The court upholds comprehensive noise regulations adopted under the Illinois Environmental Protection Act as not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad and as not depriving petitioner of property without compensation. The regulations classify land users into four classes each of "emitters" and "recei...

The court grants a motion to strike plaintiffs' jury demand in a suit by private parties seeking damages for injuries from an oil spill in Bridgeport Harbor. Although the complaint states a cause of action in admiralty, it does not state a legal claim under federal question jurisdiction since there ...

On rehearing, the court vacates its previous ruling that defendant state agency's approval of a proposed subdivision must be enjoined for failure to comply with the requirements of the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). An examination of the 1967 Subdivision Sanitation Act and the 1973 Subdivi...

The court dismisses plaintiff's suit challenging Fish and Wildlife Service regulations requiring steel shot for certain waterfowl hunting as arbitrary and capricious and alleging the NEPA impact statement comparing lead and steel shot to be inadequate. The EIS documented that substantial lethal effe...

The court grants defendants' motion for summary judgment in an action to enjoin use of a railroad crossover built as a demonstration project by the Department of Transportation (DOT). Plaintiffs, residents of the area where the crossover was built and the township itself, originally sought a prelimi...

The court denies plaintiffs' motions for costs and attorney fees in a long-standing case concerning a public housing project. In a prior action, this court rejected plaintiffs' claims on the merits. On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed, 5 ELR 20497, except that it concluded that the Department of ...

The Supreme Court remands to the New Jersey Supreme Court the question of whether the newly-enacted Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 preempts a New Jersey statute prohibiting the importation of solid waste into the state. The state court should address the statutory nature of this ques...

The Ninth Circuit affirms a lower federal court's abstention from hearing a suit brought by a landowner who claimed that defendant unconstitutionally prevented development of landowner's property. After initially rezoning the property for residential use, the city adopted an open-space plan that pro...

The court affirms the district court's denial, 5 ELR 20662, of plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and for a preliminary injunction restraining defendants from licensing the air transport of special nuclear materials before completion of an environmental impact statement as required by the Natio...

The court upholds the denial by the Director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) of oil drilling permits in the Pigeon River State Forest notwithstanding the existence of valid oil leases. The Pigeon River Forest is a large, relatively unspoiled tract of mostly state land that contains the ...