Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: prohibiting the transportation of nuclear waste

Under the United States Constitution, the United States (i.e., Federal law) controls interstate commerce - the movement of people and goods between states. Congress has delegated the power to regulate transportation between the states to the Surface Transportation Board (formerly the Interstate Commerce Commission), and the STB's regulatory authority is described as "exclusive and plenary" which is legal talk for "we get to call ALL the shots."

There is a second Constitutional problem involving preferences for citizens of one state, be they corporate citizens or individuals, over citizens of another state.

Even if the proposed movement were entirely intrastate, there could be other Federal policies that would conflict with and perhaps pre-empt state legislation in this arena. Answering these questions might take a 50-member law firm weeks to decide, at a cost of millions to the client, and leaving a chance of unfavorable decision in an appellate court when a 75-member law firm on the other side convinced it of the opposite conclusion.

Since LawGuru's mission is not to help law students with their homework, I'm not going to do further analysis, because this question has a slightly "law-school hypothetical" ring to it. On the other hand, if this is a real-world problem, feel free to contact me directly with your issues - I have four decades of experience with regulation of transportation. Well, to be accurate, 48 years.

I'll try to give you some case law in the area that you can evaluate on your own.