The National Environmental Policy Act does not apply to the Federal Power Commission's adoption of a plan curtailing natural gas deliveries, because the Act conflicts with the FPC's statutory duty to take interim curtailment actions during times of shortage. The plan to curtail service to certain pi...

The City Rent Agency is enjoined from enforcing a regulation that reduces rent in buildings with oil burners and incinerators in violation of the Air Pollution Control Law. The rent reduction regulation was enacted without the statutorily required approval of the State Division of Housing, and it is...

Although a town zoning amendment which severely restricts building on lands subject to periodic flooding cannot be upheld solely because it retains the land in its natural condition, it is upheld because it promotes the public safety. The 88% reduction in the market value of plaintiff's land is not ...

A municipal ordinance regulating noise from airplanes hovering and cruising at low levels for sport parachuting is a reasonable exercise of the police power. Since there is no federal regulatory scheme for noise from aircraft in a limited interstate airspace there is no preemption by the federal gov...

A suit to enjoin the construction and operation of a synthetic gas refinery is dismissed as premature. The court refuses to reach the question whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a jurisdictional statute. The court concludes that it may not review an initial decision by a Federal...

A Chicago ordinance that prohibits the sale of detergents containing phosphates is unconstitutional because Chicago's interest in protecting its surrounding waterways and Lake Michigan do not outweigh the burden the ordinance places on interstate commerce. The costs and practical difficulties of man...

Financial records of concessioners within the national parks are protected from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. The records are confidential within the meaning of the exemption in §552(b)(4) of the Act, since they contain financial information that generally would not be available ...

The court refuses to grant a temporary restraining order in a suit to enjoin further construction on the River Rouge Flood Control Project in the Detroit metropolitan area. The court concludes that the omission of data utilized in the cost-benefit analysis does not invalidate the environmental impac...

The Wallisville Dam Project, and the Trinity River Project of which it is a part, are both enjoined for inadequate NEPA impact statements. If the Corps can demonstrate that the Wallisville Project has sufficient local purposes to be considered independent of the Trinity Project, an adequate impact s...

The court modifies its former opinion that the state Environmental Policy Act did not apply in a highway condemnation case. The modification clarifies that plaintiffs' request for a detailed environmental statement was not timely made, and the statement is thus not required. The decision itself is n...