A state appeals court panel has ruled that the Environmental Management Commission must pay the legal fees in a case involving trout in the Catawba River.

The Table Rock chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation had sued successfully to force the EMC to pursue rules that would reclassify 11 miles of the Catawba as “trout waters.” 

In other N.C. Court of Appeals ruling released this morning:

  • The court ruled in favor of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department in a dispute with a former sheriff’s department 911 dispatcher. 
  • The court dealt a procedural blow against a woman who’s been challenging Lake Lure’s Lake Structures Regulations since 2002. 
  • The court affirmed Halifax County’s property tax structure, ruling against a taxpayer plaintiff.