The court holds that the Wilderness Act creates federally reserved water rights in wilderness areas, but the federal government's failure to assert those rights is not agency action unlawfully withheld under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court first holds that plaintiff Sierra Club has...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may maintain an enforcement action under §7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) against a utility company to compel the cleanup of spilled polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and upholds EPA's extensive cleanup requirements under �...

The court for the most part approves the recommendations and adopts the reasoning of a special master on a host of issues concerning the liability of owners and operators, generators, and third-party generator defendants in a federal action for response costs and injunctive relief under the Comprehe...

The court holds that the National Park Service must prepare cumulative environmental impact statements (EISs) on the granting of individual mining permits in certain national parks in Alaska and extends an earlier preliminary injunction on mining operations, 15 ELR 21048, to include Denali National ...

The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior applied the incorrect standard in determining whether an Outer Continental Shelf lease sale would significantly effect subsistence uses and needs under §810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). The court reviews the stat...

The court holds that assessment costs for hazardous waste site cleanup are not sufficient to ripen a claim for response costs under §107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The court first considers the merits of generator and transporter defend...

The court modifies its earlier opinion holding that the Environmental Protection Agency correctly approved an Arizona state implementation plan (SIP) provision imposing variable emission limitations on copper smelters, 15 ELR 20216, to clarify that the SIP had not been submitted or approved under th...

The court holds that a motion for attorneys fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) made after the trial court issued a permanent injunction but eight months before the judgment became final was timely. EAJA requires motions to be made "within 30 days of final judgment," but the court cons...

The court rules that a reclamation performance bond required as a condition of obtaining an Ohio strip mining permit is not an excise tax entitled to priority treatment under the Bankruptcy Code. The court first holds that the bankruptcy and district courts below correctly ruled that the requirement...

The court holds that a state agency is not a person within the meaning of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act's (SMCRA's) employee protection provision, §703. After initially ruling that it has subject matter jurisdiction over the action, the court analyzes the relevant statutory languag...