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...

Reversing the circuit court on direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court holds that the state's Environmental Protection Act creates a new cause of action allowing private citizens of Florida to bring suit under the statute without a showing of special injury. Plaintiff environmental group sought to ...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of Virginia's state implementation plan (SIP). Under §173 of the Clean Air Act, a new source can be built in a nonattainment area only if existing sources decrease their emissions of particular pollut...

The court rejects a number of challenges to the adequacy of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed diked disposal facility which will contain spoil dredged from Baltimore Harbor. Plaintiffs challenged the granting by the Army Corps of Engineers of a permit to the state of Maryland to...

The court holds that the Endangered Species Scientific Authority's (ESSA's) 1978 guidelines governing bobcat exports violate the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by authorizing unreliable findings that the export of bobcats would cause no detriment to t...

The court holds that landclearing operations in wetlands are subject to the dredge and fill permit program of §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). Plaintiffs sought to enjoin private defendants from clearing certain wetlands for agricultural use, claiming violation of §301(a) o...

In a suit challenging a federal grant for a sewage treatment plant under §§201-217 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), 33 U.S.C. §§1281-1297, the court rules that (1) the FWPCA provides no private cause of action against defendants, (2) plaintiff stated a cognizable claim regardi...

Affirming the district court's dismissal of the lawsuit, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals holds that injuries to appellants that might arise from enforcemewnt of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) are not sufficiently concrete to give them standing to sue and that provision...

The court rules that the environmental impact statements (EISs) prepared in connection with the expansion of the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge complied with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. In 1971, Congress authorized acquisition of the Felsenthal National Wildlife R...

The court holds that alleged violators of Clean Air Act state implementation plans (SIPs) may obtain preenforcement judicial review of Notices of Violation. The notices were based on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) determination that plaintiffs' loading terminals were not in compliance...