The district court rejects a request for a judgment declaring a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission disqualified from further participation in a licensing proceeding concerning the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Since Commissioner Hendrie held a private meeting with representatives of th...

The court rules that the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted properly in banning the use of diethylstilbestrol (DES) as an animal drug and in declining to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) prior to the ban. The Commissioner had withdrawn his approval of DES, as...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC's) modification of the criteria applied in evaluating motor common carrier applications violates neither the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, nor ICC regulations...

The court affirms a jury award of $50,000 in compensatory damages and $127,000 in punitive damages to remedy a fish kill in the Cimarron River due to overflows of toxic chemicals from defendants' property. The verdict was based on the jury's finding that heavy rains flooded defendants' separating ta...

Affirming a district court, 9 ELR 20716, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted reasonably in approving water quality standards for salinity adopted by seven states within the Colorado River Basin. The Environmental Defense Fund (...

In a suit brought by the United States against the owners of a hazardous waste disposal site, the court denies defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiff's claim under the federal common law of nuisance. First, the court rules that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 did not pree...

The court rules that the Commonwealth of Virginia may not intervene as a plaintiff in an action instituted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the city of Hopewell, Virginia, for violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). EPA initiated an enforcement action pursu...

The court rules that, under §830 of the California Civil Code, private owners of land that is riparian to navigable, nontidal waters have title to all property above the low watermark, but that the lands remain subject to a public trust to preserve them in their natural state. Private parties claim...

The court reverses the trial court's conclusion that the "last natural" low watermark of Lake Tahoe, prior to construction of a dam in 1870, is the appropriate mark to measure the boundary line between public and private ownership. The court first finds that the state may not be estopped from assert...

The court upholds the adequacy of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a jetty rehabilitation project in Nehalem Bay, Oregon. Plaintiff sought a preliminary injunction halting the project, contending that the final EIS was iandequate under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The cou...