The court holds that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) arbitrarily failed to use the best scientific evidence available in formulating Marine Mammal Protection Act rules on the incidental killing of porpoises by purse seine tuna fishermen. NOAA's formal rulemaking must be re...

The court holds that under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) a foreign nation is immune from suit for breach of contract for terminating a license for export of wildlife. The court first notes that sovereign immunity is jurisdictional and must be considered by the court even if not raised ...

The court rules that an environmental group may bring a Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen suit to seek civil penalties for past violations of an expired national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. The court first rules that the group has standing. It contrues FW...

The court rules that allowing a resort to build a golf course on land over which New York holds a conservation easement funded under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act (LWCFA) would not violate the Act. The court first rules that the controversy is ripe. Although the resort developers have not...

The court rules that Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) §505 does not require the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to receive state certification before building a power transmission line across federal lands, but FLPMA does require BPA to comply with state environmental standards ...

The court holds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not submit to improper political pressure or violate either the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in approving funding for the final phase of the Rockland, New York, sewage tr...

The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior's withdrawal of lands to form the Snake River Birds of Prey Area did not violate §204 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The notice and hearings associated with an environmental impact statement on a proposal to legislatively protect th...

The court rules that Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) citizen enforcement suits are limited to actions to enjoin ongoing violations and actions for civil penalties, which must be paid to the government. Upholding for the most part the legal conclusions of a magistrate, the court first rul...

The court rules that the consumption of forage on private property resulting from improper management of wild horses by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act may be a Fifth Amendment taking of that forage. The court holds that the Act creates a legal f...

The court rules that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) does not require injunction of discharges not covered by national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permits. The court first rules that the unpermitted discharges from defendants' offshore drilling violate the FWPCA. T...