A private oyster lease in an unrestricted area is not prohibited, despite testimony that the area was in fact a natural clam bar. Oyster leases are prohibited only where the area is surveyed and classified as a clam bar, or where the area is surveyed and classified as an oyster bar, or where evidenc...

Defendants' motions for dismissal granted in two consolidated qui tam actions in which plaintiffs were attempting to recover half of any fines levied against defendants for violations of the Refuse Act. A qui tam action lies only where expressly or implicitly authorized by statute, and the Refuse Ac...

Proof of criminal intent was not necessary to conviction for misdemeanor violations of county air pollution regulations. The regulation makes the offender strictly liable merely on proof that he did the act. The court upheld statutory use of the Ringelmann Chart as a reasonable standard to measure t...

FPC order licensing Consolidated Edison to build pumped storage hydroelectric facility at Storm King Mountain on Hudson River in New York State is void. Cause remanded to FPC for new proceedings. Commission violated requirements of §§10(a) and 313(b) of Federal Power Act by failing to compile reco...

Where chicken processors pleaded nolo contendere to allegations that they violated Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 by dumping waste materials into Penobscot Bay and then moved to arrest judgment on grounds that the Act (1) does not apply to continuing industrial pollution which does not result in obs...

Petition for certiorari (granted by the Court on Dec. 21, 1970, argument heard on Feb. 22, 1971) is dismissed as improvidently granted. Justices Douglas, Black, Brennan, and Marshall, who had voted to grant the petition originally, dissent. In their opinion, the provisions of the Federal-Aid Highway...

A congressman may recover the statutory informer's fees for supplying information leading to a conviction for discharging refuse into navigable waters in violation of §13 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. §407. Public policy reasons do not prevent claimant congressman from recoverin...

Where the state legislature delegated responsibility for formulating and enforcing air pollution control standards to countywide pollution control districts and where district hearing board denied permit to public utility for construction of electrical generating unit on grounds that unit would viol...

Trial court erred in failing to direct verdict for defendant where plaintiff claimed fish in his pond were killed by activity of Shell. Evidence showed fish died from increase in alkalinity of water caused by presence of foreign substance, that oil company performed work on nearby well 6-8 days befo...

State attorney general may move under nuisance statute to abate air pollution nuisance from defendant's plant despite more recent and specific legislation empowering department of natural resources to regulate such matters. Nuisance statute was not expressly repealed and, particularly in view of the...