The Ninth Circuit rules that the U.S. Forest Service's decision not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) prior to granting a special use permit for the reconstruction and use of a road through the Angeles National Forest violates the National Environmental Policy Act. The road passes d...

The Ninth Circuit upholds appellants' convictions for offering to sell and selling eagles in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The court rules that the government properly elected to prosecute appellants under the MBTA rather than under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, a mo...

The court rules that a publicly disclosed environmental impact statement (EIS) is not required for a naval weapons storage facility which might house nuclear weapons. For national security reasons, the Navy may neither admit nor deny that it is storing or planning to store nuclear weapons at the fac...

The district court denies the Department of the Interior's motion for reconsideration of its decision, 12 ELR 20197, upholding the constitutionality of §204(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Under §204(e), a committee of either house of Congress may request the Secretary to...

The court rules that the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) decision to rebuild a hydroelectric power generating facility and to allow releases of water to preserve recreational uses of the river only if outside funding becomes available was consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act (N...

The Fifth Circuit rules that §311(g) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) does not preempt the federal government's right under maritime tort law to recover oil spill cleanup costs from the owner or operator of a third-party vessel that negligently caused the discharge, but does precl...

The Supreme Court of Rhode Island affirms the trial court's determination that defendants' maintenance of a hazardous waste disposal site constituted a public and private nuisance. The court rules that liability in nuisance is predicated upon unreasonable injury, not unreasonable conduct. The trial ...

The court issues a revised opinion modifying the language of, but not substantively changing the result of, its original April 14, 1981, opinion, 11 ELR 20763. The court rules that ocean dumping of sewage sludge may continue beyond the December 31, 1981, deadline under the Marine Protection, Researc...

The court declines to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) refusal to institute a construction permit revocation proceeding concerning a nuclear power plant at Byron, Illinois. Initially, the court rules that jurisdiction to review the NRC's decision lies in the courts of appeals. The ...

The Third Circuit rules that a district court has the authority, pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), to order the past and present owners of a hazardous waste disposal site to fund a diagnostic study of the threat posed by contaminant...