Editors' Summary: The subject of natural resource damages continues to become ever more prominent. Congress' 1990 enactment of the Oil Pollution Act with a strong provision on causes of action for natural resource damages, combined with the 1991 settlement for damages from the Exxon Valdez oil spill worth hundreds of millions of dollars, promises to create even more attention in the future.

Editors' Summary: On September 3, 1991, a three-member dispute resolution panel formed by the signatories to the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) held that a U.S. embargo on Mexican tuna and tuna products harvested in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean violated GATT. The resulting controversy has focused on the decision's effect on U.S. actions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and the ramifications to other U.S. environmental laws with international trade impacts.

Editors' Summary: Environmental regulations can be complex and confusing. Even sophisticated companies sometimes have trouble deciphering the regulations. A number of defendants have argued that environmental penalties should be reduced or eliminated when regulations are ambiguous or confusing. In the recent case of Rollins Environmental Services (NJ), Inc. v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit addressed this "regulatory confusion" defense. The court set aside a $ 25,000 penalty for violation of EPA's PCB regulations based on the ambiguity of the regulations.

Editors' Summary: Congress, through the 1986 Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), has succeeded in promoting CERCLA settlements between potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and the government. But the growing number of settlements have resulted in increased litigation between settling and nonsettling PRPs, in part due to uncertainties about SARA's contribution provisions. SARA clarified that settling PRPs may seek contribution from other liable parties, and obtain protection from contribution actions related to matters addressed in their settlements.

Editors' Summary: In recent years, fewer and fewer parties liable for Superfund site cleanup have successfully challenged the costs of cleanup reflected in claims made against them by the government. The government's burden in CERCLA cost recovery is to establish the amount of its response costs by a preponderance of the evidence. In this Article, the authors, who are U.S.

Editors' Summary: One of the lessons of recent Superfund litigation is that, in general, defendants unhappy with the government's cleanup plans face an uphill battle challenging those plans in court. Congress wrote the 1986 Superfund Amendments to favor a free hand for EPA in cleaning up hazardous waste sites, even if the cleanup bill will later be handed to a private defendant. Generally, this reflects Congress' policy preference for speedy cleanups.

Editors' Summary: No single federal law comprehensively addresses wetlands protection. Rather, federal laws and regulations addressing activities and interests in wetlands have evolved with water law in general, and with other laws, such as those specifically targeting agriculture and coastal zone programs. The result is a complex federal regulatory structure that spreads jurisdiction among EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal agencies.

Editors' Summary: In this second of a three-part series on federal wetlands law, the author continues her comprehensive review of the current state of federal wetlands laws and regulations. The author first analyzes individual permits under the Clean Water Act § 404 program, including the application process, interagency consultations, the substantive standards for § 404 permits, and EPA's § 404(c) veto authority. She next covers enforcement mechanisms in the § 404 program, including administrative enforcement options and civil and criminal judicial enforcement.

Editors' Summary: The Water Resources Development Act of 1992 (WRDA 92 or the Act), enacted on October 31, 1992, is an omnibus water projectauthorization and policy bill of the type traditionally used to authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps') civil works projects. However, WRDA 92 differs from its predecessors by going farther in fostering a "greener," more "environmental" Corps. It authorizes more projects directly related to environmental protection and restoration, and signals Congress' growing inclination to use the Corps as environmental engineers.

Editors' Summary: Whether Congress intended it or not, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) has shaken the entire oil exploration and production industry to its core. Precipitated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Act represents Congress' decision to create a regulatory framework for preventing oil spills and for responding to actual or threatened discharges of oil into U.S. waters, and to change the historical limits on civil and criminal liability to a degree that will almost certainly cause some industry participants to discontinue doing business in the offshore area.