Department of Interior regulations defining as "harmful" any oil spill resulting in a sheen on the water's surface are upheld. The exception made for oil pollution produced by properly functioning engines is not an arbitrary distinction, but rather a reflection of congressional intent that commercia...

State legislatures may constitutionally limit the franchise for election of directors of water district to individual and corporate landowners, and weight votes according to the assessed valuation of property owned by each voter. The Supreme Court rules that enfranchisement of non-resident landowner...

A municipal authority may prohibit the construction of new gasoline stations by means of restrictive zoning ordinances where such regulations are established in order to protect the aesthetic environment. The proper exercise of police power includes not only the interests of public health, safety, m...

The Secretary of the Interior may order the killing of deer in a national park without securing permits from the state game commissioner. The Secretary has the authority to use "reasonable methods" to protect national park property, and there need not be evidence of actual damage to the park before ...

The court declines to issue a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendant coal corporation from discharging coal dust-bearing water into a navigable stream because plaintiff United States is unable to show irreparable injury. The existence of a dam downstream from the pollution source does not affe...

NEPA does not require the Tennessee Valley Authority to submit a separate environmental impact statement each time it awards a long-term coal procurement contract. A single statement concerning overall coal procurement policies fulfills the requirements of the Act. TVA had a rational basis for belie...

Plaintiff Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) seeks and obtains a permanent injunction against logging activities in or contiguous to virgin forest areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, until the Forest Service prepares a ne...

The District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment erred in granting a special exception allowing the construction of a private tennis club on open space in a district zoned for single-family detached dwellings, and is reversed. The scope of judicial review of zoning adjustments is limited to wheth...

Plaintiffs' action to enjoin an alleged public nuisance created by a power plant's air pollution is dismissed because the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Agency has primary jurisdiction over plaintiffs' claims. The court declines to interfere with agency functions, because it is not convinced t...

Presentation of evidence insufficient to prove estoppel or laches as a defense to a violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 may still be relevant in determining the character of equitable relief. The defendant violated the Act when he constructed a causeway over a marsh adjacent to a navigab...