A Nevada court upheld a county decision denying a company's request for a special use permit to mine clay from two open pits on federal land north of Reno, Nevada, and to build a plant to produce cat litter on private land nearby. The Mining Law of 1872 and federal regulations don't exempt the proje...

The court upholds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision not to list used oil from gasoline-powered engines that is destined for disposal as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA). The court first holds that petitioners have standing to challenge EPA...

The court holds that the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council (Council) violated the Northwest Power Act (NPA) §839b(h)(7) and the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to explain, in its final amendments to its fish and wildlife program for the Columbia River Basin,...

The court holds that the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) did not violate the §102 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or the ICC's implementing regulations when it granted a railroad company's request to waive the preparation of an environmental impact statement for the constructio...

The court holds that a 1977 contribution a chemical company made to the Virginia Environmental Endowment Fund, which was created in response to litigation over environmental contamination at the company's former plant in Hopewell, Virginia, was in substance an environmental penalty that the company ...

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not bar a citizen group that was denied attorney fees by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality from asserting a Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) claim against the state agency in federal court. The ...

The court holds that a federal statutory requirement that holders of unpatented mining claims pay $100 per claim in 1993 and 1994 or else forfeit their claims did not effect an uncompensated taking of claimholders' property in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The fee replac...

The court refuses to approve a proposed consent decree requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a notice of proposed revisions to its hazardous waste identification rule by August 15, 1995, and to issue its final rules by December 15, 1996. The court first holds that a state...

The court upholds the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) determination that litigation and settlement costs incurred by oil pipeline carriers in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill are "extraordinary expenses," and that the settlement agreement between the carriers and the state ...

The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior must continue to process a mining company's patent application for mining lode claims to determine whether it is exempt from a statutory moratorium on expenditure of funds for processing patent applications. On September 30, 1994, Congress enacted t...