The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior, in promulgating minimum requirements for state regulatory programs under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, may not demand that more information be obtained from applicants for coal-mining permits than that specified in §§507 and 508...

Reversing the district court, 10 ELR 20293, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rules that appellees inadequately considered alternative routes for a proposed highway segment in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Although the alternative alignment urged by appellants was examined in ...

An Alaska state court enjoins entry onto state and federal submerged land lying off the coast of Alaska in the Beaufort Sea that was leased to private companies for oil and gas development in December 1979. The injunction against further exploratory activity is issued pending specification by the Al...

On review of a municipal ordinance restricting the availability of septic tank installation permits to residential lots of five acres or more, the Iowa Supreme Court declares unconstitutional that portion of the ordinance granting a "grandfather" exemption to all previously platted subdivisions exce...

The court dismisses a petition for review of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) order requiring petitioner to submit to the Agency a program for improving the performance of its sewage treatment plant. Under §509(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the courts of appeals have jurisd...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the owner of a barge from which oil was discharged may not, in an action by the United States to recover its cleanup costs pursuant to §311(f) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, escape liability on the ground that the owner of a tug that was to...

In a proceeding in which the United States seeks criminal penalties for unauthorized discharges from defendants' croplands, the court denies motions to dismiss and to suppress. Contrary to defendants' arguments, the discharge from their water treatment system constitutes a point source under §502 o...

In a citizen suit brought under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing the trial court's award of summary judgment to appellees, rules that runoff and leachate emanating from appellees' strip mining operations may constitute "point source" pollution wi...

The court upholds the Secretary of the Interior's decision to refrain from joining pending litigation to determine federal reserved rights in certain water courses in the Southwest. Plaintiff contended that a number of planned energy projects will subject federal reserved water rights to serious and...

The district court rules that the owners of a barge from which oil was discharged may, in an action brought by the United States to recover its cleanup costs pursuant to §311(f) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, escape liability on the ground that the owner of a tug that was towing the ba...