The court issues a temporary injunction against enforcement of §§502-522 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 pending a ruling on the merits of plaintiffs' challenge to the constitutionality of these statutory provisions. The court finds that the Act's strict controls on strip...

In a lawsuit brought by the state of Illinois and several environmental groups over the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) failure to meet the statutory deadlines for promulgating regulations for the hazardous waste management program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, ...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the bulk of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) regulations requiring industrial facilities in the pulp and paper industry to limit discharges of effluents through application of the best practicable control technology (BPCT) currently available fo...

The Tenth Circuit reverses a district court's denial, 7 ELR 20134, of plaintiff's challenge to the use of its notification to the Coast Guard of an oil spill as the basis for subsequent assessment of a civil penalty under §1321(b)(6) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The statutory languag...

The Third Circuit denies petitions for review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) suspension, for a period of two years, of rulemaking proceedings concerning the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. The court first disposes of the intervenors' claim that the District of Columbia Circuit is...

Overruling Geer v. Connecticut, its long-standing decision justifying state regulation of wildlife under the doctrine of state ownership, the Supreme Court strikes down as unconstitutional an Oklahoma law banning the export for sale of minnows obtained in the state after finding that the measure vio...

After preliminarily enjoining establishment of a Job Corps center in a residential community, the court lifts its injunction based on its finding that the action does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the environment and thus does not require preparation of an environment...

The Supreme Court rules that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) does not require federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements (EISs) to accompany appropriations requests. Unanimously reversing a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circ...

The court grants defendants' motion for summary judgment in a suit challenging the legality of regulations issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 insofar as they prohibit importation of all green sea trutle products ...

The court upholds the district court's denial of a motion by supporters of an Illinois highway and bridge construction project to intervene as defendants in a suit to enjoin the project. The plaintiffs alleged that defendants violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Federal-Aid Highway Ac...