The court affirms the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) refusal to order a construction permit revocation hearing on the Seabrook Nuclear Generating Station. Initially, the court holds that NRC's refusal constitutes a final order which the court may review. It then holds that NRC is not requir...

The Sixth Circuit affirms the district court's ruling, issued pursuant to §521(c) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), directing a coal company and its agent to comply with an order issued by the Secretary of the Interior to remedy an imminent and hazardous danger to the publi...

The court orders the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to propose within 180 days national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAPS) for inorganic arsenic under §112 of the Clean Air Act. The court earlier had granted partial summary judgment for plaintiff, declaring that defend...

The court denies plaintiffs' request under §304 of the Clean Air Act for attorney fees in litigation over construction of Interstate 95 through Philadelphia. First, the court holds that the 1970 version of the Act governs. Plaintiffs brought suit and obtained a consent decree prior to the 1977 amen...

The court holds that the Department of the Interior violated §164(d) of the Clean Air Act in recommending that Death Valley National Monument be redesignated a Class I area without considering the non-air-quality impacts of the redesignation. First, the court rules that the Secretary of the Interio...

The California Supreme Court rules that the public trust doctrine is an independent source of water law and that the state Water Resources Board has both the power and the duty to reconsider Los Angeles' appropriation of water from streams feeding Mono Lake, California, taking into account both appr...

The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior has a mandatory duty under §518 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to impose civil penalties on surface coal mine operators who fail to abate violations and are issued cessation orders under §521(a)(3). First, the court rule...

Ruling on pretrial motions affecting a number of asbestos cases, the court holds that the market share theory of liability may not be used in asbestos-related products liability actions. Initially, the court rules that plaintifffs may introduce minutes of the Asbestos Textile Institute to prove know...

The court upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) conditional approval and disapproval of portions of Michigan's state implementation plan (SIP), which had the effect of requiring the state to adopt EPA's reasonably available control technology (RACT) standards. Applying an arbitrary a...

The district court holds that the Department of the Interior's expression of an interest in acquiring property adjacent to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is not a proposal for a major federal action requiring preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environment...