The court upholds the trial court's decision dismissing, on grounds of federal preemption, a suit by private landowners seeking judicial imposition of aircraft noise abatement measures and a ban on the extension of an airport runway. Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is charged with re...

Despite possible minor violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the court affirms the denial of a post-completion injunction to prevent the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from granting financial assistance for a low-income apartment project. The court holds that...

The court upholds a final environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) for a 20-mile segment of Route 55 to be constructed as a four-lane freeway. The court first holds that its review is limited to determi...

The court upholds a decision of the Illinois Pollution Control Board that the permissible rate of air emissions from petitioner's facility for recovering methane gas from a landfill is to be determined by reference to the residual emissions from the facility, not to the much larger amount of gases e...

The Ninth Circuit rules that since a portion of the McKenzie River in Oregon was navigable when Oregon was admitted to the Union, the state has title to the riverbed. The court notes that a river is navigable under federal law if in its natural condition it is used or susceptible of use for commerci...

The Tenth Circuit rules that appellee lack's standing to challenge the Department of the Interior's listing of the leopard darter as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Appelleeis a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of flood control projects on the Little River sys...

The court holds that suits brought pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) challenging agency actions taken under the authority of the Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act must be filed in the courts of appeals. It construes the Northwest Power Act's venue provisio...

The district court enjoins the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) from making any further payment for, or taking any further steps in support of, the construction of the Westway highway project in New York City, ruling that the FHwA failed to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement ...

Reversing the Nebraska Supreme Court, 12 ELR 20246, the United States Supreme Court holds that a Nebraska statute, which conditions approval of interstate groundwater transport permits on the destination state's grant of reciprocal rights to withdraw and transport groundwater for use in Nebraska, vi...

The court grants a preliminary injunction against defendants' acquisition of land and construction for the initial stage of the Garrison Diversion Unit in the West Oakes area of North Dakota. The court first concludes that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the projec...