RE: INS Laundry in Santa Fe NM

[David W Lee <lee_david_w@lanl.gov>]

Glen:

        Hopefully there are some other RADSAFERS on this net who are also lawyers who may be able to provide more expert legal commentary than myself, just as Carol Marcus, from her nuclear medicine specialty enriches our health physicist RADSAFE discussions.

        As I understand it, while cities are allowed to pass ordinances attempting to regulate certain things or activities that may occur within the city limits, not even cities are allowed to pass ordinances that are just plain illegal.  What happened in the case of the Santa Fe City Council is that this council passed an ordinance that, amongst other things, was legally determined by the judge to constitute a "bill of attainder."  This term means that the ordinance was considered by the judge to have had the underlying intention of intending to put only INS out of business within Santa Fe, but leaving other entities within the city limits, who also legally discharged radionuclides into the sewer system, fully in business, e.g, all local "medical" users or radioactivity, nuclear medicine clinics, etc.  In the case of the SF City Council (and presumably any other city council in this country), it is illegal for duly constituted local political entities to legislate what amounts to bills of attainder. 

        Thus, to use your examples, it is legal for city councils to attempt to regulate porno shops or rough motorcycle bars, e.g., 'you can only locate porno shops no closer that 1000 yards to churches, elementary schools, etc. or a biker bar cannot be located next to a nunnery, etc., but it would be illegal for the city ordinance to be written in a manner that in effect said 'all local porno shops and biker bars must go out of business immediately for the alleged crime without trial of just being porno shops or biker bars' (a bill of attainder).  Bills of attainder are outlawed in the U.S. constitution.

        In the INS case, the judge also ruled that the City of SF did not have legal jurisdiction over the determination of what the legal radionuclide discharge limits should be into the local sewer system.  This is because the federal NRC has such jurisdiction and the State of New Mexico is an NRC Agreement State; hence, the state Department of Environment has such jurisdiction within the state boundaries--local city councils simply don't have legal jurisdiction on this issue.

Best regards  David W. Lee (Clearly my own opinion)      




At 12:15 PM 02/10/2000 -0600, you wrote:

What's the big deal?  Don't cities pass ordinances to abate perceived
nuisances all the time?  No one cries when it is a pornographic
establishment, a rough motorcycle bar, or the local corner where
undesirables hang out...  Ordinances are passed to pick on various
undesirables all the time, how is it that INS is better than any other
group?  Must be better lawyers.

States even pass laws that specifically outlaw previously legal occupations.
A case in point would be when the state of Florida outlawed the use of
fishing nets to possibly save a few more fish for the charter boats and
tourists.  Many people were unemployed overnight with net boats they
couldn't sell anywhere in the state of florida.  Better regulation of the
process would have been more appropriate than hurting thousands of real
working people.

I know we need not look far for inconsistencies and I guess it comes along
with our political system.

Glen
glen.vickers@ucm.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Rees [SMTP:brees@lanl.gov]
> Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2000 8:48 AM
> To:   Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:      INS Laundry in Santa Fe NM
>
> A judge has ruled that the city of Santa Fe did not have the authority to
> impose rules on sewage discharges that effectively shut down the INS
> laundry.
>  An interesting editorial is at
> http://www.sfnewmexican.com/opinion/index.las and there is a small article
> at the bottom of the page at: http://www.sfnewmexican.com/  GOOD STUFF!
>
> (Obviously) my own opinion.
>
> Brian Rees
> brees@lanl.gov
>
>
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