The court holds that a lessor may not claim administrative priority for the costs of cleaning up a bankrupt lessee's hazardous waste site. The court first holds that a lease signed after the debtor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is avoidable as an unauthorized postpetition transaction. A debtor may...

The court holds that defendants were properly convicted of the Model Penal Code felony of risking a catastrophe on evidence that they discharged large quantities of hazardous wastes into an abandoned mine that drained into a major public water supply. The court holds that to be guilty of the offense...

The court holds that the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (DER) properly extended its landward jurisdiction over dredge and fill activities to areas with designated aquatic plant species where there is a one-way flow of freshwater over the property and into state waters. Neither the re...

The Court rules that §114(c) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) preempts state superfunds financed by special taxes and used to pay expenses that could be paid under CERCLA. Section 114(c) states that it preempts funds used to pay "costs of respons...

The court holds that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) requires a farmer to obtain a §404 permit from the Corps of Engineers before discharging dredge and fill material into wetlands on his property for the construction of a fish pond, that the wetlands in question are navigable water...

The court rules that the provision of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) requiring that fee petitions be filed within 30 days of final judgment requires only that the fee petition itself be filed with the court by that time, and that pleadings detailing the amount requested may be filed subseque...

The Fourth Circuit upholds water pollution regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for existing facilities in the coal industry, with the exception of certain clauses establishing variance criteria because they fail to require consideration of factors relating to best pr...

The court affirms the district court's dismissal, based on res judicata, of a suit challenging sales of oil and gas leases on the outer continental shelf (OCS) off southern California. In 1974, appellant sought to block appellees' accelerated OCS development program, particularly Lease Sale No. 35, ...

The court vacates a preliminary injunction issued by a district court, 9 ELR 20235, against enforcement of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. The injunction is invalid because the lower court, in reliance on established principles of equity, ruled that it was unnecessary to cons...

Plaintiffs sought to enjoin use of a United States Navy munitions and nuclear weapons facility at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base near Honolulu. Plaintiffs, residents of Honolulu who use the areas adjacent to the new facilities for recreational and residential purposes, asserted violations of the Nation...