The EPA has ordered the state to cut nitrogen oxide emissions at all industrial sources, regardless of how much pollutants those sources emit, in an attempt to reduce pollution in Northeastern states. But state officials say the EPA policy is flawed because, not only would it impose expensive and unneeded regulations on businesses that contribute very little pollution, but there is no evidence that emissions from North Carolina are finding their way to Northeastern states. The Piedmont Triad International Airport's condemnation of two men's land was legal, a judge ruled last week, because it was done for a public purpose. Superior Court Judge Judson DeRamus ruled that even if the condemned land is used by Federal Express for its planned distribution center, the condemnation was done for a public purpose because the airport was going to expand there anyway. Attorney William Maready , famous for challenging Winston-Salem's industrial incentives a few years ago, argued that the condemnation was unconstitutional because the land was going to be used by Federal Express for a private purpose.
Governments can condemn land only for a public purpose.
Legislators rejected Bruton's request and asked him to come back next month after a state audit on the system would be completed. The new centralized collection system was mandated by the federal government and was created last year after much foot-dragging by the state. A Republican state highway trooper who was transferred to another county because of his political affiliation and activities has won a restraining order from the state's courts, an unprecedented act in state jurisprudence, said the trooper's lawyer. In March a North Carolina Superior Court judge upheld a court order barring the transfer of Trooper Mike Gahagan from Madison County to Buncombe County on the grounds that the transfer was politically motivated and violated his First Amendment rights to free political expression. Lars Nance , a special deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice, said he did not recall any case involving an injunction of a state personnel decision.