Oysters are an integral part of the Gulf of Mexico. They clump together to act as coral reefs that protect, shelter, and form vital nursery grounds for other aquatic species. They act as natural water purifiers, filtering anywhere from 25 to 50 gallons of water per day in the bays and estuaries where they dwell. Often referred to as the "backbone of marine life," oysters fall near the bottom of the food chain, providing nourishment for all types of sea life, including birds at low tide.

Editors' Summary: Parties undergoing cleanups at contaminated sites under CERCLA that have also been served with a notice of a citizen suit under RCRA face ambiguity and uncertainty as they try to make sense out of these two statutory schemes.The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Aviall Services, Inc., has further increased this statutory friction, particularly for those undertaking cleanups of contaminated sites pursuant to administrative orders on consent, unilateral administrative orders, or other administratively ordered means.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to grant review of the en banc decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the Aviall Services, Inc. v. Cooper Industries, Inc. case was something of a surprise. After all, in the view of many Superfund lawyers, the en banc decision had gotten it right, vacating a panel decision that was contrary to the general understanding of the Superfund bar.

Editors' Summary: On February 28, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded portions of EPA's concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) rule. The ruling was not a win for either side of the debate, as it requires permitting authorities to review and incorporate nutrient management plans into their permits, but prevents EPA from requiring CAFOs to apply for permits based solely on their potential to discharge pollutants to U.S. waters.

On September 30, 1993, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12866,¹ a new executive order (E.O.) on regulatory planning and review to replace E.O.s 12291² and 12498.³ At the signing ceremony, he identified several objectives of the new E.O., including "get[ting] rid of useless, outdated and unnecessary regulations"; implementing a regulatory review process that would be "fair, streamlined, responsive, and much more straightforward"; eliminating "the days of back-door access to undermining the regulatory proces

Editors' Summary: Since late 1992, two congressional committees and an academic group working for a member of a third committee have issued reports severely criticizing the Environmental Crimes Section (ECS) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The reports focus on alleged deep divisions among the three units of the federal government responsible for the prosecution of environmental crimes: the ECS, local U.S. Attorneys' Offices, and EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement.

Editors' Summary: In their attempts to promote environmental protection domestically, countries are adopting measures that have impacts beyond their borders -- primarily on international trade. The interrelationship of environmental protection and free trade is especially evident from the recent negotiations involving NAFTA and the Uruguay Round of GATT. Harmonizing conflicts between environmentalists and free trade advocates has emerged as a major challenge to governments and other international players.

Years ago, environmental law was considered a specialized branch of administrative law. Environmental law-suits generally involved either enforcement (government regulators or environmentalists suing businesses) or regulatory appeals (businesses or environmentalists suing the government).

Market-based approaches to protecting the environment based on buying and selling "pollution rights" have long been special favorites of the academic community. According to a growing body of literature, a much wider use of this approach could solve the problems of ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and rigidity that characterize our current system of environmental protection.¹

On May 18, 1993, Carol M. Browner, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced a new federal hazardous waste policy.¹ Noting that incinerators and industrial furnaces, i.e., cement kilns, annually burn almost five million tons of hazardous waste, Ms. Browner let it be known that EPA would soon change how things stood. In her announcement, she outlined a new strategy, based on increasing the incentives for waste reduction and slowing growth in the number of combustion units. EPA would encourage waste reduction, Ms.