The court rules that the provision in the Lacey Act making it illegal to possess or import fish or wildlife taken in violation of foreign law is not an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to foreign governments. The Act simply excludes from the stream of foreign commerce wildlife unlawf...

The court rules that the jurisdictional requirement established in Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., 18 ELR 20142, for Federal Water Pollution Act citizen suits applies to citizen suits under §304 of the Clean Air Act. The court holds that plaintiffs' complaint, which...

The court holds that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is required to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) on changes in flight patterns and practices at Boston's Logan Airport. FAA regulations at all relevant times required either an EA or an environmental impact statement (EIS) when co...

The court holds that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard for 1986 and its decision not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the standard were not arbitrary or capricious. Plaintiff citizen groups, municipalit...

The court rules that the National Trails System Act's (NTSA's) grant of authority to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to allow interim use of railroad rights-of-way as recreational trails does not violate the Commerce Clause. The state of Missouri had protested a railroad's application to th...

The court holds that a citizen may not bring suit under §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) for alleged violations of defendant's national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit because an amendment to the permit precludes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...

The court holds that an amendment to defendant's national pollutant discharge elimination system permit precluding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing the permit pending an appeal to a state administrative agency does not bar a citizen suit under the Federal Water Pollution Cont...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision to exempt extraction and beneficiation mining wastes from regulation as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was not arbitrary and capricious. EPA determined not to regulate these wastes a...

The court upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) conclusion that §110(a)(2)(E) and §126(b) of the Clean Air Act do not impose an affirmative duty on the agency to review existing state implementation plans (SIPs) to determine whether they are adequate to prevent impermissible inters...

The court holds that the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) waives the United States Navy's sovereign immunity from a suit alleging that the Navy caused drinking water contamination while extracting explosives from missiles. The FTCA's exception for discretionary functions is overcome when the governmen...