The 93rd Congress produced a number of eleventh hour surprises to brighten what otherwise would have amounted to a discouraging environmental legislation scorecard. In particular two major acts, the Deepwater Port Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, combine stringent environmental protection provisions with strong citizen suit and award-of-fee sections, making both fields fertile for public interest and environmental litigation. Federal jurisdiction is accorded under both laws for actions to compel the responsible federal officials to perform duties required under the act and to keep to the statutory timetables, as well as for actions against alleged polluters of drinking water or the seas around deepwater port facilities.

In other areas, including energy, air pollution, and land use, the results were mixed. After former President Nixon's resignation ended the congressional preoccupation with impeachment, a number of environmental bills saw action, and by the time the session terminated in December, more than a dozen significant pieces of environmental legislation had been passed. On balance, the gains seem substantial, and do not deserve to be entirely overshadowed by the two broadly publicized defeats, the failure of the House to vote on national land use legislation, and the president's veto of the strip mining control bill. This Comment analyzes the environmental gains and defeats of the 93rd Congress and looks briefly at the results of the November elections and the consequent prospects for environmental legislation in the 94th Congress.