In an action for a civil penalty and cleanup costs resulting from an oil spill, the court awards cleanup costs of $53,360.67 to the United States pursuant to §311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Defendant was a contributing cause of the spill because he failed to take reasonable precaut...

The court vacates a preliminary injunction after finding reasonable the Forest Service's decision not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a herbicide spray program. In a suit brought by the Michigan Attorney General to block use of the herbicide 2,4,5-T on 73 acres in the Ottawa N...

This is the second opinion of the court in litigation arising over the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval, pursuant to §110 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §7410, of West Virginia's state implementation plan (SIP). Following the earlier decision, 477 F.2d 495, 3 ELR 20310 (4th Cir....

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant, 7 ELR 20518, in a suit to compel the Army Corps of Engineers to take remedial action regarding erosion damage to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore caused by harbor improvements in Michigan C...

On remand from the Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals concludes that the Clean Water Act of 1977 effectively overruled its previous decision, 7 ELR 20509, that the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to define best practicable control technology (BPT) for iron and steel manufact...

The Third Circuit affirms a district court's refusal to enjoin defendants' imposition of a fine for violation of the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law upon a private company operating a federal munitions plant under contract with the United States. The court rejects the argument that the fine was barre...

Granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, the court holds that the Secretary of the Interior has an enforceable duty under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to remove wild horses which have strayed from federal lands onto plaintiff's unfenced property. The court rejects the Secreta...

The court affirms the ruling below, 8 ELR 20012, that the approval by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, pursuant to §1122 of the Social Security Act, of defendant's proposed modification of its hospital facilities is not a major federal action within the meaning of the National Enviro...

The First Circuit rejects challenges to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) final approval of construction permits for intervenor's Seabrook nuclear power plant. The Commission did not violate its regulations requiring that nuclear plants be located at a sufficient distance from population c...

The court affirms the trial court's denial of a petition to vacate respondent's decision to approve a subdivision plan, ruling that the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) have been fulfilled. The environmental impact report (EIR) prepared pursuant to CEQA identified eigh...