The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has authority to require that sewage treatment system construction funds under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) be used only to provide service to developments in existence at the time of the grant, and no service at all i...

The court holds that the district court reasonably chose not to use the traditional approach to calculate hours spent in awarding attorney fees under §505(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to an environmental group that had achieved some success in a suit against the state agencies that...

The court upholds the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) decision not to regulate proposed improvements by a county government to a road passing between two wilderness study areas (WSAs) in Utah, but holds that BLM must prepare an environmental assessment (EA) for the construction project. The cour...

The court holds that no federal or state statute of limitations bars citizen suits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), that a smelting and metal reprocessing facility cannot invoke the upset and bypass defenses where it failed to satisfy the prerequisite notification provisions, a...

The court holds that the court-appointed receiver responsible for cleaning up a landfill may join the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a motion to enforce a consent decree, but may not join potentially responsible parties (PRPs). A lawsuit had been brought by a group of citizens against a la...

The court rules that for purposes of §6(f) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, a standard is promulgated on the date that it is published in the Federal Register, rather than when it is filed with the Office of the Federal Register. Existing Occupational Safety and Health Administration regu...

The court holds that the operator of an industrial plant built over a closed solid waste landfill must conduct a surface cleanup under the New Jersey Environmental Cleanup Responsibility Act (ECRA). The plant is an "industrial establishment" under ECRA that must be cleaned up prior to closure or tra...

The court holds that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act's (CERCLA's) statute of limitations does not apply retroactively to response costs incurred prior to its enactment in October 1986, and an individual owner of a hazardous waste site who took no part in the...

The court holds that a federal three-year statute of limitations for tort actions does not apply in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) response cost action, and the doctrine of laches is inapplicable since the United States has brought suit in its sovere...

The court holds that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Federal Power Act (FPA) by issuing a hydroelectric project license without first preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) and creating a comprehensive developme...