Regulation of toxic pollutants under the Clean Water Act: EPA's ten-year rulemaking nears completion

Whether it's footdragging, or compliance is impossible, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) usually fails to meet its deadlines for issuing regulations. The best-known case is probably EPA's 10-year struggle to establish regulatory controls on toxic pollutants under the Clean Water Act. The developmental process is reviewed from the initial statutory framework (enacted in 1948) and the effluent limitations amendments (legislated in 1972), through its litigation history, to an analysis of the federal district court's three substantive opinions delivered during 1982. The author considers the possibility of legislative intervention because deadlines for compliance have been issued but the regulations have not. He concludes that without Toxics Consent Decree litigation, the toxic pollutant control program might have become a reality. EPA's toxic pollutant control regulations as of April 1, 1983, are tabulated. 129 references, 4 tables.