The court holds that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to evaluate the cumulative environmental impacts of placer mining on subsistence uses when it prepares an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the impacts of mining on en...
The court modifies several injunctions entered pursuant to its earlier decision, 17 ELR 21254, in which it held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must prepare an environmental impact statement on the cumulative impacts of placer mining in certain national wild river watersheds and, in some in...
The court holds that the Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of construction permits for a project to pipe water from Lake Gaston in North Carolina to Virginia Beach, Virginia, violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), since the Corps inadequately considered the environmental effects on s...
The court holds that a farming corporation violated §§301 and 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) from 1977 to 1985 by converting freshwater wetlands in the Great Cedar Swamp in Massachusetts into farmland without first obtaining an FWPCA §404 permit from the Army Corps of Engi...
The court holds that the costs of compliance with cleanup orders and reimbursement for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) response costs are not "damages" within the meaning of a general comprehensive liability insurance policy. Noting that for insurance p...
The court rules that the exemption from reclamation fees under Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) §701(28)(A) for coal extracted incidentally to the mining of other minerals must be calculated independently for each separate mining site. Defendant mine operators sought to aggregate ...
The court holds that the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act (FRA) does not preclude the operation of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) in Puerto Rico, and that the pendency of a related lawsuit in Puerto Rico courts does not affect the jurisdiction of the federal court over this case. T...
The court holds that an electrical utility is not liable for polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination from electrical transformers that it installed in a brewery building, since the transformers were component parts of the building rather than movables owned by the utility. EPA had assessed a $1...
The court holds that a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition should be dismissed where the debtor in possession maintains a hazardous waste site in violation of state environmental laws and does not have funds to implement cleanup. The court declines to appoint a trustee in the case, expressing concern tha...
The court holds that trade associations representing coal mining companies are entitled to intervene as of right in a citizen suit alleging the Office of Surface Mining's and the Department of the Interior's nationwide failure to enforce the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), and pl...