ELR Citation: ELR 20155
No(s). 74-1389 (D.C. Cir. Jan 3, 1975)

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals grants an injunction against further federal action toward coal development in the Eastern Powder River Basin pending plaintiffs' appeal from a lower court's dismissal of a suit seeking to require the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a programmatic NEPA impact statement on federal coal development plans for the entire Northern Great Plains region. A dissent argues that this case is distinguishable from SIPI v. AEC, in which a programmatic EIS was held to be necessary, and that the injunction is inappropriate in any event.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Bruce J. Terris
1908 Sunderland Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Counsel for Defendants
Jacques B. Gelin
Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530