Friends Of Perdido Bay Inc v. Fla. Dep't Of Envtl. Prot.

• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
• Parties: FRIENDS OF PERDIDO BAY, INC. and JAMES LANE, Appellants, v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Appellee.
• Docket Number: CASE NO.: 1D07-4198
• Decision Date: 22 September 2010

FRIENDS OF PERDIDO BAY, INC. and JAMES LANE, Appellants,
v.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Appellee.

CASE NO.: 1D07-4198

District Court Of Appeal
First District, State Of Florida

Opinion filed September 22, 2010.

Marcy LaHart, West Palm Beach, for Appellants.

David K. Thulman and W. Douglas Beason, Assistants General Counsel, Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED.

An appeal from an order of the Department of Environmental Protection.

PER CURIAM.

International Paper Company appealed a final order of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection which had denied a wastewater discharge permit and related authorizations requested by International Paper to upgrade and operate its Cantonment, Florida paper mill under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program. Friends of Perdido Bay and James Lane cross appealed arguing that

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section 403.088, Florida Statutes (2007), is unconstitutional. International Paper has voluntarily dismissed its appeal; thus, the only matter before us is the cross-appeal challenging the constitutionality of section 403.088. Because the Friends of Perdido Bay and Lane were the prevailing parties below, they were neither adversely affected by any provision of the order under review nor face any consequence here by the application of section 403.088. See section 120.68(1), Florida Statutes (2007) ("A party who is adversely affected by final agency action is entitled to judicial review."). As a result, they have no standing to bring this appeal. Dep't of Health v. Fresenius Med. Care Holdings, Inc., 935 So. 2d 636, 637 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006); Fla. Chapter of the Sierra Club v. Suwannee Am. Cement Co., Inc., 802 So. 2d 520, 521-23 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). "It is fundamental that a person may not challenge the constitutionality of a statute 'unless his rights are in some way injuriously and directly affected' by the operation of the statute." Southeast Volusia Hosp. Dist. v. State, Dep't of Ins., 432 So. 2d 592, 598 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (quoting E.N. Watkins & Co., Inc. v. Bd. of Regents, 414 So. 2d 583, 588 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)). Save Anna Maria, Inc. v. Department of Transportation, 700 So. 2d 113 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997), relied...