A previous ruling that the Secretary of Transportation can delegate his responsibility for preparing an impact statement under NEPA to a state highway department is vacated. In the final order, defendants consent to alter the proposed route of the interstate highway in question. See amending memoran...

An action brought under the National Environmental Policy Act to compel the Department of Agriculture to deny federal subsidies to farmers using pesticides and fertilizers that pollute well water is dismissed. There is no need for an impact statement since there is no federal action in the private u...

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), patterned after NEPA, applies to a city's project to acquire land for the proposed Palmdale airport, even though acquisition was instituted prior to passage of the Act. Acquisition may continue, but demolition and construction cannot begin until the c...

NEPA does not apply to an ongoing Urban Renewal Plan approved by HUD in 1967 even though the loan interest rate and funding grant of the project were increased after January 1, 1970, since this did not constitute major federal action. NEPA was not intended to apply retroactively where the federal go...

NEPA applies to an ongoing Urban Renewal Plan approved by HUD in 1967 if there has been major federal action since 1970, or if HUD can exercise discretionary power under the basic contract to significantly alter the course or timing of the development, or if there is a reasonable expectation of furt...

The Supreme Court upholds a Florida statute that imposes strict liability for any damage incurred by the state or private persons from oil spills in the state's territorial waters. The statute covers spills resulting from any waterfront facility used for drilling oil or handling the transfer or stor...

The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency erred in approving the air pollution implementation plans submitted by Rhode Island and Massachusetts in satisfaction of Clean Air Act requirements. The court finds the Rhode Island plan deficient because (1) it fails to provide for required r...

The absence of formalized permit procedures does not relieve polluters of the necessity of obtaining permission from the Secretary of the Army before discharging pollutants in violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The Supreme Court holds that the Act's prohibitions apply to all discharges...

The 1972 Amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to allot among the states the entire $11 billion authorized by Congress for fiscal years 1973 and 1974. All orders and regulations directing the impoundment of portions of ...

The Fifth Circuit modifies the decision of the district court, which ordered the defendant Moretti to remove 400,000 cubic yards of dredge and fill material, because he had not obtained the necessary permit under §3 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. Despite Moretti's flagrant violation of the ...