The court holds that although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) withdrawal of a final administrative order (FAO) against an oil company rendered moot the oil company's appeal of a district court decision upholding the FAO, vacatur of the district court's order is not the proper reme...
The court holds that the exhaustion requirements of 43 C.F.R. §4.21(c) do not bar a district court from considering a colorable due process challenge to the procedures followed by the administrative law judge (ALJ) and the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA) in a pending Indian probate proceedi...
The court affirms a district court decision that the Federal Tort Claims Act's discretionary function exception barred an individual's suit against the United States to recover damages for injuries he suffered after a car ran over his tent while he was attending a festival held on federally owned la...
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...
Editors' Summary: As Congress begins the second session of the 98th Congress, we assess both the results of the first session (see Comment, 14 ELR 10005) and the prospects for the second. For the latter task, a crystal-ball gazing exercise, we have enlisted the help of two of the sharpest-eyed observers of congressional trends available: Philip Cummings, Minority Counsel for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Bud Ward, Editor of The Environmental Forum. Mr. Cummings analyzes the chances for Senate action; Mr. Ward those in the House.
Editors' Summary: As Congress begins the second session of the 98th Congress, we assess both the results of the first session (see Comment, 14 ELR 10005) and the prospects for the second. For the latter task, a crystal-ball gazing exercise, we have enlisted the help of two of the sharpest-eyed observers of congressional trends available: Philip Cummings, Minority Counsel for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Bud Ward, Editor of The Environmental Forum. Mr. Cummings analyzes the chances for Senate action; Mr. Ward those in the House.
Editors' Summary: This Comment surveys the environmental activity of the first session of the 98th Congress. Congress' oversight of the executive branch contributed to headline-grabbing changes in the administration of federal programs. But while busy checking the initiatives of the Reagan Administration, Congress enacted no major new environmental laws, despite proposals before it in the areas of air quality, water quality, hazardous waste, toxics, nuclear energy, public lands, and natural resources.
Editors' Summary: Federal resource development projects often ignore and sometimes even degrade fish and wildlife resources. In the Columbia Basin, for example, federal dams have severely reduced salmon populations by destroying spawning habitats and impeding migration. A novel fish and wildlife program developed under the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Planning Conservation Act will go far to redress the injury to fish runs. Mr.
Editors' Summary: Environmental law has invaded the world of real estate transactions. When federal or state governments come to collect the costs of cleaning up unsafe hazardous waste sites, as statutory and common law authorize them to do, they may well stop at the door of the current landowner. The desire to avoid hidden liabilities has made hazardous waste law required reading for prospective purchasers and security holders of commercial real estate.
In the November 1983 News & Analysis, James A. Rogers reviewed the first three years of the federal government's implementation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund).1 Mr. Rogers was sharply critical of the government's litigation strategy. In particular, he argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice have delayed the effective implementation of Superfund by adopting expansive interpretations of the reach of its liability provisions.