The Fifth Circuit holds that an environmental assessment (EA) need be nothing more than a statement by the responsible agency, based on a contractor's analysis, that a project will have no significant environmental impact and that the felling of trees in a wetland is not dredge and fill activity und...

The court declines to enjoin a subsidized housing project, holding that plaintiffs have failed to show irreparable harm or likely success on the merits of their claims that defendants violated certain federal laws including the National Environmental Policy Act. The court initially holds that the De...

The court temporarily enjoins the Secretary of the Interior from entering Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) cessation orders against certain small mines, holding that the regulations interpreting the SMCRA §528 exception for mines under two acres are probably invalid. The court fir...

The court holds that defendants' airplane noise restrictions are preempted by federal law. Under federal statute, plaintiffs have until January 1, 1985, to comply with federal noise standards for subsonic airplanes. Defendants' regulations require partial fleet compliance with noise restrictions by ...

The D.C. Circuit reverses a district court ruling requiring the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate emergency ethylene oxide (EtO) exposure standards, but orders OSHA to expedite its EtO rulemaking. The court notes that although the Secretary of Labor has a duty to iss...

The court rules that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of a preconstruction permit under §165 of the Clean Air Act is a prerequisite to any construction of a new coal-fired power plant. Plaintiffs seek to prevent construction of three units of the facility begun without a const...

The court dismisses criminal charges under §3008(d)(2) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) against two employees who allegedly dumped waste illegally because they were neither owners nor operators of the facility and therefore not subject to sanctions. Defendants Angel and Hopkins,...

The Tenth Circuit declines to order a preliminary injunction against operation of a dam for which no environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) had been filed, holding that appellants had failed to prove the dam probably would significantly affect the quality o...

The court rules that the "worst-case" analysis prepared in an environmental impact statement (EIS) for proposed herbicide spraying on public lands in Oregon is inadequate. The Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act regulations requre agencies to discuss the results and ...

The D.C. Circuit, reversing the district court's decision, 12 ELR 20454, rules that the Forest Service (USFS) violated the National Environmental Policy Act by issuing oil and gas leases in the Palisades roadless area without preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) or placing conditions in...