It has long been settled that “ ‘since the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment compensation for private property taken for public uses constitutes an essential element in ‘due process of law,’ and that without such compensation the appropriation of private property to public uses, no matter under what form of procedure it is taken, would violate the provisions of the Federal Constitution.’ ” Chicago, B. & Q.R.R. v. Chicago, 166 U.S. 226, 239, 17 S.Ct. 581, 585, 41 L.Ed. 979 (1897), quoting Scott v. City of Toledo, 36 F. 385, 396 (C.C.N.D.Ohio 1888). It has also been long settled that not every governmental regulation of the uses to which private property may be put is a taking for public use. See Miller v. Schoene, 276 U.S. 272, 277-80, 48 S.Ct. 246, 72 L.Ed. 568 (1928) (statute authorizing destruction of diseased cedar trees); Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, 386-95, 47 S.Ct. 114, 117-21, 71 L.Ed. 303 (1926) (industrial zoning regulation).10 *300The line between permissible police power regulations and impermissible uncompensated takings for public use has not always been easy to discern. In three recent decisions, the Court rejected challenges alleging takings without just compensation. See Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 260-63, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 2141-42, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980), Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 122-38, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 2658-66, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978); Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead, 369 U.S. 590, 592-94, 82 S.Ct. 987, 989-90, 8 L.Ed.2d 130 (1962). In Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan C.A.T.V. Corp., 458 U.S. 419, 425-41, 102 S.Ct. 3164, 3170-79, 73 L.Ed.2d 868 (1982), in contrast, the Court sustained such a challenge. The district court concluded that Loretto, rather than Agins, Penn Central and Goldblatt, controlled. We disagree. A.