The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could validly consider a downstream state's color standard in assuming authority over a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) permit issued by an upstream state. The court concludes that the recent Supreme Court ruling in Internati...

The court rules that civil penalties under the New Jersey Solid Waste Management Act (SWMA) may be imposed on violators in the absence of proof of willfulness or intention to violate the Act. The court first holds that the trial court correctly found thatdefendant, the owner-operator of a sanitary l...

The court holds that the Department of Transportation (DOT) and state officials satisfied §4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (DOTA) in selecting from among 10 alternatives the Napoleon Hollow on the Illinois River as the most cost-effective, environmentally least-disruptive, and safest s...

The court rules that because the 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act require national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) to be met by continuous rather than intermittent emissions controls, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) properly declared Midland County, Michigan a "nonattainment area...

The court holds that the Anti-Injunction Statute prohibits it from enjoining enforcement of a state court order that temporarily prohibits further action on a public housing project pending completion of a more thorough environmental impact statement (EIS) pursuant to the National Environmental Poli...

The court upholds the constitutionality of a provision of the Tennessee Surface Mining Law of 1977 requiring a permit applicant to submit evidence of its legal right to strip mine. Appellants, who had been conveyed the mineral interest to a specific property, applied to the Tennessee Department of C...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of a prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit for the Hampton Roads oil refinery in Portsmouth, Virginia. Since analysis of the "air quality dispersion" models required for PSD applications...

After granting plaintiffs a temporary restraining order preventing closure of the comment period on a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) regarding inclusion of rivers in the National Wild and Sceni Rivers System, the court denies plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction. Notwithstand...

The court rules that the Army Corps of Engineers' denial of permits to dredge and fill wetlands on Marco Island, Florida, was neither arbitrary nor capricious. Based on Corps and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines, the Chief of Engineers granted one permit but denied two others, conclu...

The court rules that the Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction under §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) extends to freshwater wetlands containing vegetation tolerant to saturated soil conditions. The court had previously enjoined private defendants' landclearing operations prior to ...