The Illinois Supreme Court holds that a statute conveying 194.6 acres of Lake Michigan submerged lands to United States Steel violates the public trust doctrine. The statute, passed in 1963, was challenged by a taxpayer, whose suit was dismissed for lack of standing. Droste v. Kerner, 34 Ill. 2d 495...

The Ninth Circuit affirms a lower court's judgment, 6 ELR 20120, that §8 of the Reclamation Act of 1902 does not require the United States to obtain from the California State Water Resources Control Board a permit to appropriate unappropriated water from the Stanislaus River for the New Melones dam...

The Fifth Circuit affirms a lower court's judgment that plaintiffs' suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against dredging in Lake Pontchartrain by a developer is barred by laches. Plaintiffs alleged that the Corps had issued a dredging permit to the developer pursuant to §10 of the Rivers...

The court affirms a lower court's judgment that the amplified final environmental impact statement prepared by the Soil Conservation Service in connection with the proposed Cane Creek Recreational Development fully complies within the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).Plai...

The court affirms a trial court's dismissal of plaintiff's first five claims and grant of summary judgment for defendant on the sixth and seventh causes of action in a landowner's suit to enjoin condemnation of land for the purpose of relocating a county highway. Addressing the sole issue raised dur...

Relying on the Property Clause of the United States Constitution, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the authority of the National Park Service to enforce no-hunting regulations on nonfederal waters running through a national park. Appellant was convicted of duck hunting on a lake within Vo...

The court grants a motion by two environmental groups to intervene as plaintiffs in an enforcement action against a pulp mill for violating applicable discharge limitations. Section 505(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 allows "any citizen" to intervene in such a...

Over the objections of intervening environmental groups, the court approves and enters a consent decree in a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) enforcement action regarding effluent discharges from a pulp plant. Once parties intervening as a matter of right under §505(b)(1)(B) of the Act h...

The Supreme Court vacates and remands decisions of the Fourth, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits which invalidated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations requiring states to implement and enforce EPA-promulgated transportation control plans as part of their air quality implementation plans or face...

The Ninth Circuit affirms application of the reclamation laws' restrictions on sales of excess lands and access to irrigation water in the columbia Basin Project. Appellants, owners of land within the project, sought a judicial declaration of their right to sell land in excess of the 160-acre limit ...