Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Kern County Sludge Case

Date: June 1, 2010

Source: News Room

The US Supreme Court refused to hear a case challenging a California county's ban on biosolids from another municipality. Officials from Los Angeles and Orange counties were urging the Supreme Court to help them challenge nearby Kern County's ban on spreading sewage sludge on farmland, called Measure E, arguing that an appellate court's ruling ignored the impact on interstate commerce. The High Court's decision leaves in place rulings by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that declared Measure E did not illegally hamper interstate commerce protections. Still at issue however, are state-level legal challenges to the sludge ban's validity: a claim that Measure E violated state recycling rules in the Integrated Waste Management Act and that Kern County overstepped its police powers by creating a law that polices another government entity. The case will go back to the 9th Circuit where U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess will decide whether to dismiss the remaining issues as matters of state court or rule on the merits of the claims.

See also: "LA and Others Press High Court to Overturn Ban on Biosolids Disposal," www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100330D.htm.

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