Opinion ID: 394177
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The PLF Case

Text: 11 The first of the two cases before us, Pacific Legal Foundation v. State Energy Resources Conservation & Development Commission (PLF), involves only one provision of the Warren-Alquist Act: section 25524.2, imposing a moratorium on new nuclear plants until the Energy Commission finds that a method of waste disposal exists. 9 The suit was originally brought by a number of plaintiffs, who challenged all three Nuclear Laws. 10 The court below granted summary judgment for plaintiff Robert Thornberry, but denied the summary judgment motions of the other plaintiffs on the ground that they had failed to show particularized injuries sufficient to give them standing. 11 12 Thornberry, a nuclear engineer, was hired by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) to work on a proposed nuclear plant known as Sundesert. The Sundesert project was abandoned on May 3, 1978 by resolution of SDG&E's board of directors, and Thornberry lost his job. According to the SDG&E board resolution, the Sundesert project was abandoned both because SDG&E had failed to obtain an exemption from the Nuclear Laws, and because the California Public Utilities Commission had denied SDG&E's application for a rate increase. 13 Ruling on Thornberry's motion for summary judgment, the court below held that there was sufficient causal connection between the Nuclear Laws and Thornberry's losing his job to provide Thornberry with standing. The court found Thornberry's challenge to sections 25524.1 and 25524.3 to be moot, but declared section 25524.2 to be preempted by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2011-2282 (1976 & Supp. III 1979). The court certified its judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b), and the Energy Commission brought this interlocutory appeal.