ELR Citation: ELR 20221
No(s). CV 06 5094 GAF (C.D. Cal. Oct 24, 2006)

A district court granted in part and denied in part motions to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a local ballot initiative that prohibits the land application of sewage treatment residues in the unincorporated areas of a county. A city that generates the biosolids, as well as farms and contractors who recycle and use the biosolids for fertilizer in the county, properly stated a claim for a U.S. Commerce Clause violation because they alleged that the initiative impermissibly discriminates against interstate commerce. Likewise, their equal protection claim may go forward because they alleged that the initiative actually harms the environment rather than helps it and was enacted for the improper purpose of legislating “anti-Los Angeles” sentiment. They also adequately stated a claim for preemption by the California Integrated Waste Management Act because that statute expresses a mandatory policy of recycling biosolids before other methods of disposal. Finally, they stated a claim for invalid exercise of police power because they properly alleged that initiative's adverse impact on the region as a whole outweighs its putative local benefits. However, they failed to state a claim for preemption under the Clean Water Act or the California Water Code because neither statute mandates that land application of biosolids be used before other methods of disposal.