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Remedies Keyed to Tabb, 8th
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society
Citation:
421 U.S. 240 (1975)Facts
In 1968, a major oil field was discovered on Alaska’s North Slope. In 1969, a consortium of oil companies formed Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. and applied to the Department of the Interior for rights-of-way to construct a pipeline across federal lands in Alaska. In March 1970, respondent environmental organizations sued the Secretary of the Interior, seeking to prevent issuance of permits on grounds that the proposed right-of-way violated the Mineral Leasing Act’s width limitations and that the Secretary had failed to comply with NEPA’s environmental impact statement requirements. The District Court granted a preliminary injunction. After the Interior Department released a six-volume Environmental Impact Statement in March 1972, the District Court dissolved the injunction and dismissed the complaint. The Court of Appeals reversed based solely on the Mineral Leasing Act violation. Congress then enacted legislation amending the Mineral Leasing Act to permit the pipeline and declaring no further NEPA compliance necessary. The Court of Appeals subsequently awarded attorneys’ fees to respondents against Alyeska under a “private attorney general” theory, finding that respondents had vindicated important statutory rights of all citizens despite the absence of bad faith or a common fund, and ordered Alyeska to pay one-half of the reasonable value of respondents’ legal services.
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