[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental law news, Judge Richard Webber [official website] of the US District Court of Eastern Missouri has ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] has failed to review its health standard for lead pollution in the air, and has ordered the agency to do so. The national standard for airborne lead is to be reviewed every five years, but the EPA has not reviewed the lead standard since 1990. The St. Louis Post- Dispatch has more.

In other environmental law news...

• The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] has ruled [PDF text] Monday that metro Atlanta, Georgia, can use Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River to meet its water needs for the next 10 to 20 years. Alabama, Florida and Georgia share the Chattahoochee River and have been fighting over its water for decades. AP has more.



• After rejecting a motion [JURIST report] to dismiss the pollution charges against Newmont Mining and its local unit director Richard Ness, presiding Indonesia court Justice Ridwan Damanik said that "the first and second defendant, directly or indirectly, did not prevent the occurrence of pollution in Buyat Bay." The five-judge Indonesian court hearing the Newmont case panel will next meet October 7, 2005, when prosecutors will present their first witnesses. Reuters has more.