Editors' Summary: Mining law in the United States is a complex patchwork of federal and state statutes and regulations. This Article provides a basic summary of that law. It begins with an overview of the mining industry. It examines the types of minerals mined, relevant forms of land and mineral ownership, and potential environmental impacts. It then discusses legal tools for restricting the use of land for mining and limiting mining's adverse environmental effects.

Editors' Summary: Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) are environmentally beneficial projects that regulated parties perform in exchange for penalty reductions when settling claims for alleged violations. This Article discusses the use of SEPs, focusing particularly on EPA's 1995 SEP policy. The author first provides a context for understanding SEPs with a general review of the role of penalty policies in EPA enforcement, culminating in a discussion of the evolution of EPA policies about SEPs.

Editors' Summary: On December 22, 1995, EPA issued its Final Policy Statement on Incentives for Self-Policing, which sets forth the conditions under which EPA will reduce civil penalties assessed against regulated entities when they manage their own compliance responsibilities and disclose their own violations of environmental laws. This Article analyzes the Policy and evaluates its long-term prospects. The Article begins by describing the history behind the Policy.

It has become manifest that the manner in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) imposes, implements, and enforces environmental requirements is in serious need of reform. This was recently and eloquently expressed by former EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus in his speech at the Environmental Law Institute's 1995 Annual Dinner. Expressions of the need for change have come from many points on the political spectrum, including the White House and the Congress. Unfortunately, practical measures to accomplish reform must overcome formidable obstacles.

The history of hazardous waste management divides into two eras: the cradle-to-grave era (beginning in 1980)¹ and the land disposal restrictions (LDR) era (beginning in 1986).² Since the decision in Shell Oil Co. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,³ however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has struggled to establish the foundation for what may be a new era.

Joint implementation provides U.S. companies an opportunity to contribute to an officially sanctioned effort to reduce greenhouse-gas¹ emissions, the anthropogenic cause of global warming. Joint implementation typically takes place in developing countries, with the financial and technical assistance of sponsors in the developed world.

Editors' Summary: Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 contains an innovative performance-standard approach to pollution abatement. The Acid Rain Program that Title IV established imposes a national cap on utilities' sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions, the principal cause of acid rain, and grants allowances to utilities to emit specific amounts of SO₂.

About a decade ago, disposal facilities began infiltrating the market for transportation of hazardous waste, to guarantee that they would be shipped an adequate supply of waste. To regain the transportation business, transportation companies increased the scope of the services they provided, to include recommending and selecting treatment and disposal facilities. This intense competition for the transportation and disposal markets created a new intermediary called a hazardous-waste "broker."

Over the last year or so, Congress has considered several proposals to reform the regulatory system.¹ This short Comment suggests an alternative approach to reform, based on the theory that the regulatory system should work in the following manner: (1) Congress should set clear goals; (2) agencies should implement those goals; and (3) courts should provide quality control, ensuring that regulations embody well-thought out policy decisions that are driven by Congress' goals.² The system does not work this way now, and probably will not unti

Editors' Summary: This Article presents an argument that EPA's use of reference concentrations (RfCs) in risk assessments, if upheld by the courts, will dramatically change the nature of health-based regulation. In a background section, the Article summarizes RfC methodology and its origins.