Reversing a criminal conviction, the court rules that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) does not give the Secretary of the Interior authority to promulgate conservation regulations governing offshore activities unrelated to mineral leases. Defendant, who damaged a coral reef while carryi...

In an action challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) revised primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards for ozone, the court grants a motion by industry petitioners to correct the administrative record by removing certain documents placed there after the EPA Admin...

The Nebraska Department of Roads sought a mandatory injunction requiring appellant to remove an outdoor advertising sign located near an interstate highway. The relevant state law, Nebraska Revised Statutes §§39-1320 et seq., makes it unlawful to place advertising signs along any interstate highwa...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirms a lower court's issuance of a permanent injunction against further filling of wetlands adjacent to a 3,000-acre intrastate freshwater lake without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers under §404 of the Clean Water Act. The Corps' regulations impleme...

The court affirms a lower court's ruling that the Secretary of the Interior has no discretion to reject on environmental grounds applications for preference right coal mining leases by prospecting permittees who have fulfilled the requirements of §201(b) of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920. Section ...

In an oral opinion, the court upholds four municipal ordinances directed at regulating the noise level at the Santa Monica airport but overturns a ban against jet aircraft. The city of Santa Monica, owner and operator of the airport, enacted a night curfew at the airport, a weekend and holiday ban o...

The court denies plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction restraining the Secretary of the Interior from receiving or opening bids for outer continental shelf (OCS) oil and gas leases in the Georges Bank fishing region of the Atlantic Ocean. First addressing the question of immediate and irre...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms judgments of two district courts dismissing suits brought by noncommercial users of the Colorado River challenging the formula by which the National Park Service (NPS) allocates use permits between commercial and noncommercial users. Specifically, appellant...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms in part and reverses in part a decision by a district court, 6 ELR 20047, on appellees' suit for an order requiring the Bureau of Reclamation to obtain from the Secretary of the Army, pursuant to §10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, a permit for certain comp...

The court affirms the issuance of an injunction restraining certain Indian fishermen from commercial fishing in the Michigan waters of the Great Lakes except in compliance with the rules and regulations of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The trial court's findings establish conclusivel...