ELR Citation: ELR 20480
No(s). 82-0457 (D. Haw. Dec 17, 1982)

The court denies plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction to halt geothermal drilling and production activities funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) allegedly in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). First, the court holds that the injunctive relief provided by NEPA does not alter the requirements for granting a preliminary injunction. The court rules that a four-prong test applies in preliminary injunction cases, but that the court's authority to balance the relative harm to the parties and to determine the public interest have been preempted in the case of alleged NEPA violations. Therefore, the court must decide only the remaining two issues: whether the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits, and whether irreparable harm will result if their request is denied. The court holds that DOE has taken the necessary hard look" at foreseeable environmental consequences through the environmental assessments it prepared and reasonably concluded that no significant impacts will occur. The record indicates that DOE was not required to file an environmental impact statement, and plaintiffs thus are unlikely to succeed on their NEPA violation claim, or to suffer significant irreparable harm.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Jack Shweigert
Schweigert & Associates
250 S. Hotel St., Suite 200, Honolulu HI 96813
(808) 533-7491

Counsel for Defendants
Susan Davis Cook
Land and Natural Resources Division
Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 633-3140

Ben Tsukazaki, Deputy Corp. Counsel
25 Aupuni St., Hilo HI 96720
(808) 961-8251

William Tam, Deputy Attorney General
335 Merchant St., Rm. 214 B. Honolulu HI 96813
(808) 548-8931