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Disposal and Remediation Options Under the PCB Mega Rule

Editors' Summary: On June 29, 1998, EPA published its PCB Mega Rule, a comprehensive revision of TSCA regulations that govern the remediation and disposal of PCB-contaminated material. The PCB Mega Rule affords the regulated community the option of remediating such material under self-implementing provisions or developing risk-based site-specific remedial measures that generally require Agency approval.

How to Handle Difficult Chemicals: The Unused Tool in EPA's Chemical Toolbox—Section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act

Editors' Summary: After TSCA was enacted in 1976, some commentators described it as the most powerful of all the environmental laws. Congress intended it to provide for the comprehensive and direct control of commercial chemicals' potential health or environmental effects in a true cradle-to-grave tracking system. Indeed, it was the single law addressing toxic substances that could cover all areas of environmental regulation, supplementing sections of existing toxic substances laws. In the 17 years since its enactment, however, TSCA has not fulfilled these goals or expectations.

Recent Developments in Federal Wetlands Law: Part III

Editors' Summary: This Article is the last in a three-part series intended to supplement Federal Wetlands Law, a primer that ELR published in 1993 and subsequently incorporated into the Wetlands Deskbook. The Article, which refers to the primer but stands on its own, focuses primarily on where wetlands law has changed since the primer's publication. The Article first addresses judicial review of agency wetlands decisions, including a proposed administrative appeal process for U.S.

The Never Ending Story: The Constitutionality of Superfund's Retroactive Liability Regime

Since the enactment of Superfund in 1980, critics of the statute's liability regime have been relentless in their attempts to convince courts that Superfund liability is so unfair as to be unconstitutional. While their persistence has produced only minor changes in the liability regime, their cause may have been given a lift by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1998 decision in Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel.

Arrest the Incinerator Remediation, Inc. v. OHM Remediation Servs. Corp.

The court holds that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) preempts a citizens group's private state-law nuisance action against a contractor hired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remediate a Superfund site. The court first holds that...

Missouri v. Glasgow, City of

The court holds that a city violated the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) by discharging sludge from its wastewater treatment facility without an operating permit. The court first holds that a state constitutional provision cannot excuse the city's operation of its water treatment facilit...

International Ass'n of Indep. Tanker Owners v. Locke

A judge dissents from the Ninth Circuit's decision not to rehear a case addressing the Oil Pollution Act's (OPA's) preemptive effect on Washington State's oil spill prevention regulations. The initial Ninth Circuit opinion held that the OPA did not preempt the majority of the state's oil spill regul...

National Bank of Commerce v. Dow Chem. Co.

The court affirms a district court's grant of summary judgment on several state-law tort claims in favor of pesticide companies whose products allegedly caused a newborn's multiple birth defects. The district court granted summary judgment because the evidence showed that the product at issue had no...

Maritrans, Inc. v. United States

The court holds that the passage of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), which requires single-hulled oil tankers to be retrofitted with double hulls or be phased out of service, did not effect a taking of shipping companies' oil tankers. The court first holds that when the companies built or acquired the v...

Southwest Williamson County Community Ass'n v. Slater

The court vacates a district court's dismissal of a community association's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act (ISTEA) claims against the federal government in connection with a highway project in Tennessee. The court first holds that th...