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.

In one of the first judicial decisions interpreting the Noise Control Act of 1972¹ and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) obligations under it, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected EPA's argument for narrow federal preemption of noise source regulation and held that the agency must issue noise standards for railroad "equipment and facilities" (the statutory phrase) covering more than just rail cars and locomotives.² EPA had interpreted the Act to give it wide discretion as to which noise sources i

[I]n the last third of the 20th century, we can look forward to a near future when an increased leisure will be available to a large percentage of people and that in such a life, recreation can perform a purposeful role. . . . Opportunities lost now—particularly in areas dealing with our natural resources—mean opportunities lost forever.¹

In the midst of a natural gas shortage, steadily increasing oil prices, and rising prices for the costs of constructing new electrical generating stations, Americans received one bit of good news: a study for the Energy Research and Development Administration finds that solar heating is competitive with other energy sources in many parts of the United States.¹ One sector of the business community may not have greeted this news with enthusiasm.

Reprocessing of nuclear materials to obtain plutonium will soon become a commercial reality. Plutonium, not found naturally on the earth but produced by the fission of uranium, is extremely toxic to both humans and the environment and is a basic component of nuclear weapons. Yet, the element is a potent source of energy and is a fuel of both the light water reactor and of the planned breeder reactor, which will generate more plutonium than it uses.

Editors' Summary: A central issue in the evaluation of federal and state environmental regulatory mechanisms is the degree of discretion which should be vested in the regulatory authorities to set and enforce environmental standards.