Editors' Summary: The Corps of Engineers has historically had the unenviable task of making water resource project decisions knowing that any decision, for or against development of a project, will be criticized by the interests that lose out. Congress, currently in the process of reauthorizing the FWPCA, is in the throes of deciding whether the Corps' wetlands delineation manual and mitigation policies should be revised. That Congress, and other interested parties, have become so interested in the Corps' growing environmental protection efforts is at the heart of this Article.

Editors' Summary: RCRA is often perceived as establishing a comprehensive regulatory scheme for managing hazardous waste from "cradle to grave." However, when a substance becomes a solid waste subject to RCRA's jurisdiction remains unclear. This Article examines how RCRA defines solid waste and EPA's attempts to clarify that definition. The Article focuses on how this lack of clarity has impacted RCRA's goal of encouraging recycling and recovery of resources from solid waste. The Article analyzes three D.C.

Editors' Summary: Much has happened since the authors published their initial survey of CERCLA case law in the October 1989 issue of ELR. EPA issued substantial revisions to the NCP in March 1990. In November 1990, Congress reauthorized the Superfund for three more years. And, of course, there have been new cases. A glance at the number of cases cited in the footnotes of this Article will give the reader an idea of the volume of CERCLA case law. The authors have bravely confronted the new cases and have produced a summary of the decade of CERCLA case law.

Editors' Summary: This Comment examines the district court's decision in B.F. Goodrich Co. v. Murtha that municipal solid waste (MSW) is not exempt from CERCLA for purposes of apportioning cleanup costs, and that EPA's Municipal Settlement Policy does not insulate municipalities from CERCLA liability at the expense of private waste generators.

Editors' Summary: The principle of environmental lender liability holds that in certain instances a creditor may be found liable for damages to the environment caused by his debtor. Despite the simplicity of this definition, the application of this principle has proven to be very complex. Courts that have addressed environmental lender liability issues have not agreed on what a creditor must do to become liable.

Editors' Summary: One of the most significant issues in nonresidential real estate transactions today is determining what level of due diligence by a prospective property owner is sufficient to qualify for the "innocent landowner" defense under CERCLA §101(35). One reason for this is that a large percentage of commercial property, and virtually all industrial property, is impacted by environmental contamination, and few properties can be properly valued without assessing such contamination.

Editors' Summary: The permit program was one of the most significant additions of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The full potential of the Act will not be realized without an effective permit program. In the April 1991 issue of ELR, one of the principal participants in developing the permit and enforcement titles of the Amendments discussed the key elements of those titles. The author of that article noted that the effectiveness of the permit title will be largely shaped by EPA's implementing regulations, which EPA proposed in early May of 1991.

Editors' Summary: The Clean Water Act is up for reauthorization this year and the regulation of toxic discharges will again be hotly debated. The Act employs a variety of approaches for addressing toxic pollution, including health-based standards, technology standards, receiving water quality standards, regulation of toxic hot spots, whole effluent toxicity testing, and biological criteria. This Article traces the development of each of these approaches and analyzes their shortcomings, which include scientific uncertainty, agency delays, and protracted litigation.

Editors' Summary: To practice environmental law in the 1990s, it is necessary to be familiar with international trade. Trade concerns affect every aspect of environmental law from agricultural subsidies to the disparate impact of pollution abatement regulation on pricing. The following two Dialogues present an overview of the issues and insight on the relationship between international trade and the environment. The first, by a member of the Trade and Environmental Committees of the U.S.

Editors' Summary: The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) is undergoing implementation. Responsibility for carrying out this newest federal environmental statute, which strengthens federal response authorities, increases civil penalty and liability limits, mandates an expanded regulatory program for contingency planning and prevention, and creates a $1 billion damages compensation fund, is divided among several executive branch agencies. As the author points out, the process of implementing the OPA will redefine the scope and power of these agencies.