The courtrules that the offroad vehicle (ORV) route designation criteria in the California Desert Conservation Area Plan are inconsistent with regulations promulgated pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and two executive orders. The court first rules that several environme...

The court upholds a decision by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) concerning a decision to rehabilitate and convert to low-income housing an historic building in San Francisco as part of a redevelopment project funded by the ...

The court rules that three insurance companies are obligated to defend the holder of liability insurance policies against a class action for damages allegedly resulting from insured's contamination of well water. The court first tolds that the complaint in the groundwater pollution case generates a ...

The court holds that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is not required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) before granting a permit for the construction of an inland coal-loading port. Although TVA's National Environmental Policy Act regulations indicate that port projects normally...

The court rules that the Department of the Interior complied with the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the inclusion of five California rivers in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, but that the is...

After the parties fail to settle on a fee amount following the court's ruling, 12 ELR 20213, that plaintiffs are entitled to attorney fees, the court sets the amount of fees due plaintiffs for their litigation efforts in Sierra Club v. Costle, 11 ELR 20455. The court first identifies the appropriate...

The Third Circuit rules that §204(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and its implementing regulations, which authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to condition approval of sewage treatment works construction grants upon the applicant's implementation of a user charge sys...

The court affirms a district court ruling that the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) complied with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Department of Transportation Act (DOTA) in deciding to construct a portion of a highway, Alternate Route 7. The court rules that the final environmenta...

The D.C. Circuit reverses the district court's award of attorney fees for a case in which the D.C. Circuit rejected Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) challenges to oil and gas leasing in the Beaufort Sea, 10 ELR 20832. Applying the principles established in t...

The Ninth Circuit affirms the district court's ruling, 12 ELR 20107, that the Secretary of the Interior's transfer of the authority to regulate oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the United States Geological Survey violates the Nation...