Train v. Colorado Public Interest Research Group, Inc.

The issue in this case is whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), as amended in 1972, 86 Stat. 816, 33 U. S. C. § 1251 et seq. (1970 ed., Supp. IV), to regulate the discharge into the Nation’s waterways of nuclear waste materials subject to regulation by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its successors under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA). 68 Stat. 919, as amended, 42 TJ. S. C. §2011 et seq. In statutory terms, the question is whether these nuclear materials are “pollutants” within the meaning of the…