The Fourth Circuit vacates a lower court's dismissal of a suit challenging the Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction under §§9 and 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act to require permits for construction activities in Smith Mountain Lake. There is sufficient evidence in the record to support the distr...

The Ninth Circuit reverses a lower court judgment ordering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator to approve a state implementation plan revision and variance relating to constant sulfur dioxide emission controls for a smelter. The district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain thi...

The court issues a preliminary injunction halting the cutting of timber on a designated tract pursuant to a contract between defendants state agency and a private logging corporation. Because the continuance of such activity presents a substantial likelihood of significant adverse environmental effe...

The Washington Supreme Court affirms a trial court's judgment invalidating defendant's rezoning of farm land to permit construction of a major regional shopping center. Adopting the federal standing analysis, the court finds that plaintiff, a nonprofit corporation formed by persons who live near the...

The court upholds a lower court's validation of agreements permitting the private use of public trust lands for railroad facilities and an electric power generating project. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued to defendant railroad a permit to use more than 40 acres of public t...

In a suit for damages and injunctive relief in which plaintiff alleged the illegality of the leasing of surplus federal port facilities to a private party, the court dismisses all of the claims advanced by plaintiff except for one seeking production of certain documents under the Freedom of Informat...

On review of the second environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared by the Corps of Engineers in connection with the West Tennessee Tributaries Project, the court finds the EIS inadequate under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and continues an injunction entered five years earlier agai...

The court dissolves an injunction against construction of a low-income housing project as part of an urban renewal program after determining that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has fulfilled its duty to consider reasonable alteratives under §102(2)(E) of the National Environm...

The Minnesota Supreme Court reverses the judgment of a state district court modifying a permit issued by appellant agency allowing on-land disposal by respondent of taconite mining wastes. The district court had invalidated several conditions in the dumping permit because of inconsistency with the g...

The court upholds most provisions of the interim regulations promulgated by the Department of the Interior pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. A number of coal companies moved for summary judgment on their requests for preliminary and permanent injunctions against enf...