The court holds that alleged violators of Clean Air Act state implementation plans (SIPs) may obtain preenforcement judicial review of Notices of Violation. The notices were based on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) determination that plaintiffs' loading terminals were not in compliance...
The court rejects a number of challenges under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to the construction of an electric transmission line by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The court first upholds the adequacy of the environme...
The court enjoins the Secretary of the Interior from accepting or rejecting bids or issuing leases in connection with certain tracts of Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale No. 53 off the coast of California. The court finds that plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on the merits with respect to claim...
The court rules that the Solid Waste Management Corporation Act does not constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power and upholds the state Department of Environmental Management's (DEM's) denial of a solid waste disposal permit. The Act requires that a permit be issued in order to...
Justice Rehnquist dissents from the United States Supreme Court's denial of a petition for certiorari in a case in which the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held, 10 ELR 20718, barge owners liable for oil spill cleanup costs under §311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act on the ground that th...
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacates the district court's preliminary injunction and holds that it was error to enjoin the United States from criminally prosecuting appellee for violation of Forest Service regulations during the pendency of a quiet title action involving limestone deposits i...
Affirming in part and reversing in part a district court decision, 10 ELR 20187, the court allows the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with its post-authorization planning for Locks and Dam 26 on the upper Mississippi River. It holds that a cost-benefit study prepared by the Corps prior to congres...
The court upholds the Virginia State Water Control Board's granting of revisions to a sewage treatment plant's national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit and to Virginia's York River Basin Water Quality Management Plan. The court rejects plaintiffs' challenges to the permitting p...
The court rules that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) does not require imposition of specific restrictions to protect endangered whales and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) does not require preparation of a worst-case analysis of potential oil spills prior to an offshore oil and gas leas...
The court holds that application of the Corps of Engineers' 1975 Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404 regulations to appellants' development would be retroactive and manifestly unjust. Appellants voluntarily delayed completion of their development pending a Corps ruling on §404's application t...