The D.C. Circuit, reversing the district court's decision, 12 ELR 20454, rules that the Forest Service (USFS) violated the National Environmental Policy Act by issuing oil and gas leases in the Palisades roadless area without preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) or placing conditions in...

The Seventh Circuit affirms the district court, 13 ELR 20635, holding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may, pursuant to an administrative warrant, collect samples of waste water before treatment, even though such samples are not expressly required under appellant's permit. The court in...

The First Circuit affirms the district court's order, 13 ELR 20445, preliminarily enjoining the Secretary of the Interior from conducting oil and gas lease sales at Georges Bank, off the coast of Massachusetts. The court rules that the Secretary's decision not to supplement the environmental impact ...

The court grants defendant's motion for a jury trial in a suit alleging violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and state statutory and common law. Although the defendant's motion for a jury trial i...

The court denies plaintiff reimbursement of oil cleanup costs under §311(i) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for a spill caused by third parties because plaintiff's negligence was a contributing cause of the spill. Plaintiff spent over $25,000 cleaning up oil that entered the Black Warrio...

The court rules that a site-specific environmental impact statement (EIS) is required for the United States Forest Service's (USFS') decision to aerial spray gypsy moths with the pesticide carbaryl in Oregon but the spraying did not violate the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FI...

The court rules that the restart of a nuclear reactor at the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina is a major federal action requiring preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The court rules that the Department of Energy's (DOE's) c...

The Ninth Circuit holds that the National Audubon Society and other environmental organizations are entitled to intervene as of right on behalf of defendant-appellee, the Secretary of the Interior, in a suit challenging creation of the Snake River Birds of Prey Conservation Area. The court rules tha...

The court rules that a district attorney and relative of prisoners lack standing to challenge the adequacy of an environmental impact statement prepared under the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA) for a maximum security prison. The court notes that the Wisconsin standing test is similar to t...

In a suit by a municipal authority claiming improper state administration of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) construction grant program, the court dismisses all claims against the state defendants and dismisses one claim against the federal defendants. The court first rules that, alt...