The court grants summary judgment to plaintiffs, holding that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on its long-range plan to construct electric generating facilities in the Pacific Northwest. In 1968, the Joint Power Planning Council, a group...

Homeowner plaintiffs sued an airport operator, the Port District, claiming that the airport's operation so interfered with their ownership rights as to be an inverse condemnation entitling them to just compensation. Plaintiffs also sought damages on theories of nuisance, negligence, trespass, and fa...

The court sets aside a temporary protective order prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from placing defendant's Chicago coke manufacturing plant on the agency's "List of Violating Facilities" and thus making it ineligible for federal contracts, grants, or loans for alleged violation...

A suit by the United States to enjoin discharges in violation of the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act, ELR 41141, does not render moot an earlier citizen suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compel enforcement of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, ELR 41116, by issuing a compli...

On direct appeal, the court holds that the Federal Power Commission (FPC) is not required to file an environmental impact statement (EIS) on an interim natural gas curtailment plan because circumstances have not so changed as to render invalid the FPC's decision that compliance with the National Env...

The court holds, among other things, that a hazardous waste facility owner/operator's statements that the facility has voluntarily stopped its hazardous waste treatment operations are insufficient to render moot an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement action seeking injunctive relief un...

The court holds that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) generally does not conflict with the 1984 Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization Act, and thus in basing the MX missile the Air Force must fully comply with NEPA to the extent it exercises discretion in choosing among deployment op...

The court upholds a district court decision awarding attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to an environmental group that successfully prevented the Army Corps of Engineers from constructing a port facility and causeway on Sears Island, Maine. The court first holds that the dist...

The court holds that a petroleum company may not recover cleanup costs from the government under Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) §311(i)(1) for an oil spill into a creek caused by the rupture of an oil pipeline during a flood, since the petroleum company did not exercise reasonable care...

The court holds that the automatic stay provision of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §362(a)(1), does not entitle a debtor in possession to an automatic stay of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) litigation to obtain injunctive relief, response costs, punitive damages, and civil penalties under t...