At long last and after due provocation, the U.S. Government rushed in where states have feared to tread. Last week, invoking the Water Quality Act of 1965, Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel announced that the Federal Government was proceeding forthwith to "prosecute those who pollute."
Hickel's first targets include four large steelmakers (U.S. Steel, Republic, Jones & Laughlin and Interlake), a Kansas mining company (Eagle-Picher Industries) and the City of Toledo.
All of the accused polluters were duly identified during the late days of the Johnson Administration. Then, in theory, it was up to the states concerned to enforce remedial action....
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