The court enlarges upon its reasons for issuing a preliminary injunction, 14 ELR 20043, enforcing §204(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and parallel Interior Department regulations allowing the House Committee on the Interior to withdraw lands from coal leasing.
Counsel are listed ...
The court rules that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) complied with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in issuing construction grants for the expansion of a sewage treatment system without preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS). The ...
The court rules that defendants violated the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) by filling a wetland area without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and orders restoration of the filled area. The court rules that the area in question was a part of the w...
The court rules that the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) environmental assessment (EA) of its Oregon herbicide spraying program is deficient under the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations for failure to do a "worst-case" analysis. The court rule...
The Court rules that collateral estoppel bars the United States from arguing in the Sixth Circuit that the Clean Air Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to use private inspectors when the United States had already argued and lost the issue against the same defendant in the Tenth Circu...
The court refuses to dismiss a suit for reimbursement for oil spill cleanup costs under §311(f)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, ruling that the complaint adequately alleged actions that would make the defendant personally liable for cleanup, and that the court has personal jurisdicti...
The Second Circuit affirms an award of attorney fees to an environmental group under the Equal Access to Justice Act holding that the government's position both before and during litigation was not substantially justified. Plaintiffs had sought injunctive relief barring the spraying of pesticides wi...
The court construes §305 of the National Historic Preservation Act to allow an award of appellate attorney fees and costs. Although §305 refers to actions brought in federal district court, the court holds that the wording of §305 does not exclude, and Congress could not have logically intended t...
The Supreme Court, in a five-to-four decision, reverses the Tenth Circuit's ruling, 12 ELR 20367, that punitive damages otherwise available to a plaintiff under state tort law may not be obtained against the operator of a federally licensed plutonium-processing facility by virtue of the preemption d...
The court rules that once the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approves a state's list of attainment, nonattainment, and unclassifiable areas, the Agency may not unilaterally reclassify an area as nonattainment under §107(d) of the Clean Air Act. The court first rules that the reclassification...