The court rules that the penalty prepayment provisions of §518(c) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) do not violate Fifth Amendment due process requirements. Section 518(c) requires prepayment of penalties into escrow as a condition of administrative review of SMCRA penalty a...

The court rules that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) deferral of the obligation to submit Part B permit applications for incinerators and storage impoundments under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) constituted a suspension of a regulation without notice and comment in ...

The court upholds Boston Air Pollution Control Commission regulations limiting off-street parking. Plaintiff wished to relocate its downtown off-street parking operations, but under the challenged regulations could not transfer its permit from the old lot to the new. The court first holds that becau...

The district court rules that the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has exclusive jurisdiction under §307 of the Clean Air Act to review the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of an automobile nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions "offset" plan. EPA had authorized General Motors Corp. ...

The court denies plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction against imposition of a vehicle emissions inspection program for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The state had proposed a vehicle emissions control inspection and maintenance program in its state implementation plan in order to qua...

The court rules that provisions in the New Mexico Constitution and statutory law barring export of New Mexico groundwater violate the Commerce Clause. First, the court dismisses jurisdictional defenses to the suit based on standing, justiciable controversy, the Eleventh Amendment, and joinder of ind...

The court rules that the names of recipients of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notice letters under §104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) are not exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The court rules that the ...

The court upholds the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 1980 designation, based on 1978 monitored violations of the national ambient air quality standards, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a nonattainment area for sulfur dioxide (SO2) and EPA's 1982 decision, based on air quality modeling, not to ...

The court dismisses for want of appellate jurisdiction the federal government's appeal of a district court decision, 12 ELR 21051, that non-negligent, past, off-site generators of hazardous waste are not liable under the imminent hazard provisions of §7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery ...

The court enjoins the Secretary of the Interior from issuing outer continental shelf oil and gas leases in Alaska pending compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court rules that the Secretary fully complied with the Outer Continental Shelf Lan...