The court rules that owners of alluvial valley floor (AVF) land on which strip mining is prohibited must be offered federal coal-bering land in exchange, and it remands a number of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) regulations for determining the unsuitability of lands for surface coal mining ...

The court rules that completion of a 4.5-mile highway segment in Clinton, Louisiana, to be funded exclusively by the state, is neither a "major Federal action" under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) nor federal action for purposes of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). With th...

The court orders the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate rulemaking proceedings for the testing of priority chemicals, as required under §4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. One year ago, the court issued partial judgment, 10 ELR 20274, ruling that EPA must submit plans to initiate...

The court enters a settlement agreement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Conservation Law Foundation of New England, and the Department of the Interior concerning oil and gas leasing in the Georges Bank. The agreement provides that (1) the federal government will provide all parties wi...

Affirming the district court's award of summary judgment to appellees, the court rejects Indian appellants' claims that (1) the Rainbow Bridge National Monument must be managed to accommodate appellants' exercise of freedom of religion and (2) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) an en...

The court rules that appellees, a group of municipalities in Utah and California, are not required to reimburse the Department of the Interior for expenses incurred in connection with their application for permits and rights-of-way for the Intermountain Power Project. Under §304 of the Federal Land...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismisses a challenge to a national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit for a sewage treatment plant on mootness grounds and remands the permit for another plant for further proceedings. The court first rules that petitioners have standing to chall...

The court determines that it is without jurisdiction to review the district court's decision in an action to enjoin construction of a railroad project. The district court had (1) denied certain defendants' motions to dismiss, (2) ruled that no further environmental impact statement (EIS) was necessa...

The court affirms the district court's ruling, 10 ELR 20779, that the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) properly determined that the reconstruction of the Dauphin Island Bridge in Alabama, destroyed by Hurricane Frederic, is not a major federal action requiring preparation of an environmental im...

The court rules that noncompliance with §470f of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) is not a defense to an action to condemn private property for a federal project under the Declaration of Taking Act (DOTA). The Corps of Engineers sought to condemn appellant's property, which was listed ...