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Revving the Engines in Neutral: City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd.

Editors' Summary: The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd., and its implications for takings challenges, are comprehensively discussed in this Article. The author describes the claims that were before the Court, and why several earlier Court rulings were implicated. The Article then reviews the Court's holdings on three major issues, and explores the extent to which the Court provided definitive guidance regarding the scope and nature of the regulatory taking doctrine.

Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel and the Retroactive Application of CERCLA

Editors' Summary: In this Dialogue, counsel for Alcan Aluminum Corporation argues that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel has dramatic implications for CERCLA, particularly with regard to the imposition of liability for actions that occurred well before the statute was enacted. The Dialogue asserts that the retroactive impact of CERCLA upon "third-party generators"—those that arranged for the disposal of their wastes at regulated facilities—is inconsistent with both the plurality and dissenting opinions in Eastern Enterprises.

EPA's Audit Policy Spells Success for Corporate Users, EPA, the Public, and Most Importantly, the Environment

Editors' Summary: EPA's audit policy provides incentives for companies to develop environmental audit and compliance management systems to detect, disclose, and correct violations. When companies voluntarily discover environmental violations and disclose them to EPA, the Agency will waive or substantially reduce the applicable penalties. As part of EPA's proposal to revise this policy, the Agency conducted a survey to evaluate the policy's effectiveness.

Hamstringing State Agency Authority to Promulgate Rules: A Questionable Way to Improve Environmental Regulation

Editors' Summary: Florida's APA was significantly revised in 1996 and 1999 to impose stringent qualifications on agency authority to promulgate regulations. Many of the amendments echo proposed reforms to the federal APA and the Florida "model" has also been said to be a useful precedent for "reform" of other states' APAs. In this Article, Prof. Jim Rossi analyzes the amendments and describes their ramifications as far-reaching and adverse.

Smart Growth, Dumb Takings

Editors' Summary: Are private-property rights and the growing trend toward "smart growth" laws and programs on a collision course? This Article discusses the extent to which growth management measures imposed by state and local governments may conflict with the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It explores the frequent use of development moratoria, many of which are purportedly imposed to protect natural resources and environmental quality, and provides criteria utilized by courts in determining whether a taking has occurred.

Harmon Limits RCRA Enforcers to One Bite

Editors' Summary: In Harmon Industries, Inc. v. Browner, the Eighth Circuit held that once a state with an authorized RCRA program has taken an enforcement action against a defendant, EPA may not maintain a separate enforcement action based on the same set of facts, a practice commonly referred to as "overfiling." The Eighth Circuit held that the Agency's practice of overfiling violated both the language of RCRA and the doctrine of res judicata.

Custom and Public Trust: Background Principles of State Property Law?

Editors' Summary: In Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, the U.S. Supreme Court held that regulations that deprive a landowner of economically beneficial use of land are compensable under the Fifth Amendment unless the regulation in question either prevents a nuisance or is part of a state's "back-ground principles" of property law. While nuisance law is fairly well understood, the second exception to the rule of compensation is not.

Medical Monitoring: The Evolution of a Cause of Action

Editors' Summary: The law surrounding medical monitoring claims is relatively new and unsettled, but the uncertainty of the law has not stopped tort litigants from increasingly asserting such claims when seeking recovery for toxic exposure. This Article analyzes medical monitoring claims and details the difficult issues that courts are struggling with as they determine the viability of such claims. The Article first distinguishes a claim for medical monitoring from similar claims for enhanced risk of harm or fear of developing an injury or disease.

Run Over by American Trucking Part II: Can EPA Implement Revised Air Quality Standards?

Editors' Summary: In the second of two Articles, Professor Craig. N. Oren examines the controversial recent opinion, and subsequent denial of rehearing en banc, in American Trucking Ass'n v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in which a panel ofthe D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded EPA's air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter. In his first Article, Professor Oren analyzed the reasons, logic, alternatives to, and likely consequences of the court's remand of the air quality standards based on the delegation doctrine.

A Sand County Almanac at 50: Leopold in the New Century

In December 1935, in a hotel room in Nazi-governed Berlin, Aldo Leopold sat down to a desk and pulled out a sheet of hotel stationery. Turning the paper over, he scratched the word "Wilderness" across the top, and then proceeded to write 10 sentences in his tight cursive hand. Thoughts had come to him that day, and he wanted to get them on paper. The ideas were not new ones, at least not for him, but the phrasings that evening seemed clearer, more exact, and worth keeping.