The court rules that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) does not authorize a federal court challenge to state issuance of a national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. Pursuant to its authority to administer the NPDES program under the FWPCA, the Virginia State Water...

The court finds that an environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared for the proposed construction of a 47.6-mile segment of I-380 in Iowa complies with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and denies plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief. Emphasizing that its role is to re...

Reversing the Minnesota Supreme Court, 9 ELR 20739 (1979), the United States Supreme Court holds that a state ban on the retail sale of milk in plastic nonreturnable containers bears a rational relationship to the state's objective to foster greater use of environmentally desirable alternatives and ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirms a district court judgment awarding appellee municipality $500,000 in damages as a result of a toxic chemical spill from one of appellant's railroad cars. As a result of the spill, which the jury found to be negligently but not willfully caused, drinking w...

The court refuses to enjoin defendants from proceeding with the construction of a highway in Vermont, ruling that plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared for the project did not adequately consider the environmental impac...

Affirming the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction to halt further construction of a portion of Interstate 190 in Massachusetts, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the environmental impact statement (EIS) adequately discussed the potential dangers to Boston's drinking water...

The court denies plaintiff's request for injunctive relief and concludes that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) does not preclude the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in reviewing a pesticide registration application, from using test data submitted prior to 1970 b...

The court denies plaintiff's motion for an injunction pending appeal of its earlier decision, 11 ELR 20147. The court notes that plaintiff, as in its earlier motion, has failed to demonstrate a probability of success on the merits. Plaintiff's alleged irreparable harm is merely loss of an exclusive ...

Affirming the district court's decision, 11 ELR 20147, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the practice of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), of using test data submitted with applications for the registratio...

The court rules that §522(e)(5) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), which prevents mining within 100 feet of a cemetery, does not violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Determining that a family burial site did not constitute a "cemetery" within the meaning of the...