Litigation

In light of 2003 legislation that amended the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), a federal district court in late September vacated a landmark judgment issued in August 2003 that found the Navy and federal marine regulators had violated aspects of the MMPA and other environmental laws with regard to the Navy's permitted use of low frequency active sonar. Congress' passage last year of measures that relaxed the military's requirements under MMPA, effectively mooted the judgment, the court ruled Sept. 21.

A federal appeals court has for the first time clearly stated that environmental groups have standing to sue dischargers to disclose monitoring and reporting data under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The Nov. 1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit is "critically important" to citizens' ability to enforce the CWA, an environmental attorney familiar with the case says, noting that the CWA permitting program is a self-monitoring system. "We think it is an important victory for environmental groups."

Environmentalists are weighing whether to file suit against the Navy, which they say has failed to fully respond to allegations that it is violating environmental laws through its use of mid-frequency sonar in training.

EPA's newly formed Environmental Technology Council (ETC) -- an agency clearinghouse intended to boost the use of innovative technologies to address environmental problems -- is targeting 10 high-profile environmental problem areas, including boosting compliance with expensive drinking water rules, limiting agricultural pollution and using new monitoring technologies to assist enforcement.