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...

The court rules that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of a preconstruction permit under §165 of the Clean Air Act is a prerequisite to any construction of a new coal-fired power plant. Plaintiffs seek to prevent construction of three units of the facility begun without a const...

The court dismisses criminal charges under §3008(d)(2) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) against two employees who allegedly dumped waste illegally because they were neither owners nor operators of the facility and therefore not subject to sanctions. Defendants Angel and Hopkins,...

The Tenth Circuit declines to order a preliminary injunction against operation of a dam for which no environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) had been filed, holding that appellants had failed to prove the dam probably would significantly affect the quality o...

The court rules that the "worst-case" analysis prepared in an environmental impact statement (EIS) for proposed herbicide spraying on public lands in Oregon is inadequate. The Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act regulations requre agencies to discuss the results and ...

The D.C. Circuit, reversing the district court's decision, 12 ELR 20454, rules that the Forest Service (USFS) violated the National Environmental Policy Act by issuing oil and gas leases in the Palisades roadless area without preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) or placing conditions in...

The Seventh Circuit affirms the district court, 13 ELR 20635, holding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may, pursuant to an administrative warrant, collect samples of waste water before treatment, even though such samples are not expressly required under appellant's permit. The court in...

The First Circuit affirms the district court's order, 13 ELR 20445, preliminarily enjoining the Secretary of the Interior from conducting oil and gas lease sales at Georges Bank, off the coast of Massachusetts. The court rules that the Secretary's decision not to supplement the environmental impact ...

The court grants defendant's motion for a jury trial in a suit alleging violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and state statutory and common law. Although the defendant's motion for a jury trial i...