In the most recent decision of the almost 10 years of litigation on Virginia's prison medical center project, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on May 8 that the state of Virginia must either comply with the dictates of NEPA or lose federal funds allocated under LEAA's block grant program.1
One of the longest battles in environmental law concerns Consolidated Edison's 10-year effort to build a pumped-storage hydroelectric generating facility on the Hudson River at Storm King Mountain. Fearing damage to the Storm King area, environmentalists managed through protracted litigation to delay the project from 1965 until the spring of 1974, when Consolidated Edison, convinced that all legal hurdles were passed, began construction of the $537-million facility.
A Comment in the June, 1973 ELR discussed the split of authority between two Circuit Courts of Appeals on the extent to which the Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 permits government agencies to recoup their administrative costs from the beneficiaries of agency action.1 The statute, codified at 31 U.S.C. §483a, provides:
The Environmental Protection Agency has "over-whelming" evidence that the pesticides aldrin and dieldrin cause cancer, but political considerations are preventing the Agency from exercising its legal authority to call an immediate halt to the chemicals' use. One estimate, based on laboratory studies of animals, suggests that if the pesticides are used at present levels for another year to 18 months, as many as 230,000 new cases of cancer may result.
Federal agency activities, such as those of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Bonneville Power Authority, and the military departments often contribute significantly to ambient loads of air, water, and noise pollution.
Project Independence is President Nixon's response to the Arab oil embargo and the subsequent energy crisis. Nixon's goal is to achieve self-sufficiency of energy supply in the United States by 1980 or before by the least costly means possible. The oil embargo demonstrated that relying upon foreign oil supplies that may be stopped by a hostile sovereign, subjects this nation's energy supply to its foreign policy decisions and vice-versa. In order to break this relationship, Nixon launched Project Independence on January 19, 1974.
As man's technology has grown exponentially, so has the number of industrial byproducts which are introduced into the nation's environment, frequently with little or no research done prior to production to discover possible deleterious effects. Even where attempts have been made to analyze and predict hazards, advances in scientific knowledge often expose years later the inadequacy of the prior research methods and the inaccuracy of conclusions derived from them.
On May 30, 1974, the Senate passed a bill (S. 2543) to amend the Freedom of Information Act so as to provide greater public access to government documents and materials. The bill was reported unanimously out of Senator Kennedy's Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure and faced little floor opposition. Two amendments were added to the bill on the Senate floor.
Although geothermal energy has been used commercially since at least 1818,1 up until now it has received little public attention as an alternative energy source. The late energy panic has of course changed that situation, and major mineral development corporations are sending scores of field geologists scurrying into the West in search of steam.
The full Supreme Court has upheld the order of Justice William O. Douglas, who in his capacity as Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit stayed further work on the Warm Springs dam project in Sonoma County, California.1 The stay will remain in effect pending a decision by the Ninth Circuit on the merits of environmentalists' claims that the environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared by the Corps of Engineers was inadequate.