The court affirms two Federal Communications Commission (FCC) orders that promulgated guidelines for health and safety standards for radio frequency radiation. In addition to health and safety requirements, the guidelines streamlined procedures for meeting requirements under the National Environment...
The court holds that a district court properly granted summary judgment to the city of Philadelphia on residents' Administrative Procedure Act (APA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) claims that the city did not properly perform environmental an...
The court reverses a district court and holds that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Marine Fisheries Service, and other federal defendants violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by preparing an untimely and inadequate environmental assessment (E...
The court holds moot a neighborhood association's claim that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it issued a permit for the construction of a retail development. The court first holds that the association's original requests for relief in this action ...
The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it failed to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) prior to the permitting of three casinos on the Mississippi coast. Mississippi law requires casinos to be located on floating vessels...
The court affirms a district court holding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for a flood control project on the Mississippi River satisfied the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The court first holds that the Corps' SEIS satisfied NEPA'...
The court affirms a district court decision that the U.S. Forest Service did not need to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS) before adopting the policies and procedural rules that excluded certain types of categorical exclusions (CEs) for timber harves...
The court denies environmental groups' motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapon Stockpile Stewardship and Management (SSM) facilities, as well as activities or major upgrades to mission capability based on alleged violations of the National Env...
For the last several years, federal circuit courts have debated the exact jurisdictional scope of §404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which authorizes the Secretary of the U.S. Army (the Army), acting through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps), to issue permits "for the discharge of dredged or fill material into the navigable waters at specified disposal sites." The circuit courts have based their debates on the assumption, well-supported by earlier CWA decisions, that Congress intended the term "navigable waters" within the CWA to extend to the limits of the U.S. Commerce Clause.
Environmentalists are no strangers to disappointment in the U.S. Supreme Court, but the recent case of Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC) is particularly disappointing. First, it might be said that the impact of the opinion, in circumstances in which legislative amendment is virtually impossible, may be the most devastating judicial opinion affecting the environment ever.