This past summer, the Environmental Law Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency contracted for a year-long research project entitled "Legal Aspects of Incentive Approaches to Pollution Control." The contract calls for a survey and analysis of federal environmental statutes to determine what flexibility they may allow for the adoption of incentive mechanisms at the federal, state, or local level; and for an intensive case study of the legal aspects of alternative policies for controlling the disposal of used lubricating oils.

Section 104(m)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (see 2 ELR 41103) requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, "in an effort to prevent degradation of the environment from the disposal of waste oil," to conduct a study of