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Second Circuit Holds Citizen Suit Central Enforcement Device Under the Clean Air Act

One of the most novel enforcement mechanisms devised by the drafters of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 was §304's "citizen suit" provision.1 This section, variants of which were later incorporated in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 19722 and a number of other federal environmental statutes,3 authorizes any person to commence civil enforcement suits in federal district court.

New NEPA Study Published by Environmental Law Institute Staff Member

The Environmental Law Institute has announced publication of A National Policy for the Environment: NEPA and Its Aftermath,1 by Staff Political Scientist Richard A. Liroff. The book analyzes both enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the behavior of each of the key actors in its implementation.

NEPA Off the Top: The Supreme Court Interprets Impact Statement Requirement

The United States Supreme Court has undercut recent judicial1 and scholarly2 attempts to expand the use of programmatic impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in order to inject environmental factors more deeply into agency policymaking. In Kleppe v. Sierra Club,3 Justice Powell, writing for a seven-member majority, specifically disapproved the D.C.

High Court Concludes Water Act Was Not Intended to Affect Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Jurisdiction

In one of the most closely reasoned of its many end-of-term environmental law decisions, the Supreme Court held on June 1, 1976,1 that Congress did not intend the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (FWPCA)2 to transfer regulatory authority over nuclear materials in nuclear power plant effluents from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)3 to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Other End-of-Term Supreme Court Decisions

In addition to its rulings in Kleppe v. Sierra Club,1 Train v. Colorado Public Interest Research Group,2 and Kleppe v. New Mexico,3 which are individually analyzed elsewhere in this issue, the Supreme Court rendered several other significant decisions in environmental cases as part of its end-of-term flurry of activity.

Garrison Diversion Faces New Challenges

The Garrison Diversion Unit (GDU), a massive $496 million irrigation project in North Dakota sponsored by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, continues to receive widespread criticism because of its alleged adverse economic and environmental impacts.

Environmentalists Attack NRC's Nuclear Fuel Export Licensing

Environmentalists have historically challenged only the domestic manifestations of nuclear power. The tangible fact of a nuclear power plant, together with a well-established regulatory system, lends itself to neighborhood mobilization and discrete legal fights. Recently, however, some environmentalists have ambitiously questioned a less visible aspect of the nuclear energy issue: exports of nuclear fuel destined for use in reactors operated in foreign countries.

The Coastal Zone Management Act Amendments of 1976: Tailoring Coastal Zone Protection to Expanded Offshore Oil Production

On July 26, 1976, President Ford signed into law the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZM Act) Amendments of 1976,1 a measure designed to improve the ability of the nation's 30 coastal states to plan for and control the impact of energy facility and resource development in their coastal areas. The Amendments, which several executive departments had vainly urged the President to veto, augment the present system of federal financial assistance for state development and implementation of coastal zone management programs.

D.C. Circuit Sustains Food and Drug Administration's "Anticipatory" Ban of Red No. 2

Amaranth, the food color additive popularly known as Red No. 21 was one of the first chemical compounds to receive regulatory approval under the Pure Food and Drug Law of 1906,2 the original federal food additive legislation. For nearly 70 years, the color was widely used to create or brighten the red, purple, brown and white color of foods, drugs and cosmetics. Then, in early 1976, following literally decades of short- and long-term tests of the chemical, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) abruptly ordered Red No.