Reversing the district court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that where a county zoning ordinance adopts two different zoning designations for contiguous pieces of realty, that property must be deemed divided into two separate parcels for purposes of determining whether the zoning actions ...

The court rules that the Secretary of the Interior's decision to postpone operator compliance with he permanent program for regulation of surface coal mining operations on federal lands does not violate the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). On March 13, 1979, the Secretary promulga...

The court rules that under §113 of the Clean Air Act only the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is authorized to maintain a suit to enforce a state implementation plan (SIP) when the state has not done so. The Attorney General of the United States filed suit under §113 of ...

Affirming the denial of a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin improvement of three interstate highway segments in Atlanta, Georgia, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals holds that the environmental impact statements (EISs) adequately considered alternatives and that the projects were not improper...

The court rules that de novo review is permitted in an enforcement action pursuant to §311 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to recover a $5,000 civil penalty for an alleged discharge of oil into navigable waters. After reviewing the statutory language, legislative history, and the relevan...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) issuance of a license permitting the Westinghouse Corp. to export a nuclear reactor to the Philippines. Petitioners alleged that the NRC, by refusing to examine the health, safety, and environmental impacts of the ...

The California Supreme Court reverses a lower court judgment and rules that under the California Land Preservation Act, also known as the Williamson Act, land preservation contracts that forbid the development of agricultural land in exchange for reduced property taxes cannot be cancelled merely bec...

The court awards attorney fees to plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the sale of oil and gas leases under the Endangered Species Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) in the Beaufort Sea. Following the conclusion of the litigation on the merits, 10 ELR 20054, 20115, and 20823, the p...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals remands to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) its disapproval of a delayed compliance order (DCO) issued by the Indiana Air Pollution Control Board (IAPCB) to petitioner. The DCO, issued by the IAPCB pursuant to §113(d) of the Clean Air Act on November 15...

Denying a motion to dismiss a criminal indictment for willfully removing wild free-roaming horses from public lands under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the court rules that the statute is not unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. the Act defines wild free-roaming horses and burros t...