Opinion ID: 467497
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Application of State Environmental Laws

Text: 57 Petitioners claim that the 1983 plan violates state environmental protection laws because the Council did not prepare an environmental impact assessment on the model conservation standards. See Wash.Rev.Code Ann. Secs. 43.21C.010, 43.21C.030 (Washington environmental protection statute); Mont.Code Ann. Secs. 75-1-101, 75-1-201 (Montana Environmental Policy Act). 58 To the extent that the Council functions as a compact, it is considered the state-created agency of each state. Jacobson v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 566 F.2d 1353, 1358 (9th Cir.1977), aff'd, 440 U.S. 391, 99 S.Ct. 1171, 59 L.Ed.2d 401 (1979). A state can impose state law on a compact organization only if the compact specifically reserves its right to do so. See People v. City of South Lake Tahoe, 466 F.Supp. 527, 537 (E.D.Cal.1978) (compact specifically reserved the right to impose regulations which were more stringent than those imposed by the compact organization itself). Neither Washington nor Montana reserved such rights in their statutes agreeing to establishment of the Council. See Wash.Rev.Code Sec. 43.52A.010; Mont.Code Ann. Sec. 90-4-401. 59 We need not decide whether or to what extent federal environmental laws, e.g. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq., would apply. Neither BPA nor the Council has taken a substantial federal action affecting the human environment which might trigger application of federal environmental laws. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4332(C)(ii). 60 PETITION DENIED.