Under the Department of Transportation Act, the court remands a highway project through a historic site to the district court to decide whether the Secretary determined that the proposed alternatives were not prudent, and holds that the Secretary's determination not to prepare a supplemental environ...

The court holds that a New York Supreme Court properly exercised its equitable authority in requiring polluting landfill owners, who knowingly failed to comply with state regulations and court directives, to post bond to ensure that taxpayers would not bear the cost of cleaning up an illegal landfil...

The court rules that civil penalties in a Federal Water Pollution Control Act citizen suit can only be imposed for violations committed after the the filing of the complaint. Relying on Gwaltney of Smithfield v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 18 ELR 20142 (1987), the court reasons that citizen suits are...

The court holds that a chemical distributing company and its managing shareholder are liable under §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for the goverrnment's cleanup costs at a hazardous waste site in Kentucky. An investigation of a pond near th...

The court holds that an internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memorandum that imposes new and more stringent Clean Air Act duties on the paper coating industry violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it was not subject to notice and comment rulemaking. The memorandum provides that...

The court holds that a prior landowner, his corporate tenant, and the tenant's president are jointly and severally liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to the current landowner for all past and future costs in investigation and cleanup of a ...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not authorized under the Clean Air Act's prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) provisions to pursue an enforcement action against a source that has complied with a permit from an authorized state agency, even though EPA conten...

The court holds that application of §203(b) of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (RRA) to existing water contracts does not violate the Due Process Clause and the Taking Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Each of the water districts entered into a long-term contract in the past 30 years with the Depar...

The court holds that the Navy's irrigation practices at a Nevada air base that allegedly harm an endangered species of fish do not violate the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). To reduce dust storms, poor visibility, and damage to aircraft engines, the Nav...

The court rules that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not adequately consider the requirements of Clean Air Act §166(c) when it defined only annual average concentration limits for nitrogen oxide, a Set II pollutant under the Act's prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) program....