The court rules that Maine's Site Location of Development Law does not authorize the Board of Environmental Protection to deny a permit in order to preserve the agricultural resources of a site. Plaintiff sought a permit to remove the topsoil from 40 acres of his prime cropland. The Board denied the...

The D.C. Circuit affirms the decision of the district court, 12 ELR 20570, that the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Train settlement agreement detailing a program for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop regulations for controlling discharges of toxic pollutants under the ...

The court sustains the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision not to reconsider the economic impact of its electroplating wastewater pretreatment standards on plants with combined wastestreams. The court first notes that several aspects of Ford's petition to EPA for reconsideration of th...

The court upholds all but one provision of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations under §207(b) of the Clean Air Act that establish a performance warranty program for repair of motor vehicle emission control systems. The court rules that EPA's failure to establish a parts certification p...

The court denies plaintiff reimbursement for oil spill cleanup costs under §311(i)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act because plaintiff could have prevented the spill through diligent upkeep of its pipeline and plaintiff's use of the line was a contributing cause of the spill. Plaintiff ...

The Fourth Circuit holds that wetlands bordering a small backwater stream connecting with a navigable river are wetlands "neighboring" navigable waters and subject to Army Corps of Engineeers permit jurisdiction under §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). The government had sough...

The court finds that defendant operators of a community water supply system have violated the Safe Drinking Water Act by failing to conduct required tests of the water supplied, to report to the Environmental Protection Agency the results of any tests that have been conducted, and to give notice to ...

The court rules that generator liability under §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) can be joint and several and does not require proof that the generator is responsible for the wastes whose release brought CERCLA into play. The cou...

The court rules that a 1982 amendment of §8A of the Endangered Species Act completely eliminated the population and kill level requirements for "no detriment" findings allowing export of bobcats under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The court rul...

The court rules that the Eleventh Amendment bars a defendant waste generator from filing a third-party complaint under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) against a state that owned and operated a hazardous waste facility. The court rules that absent st...