After 75 years of haphazard administration, the Department of the Interior has proposed "Reclamation Rules and Regulations for Acreage Limitations" to enforce basic provisions of the reclamation laws which are designed to foster creation of family-sized farms in areas irrigated by federal water projects.¹ The proposed regulations have been issued in response to a court order² requiring initiation of public rulemaking proceedings to develop criteria for ensuring enforcement of two important statutory provisions, §5 of the Reclamation Act of

In a decision reaffirming the Interior Department's Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas leasing procedures, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in County of Suffolk v. Secretary of the Interior,¹ reversed a lower court's nullification² of Interior's first sale of Atlantic OCS exploration leases. The court concluded that the district court erred in finding that the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) had been violated.

On July 19, the Army Corps of Engineers issued final revised regulations¹ for its program of controlling discharges of dredge and fill material into waters of the United States pursuant to §404 of the Federal Water Pllution Control Act (FWPCA).

On August 17, the federal district court in New York enjoined¹ the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from banning test flights of the Concorde SST into John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport because of the plane's noise impacts after finding the ban to be an unreasonable exercise of the proprietary powers of airport owners.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently reversed¹ a lower court's dismissal of a petition for review of certain permits issued under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA),² finding that the district court erroneously concluded plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the permits.

After seven years of extensive litigation and controversy, the consideration of environmental impacts mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)¹ has become an integral part of the decisionmaking process for federal activities throughout the country. One major issue that has been the subject of some litigation but remains unsettled, however, is the international reach of NEPA.

On August 11, 1977, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of Commerce joined¹ the growing number of federal agencies that have taken steps toward the initation of programs for providing financial assistance to indigent intervenors in administrative proceedings.² NOAA concluded that it possesses the implicit power to undertake an assistance program in the absence of express statutory authorization on the basis of a series of Comptroller General opinions³ upon which the other a

A federal district court has turned back an attempt by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to require six utility companies applying for rights of way for electrical transmission lines across federal lands to reimburse the government for costs incurred in preparing environmental impact statements (EISs) in connection with processing the applications.

Apparently dissatisfied with the progress which has been made toward protecting the marine and coastal environments from the adverse effects of ocean dumping, Congress passed and on October 20 sent to the president for his signature a bill¹ containing an amendment to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act that is aimed at banning the dumping of municipal sewage sludge after December 31, 1981.

The Carter Administration's coal conversion program,¹ which attempts to make industry switch from oil and gas to coal for powering its plants, depends on successful implementation of two major policies. On the demand side, the program proposes a system of tax incentives and regulatory prohibitions designed to encourage utilities and industry to convert from oil and natural gas to coal. On the production side, the program calls for an increase in coal extraction to 1.2 billion tons annually by 1985 to keep up with projected demand.