Section 309,¹ a little-known but broad-ranging provision of the Clean Air Act of 1970, empowers the EPA Administrator to review and comment upon all environmental impact statements prepared by other federal agencies. In addition, the section provides a "referral" mechanism by which the Administrator can apply leverage against the sponsoring agency to have an environmentally harmful project modified or dropped altogether.

EPA has seen fit to make use of this referral authority only twice. The first instance concerned the prospect of unacceptable thermal discharges from a planned nuclear power plant.² The more recent exercise³ of the agency's referral power was directed at the Department of Interior's proposal, as part of its program to accelerate oil and gas production from the Outer Continental Shelf, to lease areas under the Northern Gulf of Alaska for oil gas drilling. This second referral provides a useful illustration of the inherent strengths and weaknesses of §309(b).