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.

On October 9, 1973, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the Surface Mining Reclamation Act,¹ the first federal program of its kind for the regulation of coal surface mining activities and the reclamation of coal-mined lands. According to the terms of the bill, permits must be issued by a state regulatory authority before any person can engage in surface mining within a state.

In his energy message of April 18, 1973, President Nixon endorsed the construction of deep water ports, capable of accommodating supertankers, as the answer to the nation's predicted need for sharply increased petroleum imports in the foreseeable future. Such ports would provide moorings outside U.S. territorial waters from which foreign oil could be piped ashore or offloaded into smaller tankers able to use existing harbors.

The Nixon Administration's losing battle on the issue of impoundment was the subject of a comment in the July issue of ELR.¹ At that time, a number of courts had held that the Federal Water Pollution Control act Amendments of 1972 required the Administrator of EPA to allot the entire $11 billion authorized under the Act, and one court, while conceding that the government was not obligated to allot all authorized funds, ruled that the Administrator's impoundment of 55 percent of the $11 billion constituted a "flagrant abuse of discretion."

In recent years, technology has contributed significantly to the fight against pollution. The new mechanisms presently being utilized to mitigate the harmful effects of noxious emissions and to improve the quality of waste effluents are exemplary of technological gains in the environmental field. There is, however, in contrast to this progress, an increasing concern that the product of other purported technological advances actually poses a serious threat to human health and the environment.

On September 10, 1973, President Nixon issued Executive Order No. 11738, which provides that federal contracts, grants, and loans may not be awarded to persons or facilities violating the Federal Water Pollution Control and Clean Air Acts. This directive supersedes Executive Order No. 11602 of June 29, 1971, which applied only to the Clean Air Act, and restates that order's provisions regarding exemption procedures, designation of convicted persons and facilities, and enforcement.

The Statutory and Administrative Materials section of this month's ELR includes two executive orders issued on February 8, 1972, restricting the use of poisonous chemicals for predator control on federal lands and limiting the areas on public lands in which off-road vehicles, such as trail motorcycles and snowmobiles, may be used. E.O. No. 11643 directs the heads of all federal agencies to prohibit the use on federal lands of any chemical toxicant for the purpose of poisoning predatory mammals or birds.

Ever since the Forest Service in 1964 endorsed clearcutting as an acceptable method of harvesting trees on public lands, a running battle has been fought on the issue between conservationists and the timber industry. To the latter, the technique of logging all trees within a designated area, irrespective of their age, size, and health, is the most efficient way to meet the nation's timber needs in a time of rapidly climbing prices.

Environmentalists have long known that one of the causes of urban air pollution is the sprawl generated by shopping centers, entertainment areas, and airports that are inadequately served by mass transit. These centers encourage—indeed demand—numerous automobile trips. Therefore, environmentalists were pleased when the Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a suit by the Natural Resources Defense Council, promulgated regulations¹ that inject air quality control considerations into the heart of the planning process for such auto magnets.

Three environmental organizations recently filed suit seeking to force the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Atomic Energy Commission to comply with NEPA requirements in the nuclear export program.¹ The suit raises a potentially significant and so far unlitigated question as to NEPA's applicability to agency activities outside the United States. If successful, the suit might set a precedent for requiring environmental analysis of other international programs, such as foreign aid, which so far have not complied with NEPA.