Upholding the Appellate Department's reversal of the Municipal Court, 6 ELR 20784, the California Court of Appeals holds that a kayaker who used a public easement for access to a navigable river did not commit criminal trespass against the landowner. In 1940, the predecessor in title to the landowne...

In a suit for exoneration from, or limitation of, liability for cleanup costs resulting from the sinking of an oil-carrying barge and a subsequent oil spill, the barge owner is liable for the full cleanup costs under state law but liability for federal cleanup costs claims is limited by the Federal ...

A residential property owner who lived near five acres of undeveloped land challenged the city council's reversal of the city planning commission's denial of a petition to give the land a less restrictive zoning classification allowing commercial uses. The superior court affirmed the city council's ...

The court grants summary judgment to plaintiffs, holding that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on its long-range plan to construct electric generating facilities in the Pacific Northwest. In 1968, the Joint Power Planning Council, a group...

Homeowner plaintiffs sued an airport operator, the Port District, claiming that the airport's operation so interfered with their ownership rights as to be an inverse condemnation entitling them to just compensation. Plaintiffs also sought damages on theories of nuisance, negligence, trespass, and fa...

The court sets aside a temporary protective order prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from placing defendant's Chicago coke manufacturing plant on the agency's "List of Violating Facilities" and thus making it ineligible for federal contracts, grants, or loans for alleged violation...

A suit by the United States to enjoin discharges in violation of the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act, ELR 41141, does not render moot an earlier citizen suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compel enforcement of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, ELR 41116, by issuing a compli...

On direct appeal, the court holds that the Federal Power Commission (FPC) is not required to file an environmental impact statement (EIS) on an interim natural gas curtailment plan because circumstances have not so changed as to render invalid the FPC's decision that compliance with the National Env...

The court holds, among other things, that a hazardous waste facility owner/operator's statements that the facility has voluntarily stopped its hazardous waste treatment operations are insufficient to render moot an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement action seeking injunctive relief un...

The court holds that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) generally does not conflict with the 1984 Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization Act, and thus in basing the MX missile the Air Force must fully comply with NEPA to the extent it exercises discretion in choosing among deployment op...