People of the State of California Ex Rel. Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency

The State of California appeals from the district court’s refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to halt construction of two hotel-casinos in the Lake Tahoe Basin (the Basin). We affirm.

In order to protect the natural resources and ecological balance of the Lake Tahoe Basin the states of California and Nevada in 1968 entered into a compact to create a regional agency with extensive powers to regulate and control development within the Basin. Cal.Govt. Code § 66801 (West Supp.1975); Nev. Rev.Stat. § 277.190 et seq. (1973). The compact, known as The Tahoe Regional Planning Compact (the Compact), received the consent of Congress in December 1969. Public Law 91 — 148, 83 Stat. 360 .

The Compact created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), which was composed of five delegates from each state and one non-voting delegate representing the federal government. The TRPA was charged with responsibility for developing within ninety days a regional interim plan and, within eighteen months a regional plan which would reflect a wide variety of economic, environmental and social considerations. The Compact also directed the TRPA to adopt all ordinances, rules, regulations and…