Public Interest Briefs
Public Interest Briefs track CLIPI’s filings, funding, coalition wins, showing how each step drives policy change and nurtures advocates.
U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Center’s Stringfellow Argument
Several years ago, the Center agreed to represent the citizens living near the hazardous Stringfellow Acid Pits in the lawsuit filed by the federal and state government for clean-up of the dumpsite. To ensure that their interests were not ignored in clean-up operations, the residents strongly believed that they needed independent legal counsel to defend their interests. Both the state and federal governments had contributed to the problems at Stringfellow, and the governments’ lawsuit against the dumpers failed to seek the total clean-up and removal of all toxic wastes from the area.
While the Center has been working to expedite the clean up at the Stringfellow site, it has also been actively litigating the issue of the right of local residents to participate fully in a lawsuit of this kind. The right of these citizens to intervene in the governments’ lawsuit quickly became a pivotal legal issue in this case. Early this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals fully supported the Center’s argument that these citizens should be allowed to participate fully in the government lawsuit. This is the first time anywhere in the country that a federal appellate court allowed local residents living near a hazardous waste site to play such a prominent role in the legal proceedings for site clean-up
This appeals court ruling has such nationwide significance that the defendant chemical companies and the Justice Department petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the decision. They prefer that the people who live in the polluted area should have no standing to litigate legal issues that shape their future health and safety and the nature of the toxic clean-up. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to take the case–one of only a relative handful of cases that the High Court will hear next year out of the 5,000-6,000 they have been asked to review.
The Center attorneys will argue the case early next year.
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Fall ’86 spotlights CLIPI’s 15-year milestone, Supreme Court bids on Stringfellow cleanup and Diablo Canyon quake plans, a court-ordered overhaul of L.A. County’s sprawl-tilted general plan, new wins for homeless benefits, and suits over Chevron bias, bank stop-fees, and illegal campaign cash.
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