The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reverses the district court's dismissal of an action seeking relief from injuries to appellants' commercial shellfishing activities allegedly caused by appellees' dumping of sewage sludge into the Atlantic Ocean. The district court first erred in ruling that it lac...

The court affirms the district court's dismissal, 8 ELR 20651, of a suit in which appellant challenged the adequacy of explanations accompanying the president's proposed 1979 budget reductions for certain national forest programs. Appellant sought mandamus and declaratory relief, arguing that §8(b)...

The court grants plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment in a suit charging defendants with violating an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance order and appoints an administrator to oversee closure of the antiquated Cos Cob Power Plant by Dec. 31, 1980, in accordance with an amend...

Affirming the district court, 9 ELR 20128, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the Department of the Interior need not prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) prior to the issuance of a mineral patent. The court first points out that as the issuance of a mineral patent is a minist...

In an en banc decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court upholds a decision of a district court affirming an order of the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources that denied appellants' request for a retroactive permit authorizing past deposits of fill material into a lake. The court first re...

The court affirms the ruling of a United States magistrate, to which the case was transferred by the district court, that the issuance by the Corps of Engineers of a permit to construct an outfall pipe from a manufacturing plant is not a major federal action requiring the preparation of an environme...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a district court ruling, 6 ELR 20715, that the owner of unpatented mining claims on federal lands has the right to exclude members of the general public from recreational use of the land which does not interfere with mining activities unless they have obta...

The court rules that the Secretary of the Interior was not required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in conjunction with his submission to Congress of a legislative proposal regarding changes in the cost-sharing requirements for fe...

The court grants summary judgment to the federal defendants in a case challenging their failure to prepare a comprehensive environmental impact statement (CEIS) concerning a series of water resources projects in the Colorado River Basin. Preliminary procedural decisions in the same case may be found...

The court rules that the Secretary of the Interior has broad authority to issue permanent regulations implementing the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act but remands a number of regulatory provisions for revision as arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise inconsistent with the law, pursuant to t...