Search Results
Use the filters on the left-hand side of this screen to refine the results further by topic or document type.

New Jersey's Improve ECRA Implementation: The State Answers Its Critics

New Jersey's innovative Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act (ECRA) has been the subject of much discussion since it became effective on December 31, 1983.1 The majority of this discussion has focused on who is subject to ECRA and why it takes so long for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to review a case. Harriett Jane Olson's recent Dialogue is an example of what is being said about the above two topics.2

Alternative Dispute Resolution and Environmental Enforcement: A Noble Experiment or a Lost Cause?

Editors' Summary: Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an umbrella phrase that includes a variety of techniques designed to avoid expensive and time-consuming litigation. ADR techniques such as mediation and arbitration have been used successfully for years to resolve disputes among private parties. However, attempts to apply ADR to environmental enforcement cases have met with resistance from the federal government and the private sector.

A Citizen's View of Gwaltney

Editors' Summary: In last month's issue, Jeffrey G. Miller analyzed Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., where the United States Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs in FWPCA §505 citizen suits must make a good faith allegation of ongoing or intermittent violation. Professor Miller suggested that Gwaltney leaves so many important questions unresolved that it constitutes an "invitation to the dance of litigation." This month, we asked practicing attorneys actively involved in citizen suit litigation to give us their views of Gwaltney.

Arguing for the Defense After Gwaltney

Editors' Summary: In last month's issue, Jeffrey G. Miller analyzed Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., where the United States Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs in FWPCA §505 citizen suits must make a good faith allegation of ongoing or intermittent violation. Professor Miller suggested that Gwaltney leaves so many important questions unresolved that it constitutes an "invitation to the dance of litigation." This month, we asked practicing attorneys actively involved in citizen suit litigation to give us their views of Gwaltney.

Jury Trial Rights Under CERCLA: The Effects of Tull v. United States

Editors' Summary: One of the landmark environmental decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in recent years is Tull v. United States, holding that defendants have a right to a jury trial to determine liability for government-sought civil penalties. The decision is based on the Constitution's Seventh Amendment, and so is probably more permanent than an opinion based on statutory interpretation, which the Environmental Protection Agency could seek statutory amendments to effectively reverse.

Stipulated Penalties and Dispute Resolution in CERCLA Consent Decrees: Practical Innovations Can Benefit Everyone

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a statutory obligation to begin 175 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) cleanups by October 1989, and 200 more CERCLA cleanups by October 1991.1 If EPA is to meet these deadlines, it must negotiate on a truly massive scale with potentially responsible parties (PRPs), to ensure private cleanups at many sites.2 Even so, EPA has generally insisted on provisions in CERCLA consent decrees calling for draconian stipulated penalties and one-sided dispute reso

Allocation of Superfund Cleanup Costs Among Potentially Responsible Parties: The Role of Binding Arbitration

Editors' Summary: The high cost of resolving environmental disputes through litigation has made alternative dispute resolution (ADR) an increasingly attractive alternative. The high transaction costs of Superfund litigation would seemingly provide a strong incentive for the parties to use ADR. While non-binding mediation and negotiation techniques have been attempted in most Superfund cases, potentially responsible parties (PRPs) often reach an impasse on the issue of the proper allocation of cleanup costs.

Opportunities for Environmental Enforcement and Cost Recovery by Local Governments and Citizen Organizations

Editors' Summary: When citizens and local governments are confronted with problems of pollution and environmental contamination, one of their options is to use the courts to seek enforcement of environmental laws against polluters or to recover the cost of cleaning up the contamination. In this Article, or to recover the cost of cleaning up the contamination. In this Article, Mr. Babich and Mr.

Failure of the Environmental Effort

The enactment of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA),1 and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to administer it in 1970 marked a turning point in the recent environmental history of the United States. Beginning in 1950, new forms of environmental pollution appeared and rapidly intensified: smog, acid rain, excess nitrate and phosphate in water supplies, pesticides and toxic chemicals in the food chain and our bodies, and dangerous accumulations of radioactive waste.