Editors' Summary: The debate about the most appropriate procedures and methodologies to conduct natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs) has continued throughout the last decade among agencies and stakeholders. In August 1995, NOAA proposed the most recent set of regulations to govern NRDAs under the Oil Pollution Act. This Article reviews the history of natural resource damages regulations and the 1995 NOAA proposed rule.

Editors' Summary: In this second installment of a three-part Article, the authors continue a detailed examination of the TSCA statute and regulatory program. They begin the installment with a review of TSCA § 5(e) orders and consent orders and significant new use rules. They next discuss imposition of requirements to conduct health and environmental effects testing on chemical manufacturers and processors, summarizing TSCA § 4's statutory authority and EPA's regulatory program.

Editors' Summary: In this final installment of a three-part Article, the authors complete their detailed examination of the TSCA statute and regulatory program. The authors begin the installment by discussing TSCA §§ 6 and 7's regulation of existing chemicals, including asbestos, PCPs, and imminently hazardous materials. The authors stress the important potential ramifications of the 5th Circuit's Corrosion Proof Fittings decision.

Editors' Summary: In 1989, a National Research Council study concluded that contaminated sediments are "widespread in U.S. coastal waters" and have "potentially far-reaching consequences to both public health and the environment." A 1996 interim EPA report reached a similar conclusion. This concern over contaminated sediments is not new. It has manifested itself in a dizzying array of statutory and regulatory restrictions on the disposal of these sediments.

Editors' Summary: Regulation of point source discharges under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) has resulted in significant improvements in water quality. Further progress, however, will require attention to stormwater and nonpoint source discharges. This Article describes current legal schemes that regulate point source stormwater discharges and encourage control of nonpoint source releases. The author first discusses phases I and II of EPA's program to regulate stormwater under the FWPCA.

Water policy in the United States has been significantly influenced in recent years by a number of high-profile environmental and water use conflicts, including disputes relating to California's Bay Delta, Florida's Everglades, the management of the Colorado River system, the Columbia/Snake system, and the Klamath and Trinity River Basins. For a variety of legal, institutional, and financial reasons, the federal government has played a major role in all of these matters, typically in partnership with state and local stakeholders.

 In November 1995, five federal agencies—the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—issued joint guidance concerning wetland mitigation banking. The guidance's chief virtue is its detailed explanation of the approval process for the establishment and operation of mitigation banks. Its chief flaw, however, flows from the complexity of this approval process.

Talk about wetlands preservation today and you may soon be talking about private property and takings. The reason is simple enough: while the need for wetlands preservation is widely conceded, many are privately owned—in the case of the federal wetlands permitting program, almost 75% of the covered acreage in the lower 48 states. When a wetland owner is denied a permit to develop property (or offered a permit with very burdensome conditions), its value may drop substantially.

All companies today, whether large or small, need to be aware of the types and amounts of their air emissions. Based on the types and amounts of emissions, these sources may be required to obtain operating permits under the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) Title V program. This Article provides a detailed discussion of the Title V operating permit program and a review of the contents required in a Title V permit.

I. Introduction