While the Republican's Contract With America has disappeared from the political landscape, many of its ideas continue to percolate in the 105th Congress. Development interests continue to promote federal legislation to expand opportunities for "takings" claims against the government. Through such takings claims developers or private landowners seek to be compensated for not polluting or not building on protected land.

Buried deep within the several thousand page Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by President Clinton in the waning days of the 104th Congress are the first significant amendments in a decade to the much-debated Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). CERCLA is the federal law that creates a broad class of parties potentially liable for expenses incurred in cleaning up sites contaminated with hazardous substances.

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.

At first glance, the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) is a 25-million-acre expanse of sand dunes, brush lands, rock formations, and loneliness and desolation. However, a cursory look at the landscape belies the desert's significant historical, scenic, archeological, environmental, biological, cultural, scientific, educational, recreational, and economic resources" that the U.S. Congress recognized when it dedicated the area in 1976.

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.

Conventional wisdom says that the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is an impediment to the reuse of brownfields. Examination of a decade of experience, however, reveals that properties "captured by the net" of RCRA jurisdiction have gone on to new, productive, and economically viable reuse. Contrary to conventional wisdom, there is also a great potential for many more RCRA properties to do so.

It has become manifest that the manner in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) imposes, implements, and enforces environmental requirements is in serious need of reform. This was recently and eloquently expressed by former EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus in his speech at the Environmental Law Institute's 1995 Annual Dinner. Expressions of the need for change have come from many points on the political spectrum, including the White House and the Congress. Unfortunately, practical measures to accomplish reform must overcome formidable obstacles.