The court holds that preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) is not required before a permit can be granted under the state's Hard Rock Mining Act (HRMA), but the court rules that the permit at issue is nonetheless invalid for failure ...

The Alabama Supreme Court affirms the dismissal, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, of an action brought by the state of Alabama under the Alabama Water Improvement Act to recover civil penalties for pollution caused by the collision of a ship with an oil pipeline. The co...

The California Supreme Court issues a writ of mandamus compelling the trial court to set aside an order vesting fee simple ownership of a tract of land on the shore of San Francisco Bay in the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company, whose predecessors in interest had acquired it by a deed issued under an...

The court dismisses for lack of subject matter jurisdiction a complaint filed by a town and private citizens seeking injunctive relief against the grant of a "downzoning" variance which allows construction of clustered housing in a neighboring village. The court finds the challenge to the proposed d...

Denying defendant's motion to dismiss a suit challenging its operation of a landfill, the court rules that both the United States and the city of Dallas have an implied right of action to enforce §14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act. This conclusion is mandated by application of the four-part test set...

The court holds that county agencies that have been delegated responsibility pursuant to §208 of the Clean Water Act for developing regional waste water treatment plans are not acting under federal authority for purposes of removal under 28 U.S.C. §1442(a)(1). Plaintiffs, including the Denver Wate...

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals rejects a number of specific challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) effluent limitations for the mining industry. A petitioner that did not participate in the rulemaking is not barred from seeking review of particular issues that were raised by...

The district court rules that the defendant Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in two respects in issuing a permit to construct a shopping mall in a wetland area but declines to enjoin continued work on the project. The court first rejects the argument that beca...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals invalidates as arbitrary and capricious an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) order requiring the installation of a sampling station in the tall stack of a copper smelter in Hayden, Arizona. The court of appeals first rules that the district court improperly con...

The district court dismisses, for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted, a suit seeking principally to remedy the alleged failure of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prevent emissions of air pollutants in New Jersey and New York from interfering wit...