The Tenth Circuit remands a federal condemnation action for findings on whether the proposed public access roads meet the necessity standard of §205(a) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to condemn private lands for access to public...

The court denies attorney fees to plaintiff under the Equal Access to Justice Act, finding that the government's position in a successful National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) challenge to its herbicide spraying program, 13 ELR 20174, was substantially justified. In the earlier action, plaintiff ...

The court affirms a district court ruling, 12 ELR 20854, that the civil penalty prepayment requirement in §518(c) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) is constitutional. The court holds that §518(c) does not violate the procedural due process guarantee of the Constitution. It ...

The court vacates the portion of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) small refinery leaded gasoline standard that restricted small refiners to those that were not owned or controlled by a large refiner any time after July 1, 1981. The court finds that EPA failed to give adequate notice tha...

The court vacates the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) interim standard on lead content limits for gasoline produced by small refiners. The interim standard, requiring that gasoline produced by small refiners within historic production levels not exceed 1.90 grams of lead per gallon of lead...

The court rules that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) does not require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reinitiate consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) upon approving an insubstantial modification to EPA-funded sewage treatment projects for Los Angeles. Conducting a de n...

The court dismisses Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) claims against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pressed by residents of a community developed on top of an asbestos dump. The ...

Upon four motions to reconsider, the court dismisses federal claims against a state administrator arising out of allegedly improper handling of an asbestos dump. The court first rules that a state with an approved Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) implementation plan operates under state...

The court dismisses claims that the governor of Arizona failed to perform duties mandated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) regarding an asbestos waste site. The court holds that it has no juris...

The court rules that the Soil Conservation Service's (SCS's) environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Toltec Reservoir Project in Wyoming inadequately discusses alternatives because it fails to disclose that the present value of the project's costs and benefits was calculated with an artificiall...