Creek and Chipola River, and other waters all the way into the Gulf County 

 Dead Lakes area. Furthermore, the effects of this heavy metal contamination 

 may have gone downstream as far as Apalachicola Bay, Although the cost of 

 groundwater pollution is yet unknown, it is certain to be relatively high. 

 Some wells in the drainage system contain heavy metal contamination above EPA 

 standards. These hazardous waste violations could have been avoided if 

 $300,000 were used for proper treatment and disposal of liquid wastes (Lynch 

 1981). 



In another major hazardous waste accident in 1978 in Youngstown, Bay 

 County, a train derailment ruptured a railroad tank car carrying several thou- 

 sand gallons of liquid chloride. Eight deaths and more than 100 injuries were 

 reported and about 3,700 people were evacuated within a 10-mile radius of the 

 accident. In addition to the personal suffering from this tragedy, extensive 

 costs were incurred by local. State, and Federal agencies involved in the 

 rescue and treatment of injured persons. 



A number of hazardous incidents were identified by the Department of 

 Environmental Regulation. They include hazardous waste discharges from indus- 

 trial sites where chemicals are discharged either by accident or as a last 

 resort, causing fish-kills and destruction. In another accident involving 

 train derailments, serious damage to aquatic life in the Yellow River was 

 caused by chlorine wastes. Northwest Florida does not have a full federally 

 authorized hazardous waste land fill disposal facility; the nearest one avail- 

 able is the Chemical Waste Disposal Facility in Livingston, AL, 200 mi away. 



ENVIRONMENTAL ACTS AND REGULATIONS 



Throughout this report specific references have been made to existing 

 State, Federal and local regulatory standards in appropriate natural resource 

 categories. A discussion of the Federal and State water quality standards 

 classification scheme was outlined under the water resource issues, and a sim- 

 ilar examination of State and Federal standards was undertaken in the air 

 quality segment of this report. These discussions, however, fail to provide a 

 sufficient broad-based review of the existing Federal, State and local regula- 

 tory framework within which reviewers and users of this report can be guided. 

 The following analysis is a brief review of major environmental acts and regu- 

 lations. 



FEDERAL 



Federal Aid and Wildlife Federation Act, 1937 



The purpose of this act is to inaugurate a program of Federal aid to the 

 states for the restoration and management of wildlife. Through this Act, 

 about $350 million have been allotted to state fish and game department wild- 

 life restoration projects. 



264 



