having negative consequences is because they in fact are the ones that basically “set the standards.” They make regulation and code for the federal agencies and this way begin the NEPA documentations. The ones that do pass are always a pro to us because they ensure that these federal agencies will maintain do what they have to do meanwhile keeping in mind the safety of the environment and its people.
I chose this government policy because I found it the most interesting. Its intentions were good and harmless in every way. The mission is simple and to the point, their goal is to protect the environment for future generations while interfering as little as possible with the liberty of the people and to limit doing so with large environmental costs. It is very beneficiary to the United States citizens. The fact that the environmental policy tries to prevent and that it did before we faced a real big problem polluting the ozone, the water and any other natural resources caught my attention. This policy grew mainly out of the environmental movement in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s during which several environmental laws were passed, regulating air and water pollution and forming the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Due to increasing scientific concerns on global warming and political pressure from other environmental groups, modifications to the United States policy and limits on greenhouse gas emission have been proposed, but such efforts have made limited progress. I really do not oppose to anything that the act states and I believe that their goal is beautiful and very considerate in every way. I truly do hope it never comes to an end.