IA Coal Mining Co. v. Monroe County, Iowa

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

These consolidated cases involve a mining concern’s efforts to combine a strip mine and a solid-waste landfill on property it leased in Monroe County, Iowa. The County opposed the landfilling operation and enacted zoning ordinances to prohibit this use of the property. The parties litigated their dispute in the state courts for over ten years, resulting in two decisions by the Iowa Supreme Court. Thereafter, the County denied the mining concern’s application for a certificate permitting landfilling as an existing nonconforming use. In the actions underlying…