The court rules that an Indiana state implementation plan (SIP) provision approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but subsequently invalidated by state courts on procedural grounds, is unenforceable. Initially, the court holds that the contested rule, APC-13, governing sulfur dioxide ...
The Second Circuit reverses the decision of the district court, 12 ELR 20864, which invalidated part of the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA) regulations governing the highway transport of radioactive materials. The court first rejects the district ...
The New Jersey Supreme Court upholds the retroactive liability provision of the Spill Compensation and Control Act and imposes strict joint and several liability on past owners of a mercury processing plant for the discharge of mercury into Berry's Creek in the Hackensack Meadowlands.
First, the co...
The court rules that §106(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) authorizes abatement actions against non-negligent, past, off-site generators of hazardous waste. Initially, the court rules that the existence of several receipts indicating that one ...
The court preliminarily enjoins defendants' log transfer operation for failure to obtain a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The court holds that the balance of hardships decidedly favors plaintiffs. The court finds that the l...
The Fifth Circuit holds that an environmental assessment (EA) need be nothing more than a statement by the responsible agency, based on a contractor's analysis, that a project will have no significant environmental impact and that the felling of trees in a wetland is not dredge and fill activity und...
The court declines to enjoin a subsidized housing project, holding that plaintiffs have failed to show irreparable harm or likely success on the merits of their claims that defendants violated certain federal laws including the National Environmental Policy Act. The court initially holds that the De...
The court temporarily enjoins the Secretary of the Interior from entering Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) cessation orders against certain small mines, holding that the regulations interpreting the SMCRA §528 exception for mines under two acres are probably invalid. The court fir...
The court holds that defendants' airplane noise restrictions are preempted by federal law. Under federal statute, plaintiffs have until January 1, 1985, to comply with federal noise standards for subsonic airplanes. Defendants' regulations require partial fleet compliance with noise restrictions by ...
The D.C. Circuit reverses a district court ruling requiring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate emergency ethylene oxide (EtO) exposure standards, but orders OSHA to expedite its EtO rulemaking. The court notes that although the Secretary of Labor has a duty to iss...