Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Wyoming Environmental Quality Council, 93-97

Decision Date18 February 1994
Docket NumberNo. 93-97,93-97
Citation869 P.2d 435
PartiesPOWDER RIVER BASIN RESOURCE COUNCIL, Appellant (Petitioner), v. WYOMING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COUNCIL, Appellee (Respondent).
CourtWyoming Supreme Court

Maynard D. Grant of Grant & Newcomb, Cheyenne, Reed Zars, Denver, CO, for appellant.

Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., Mary B. Guthrie, Deputy Atty. Gen., Thomas A. Roan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellee.

Before MACY, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, GOLDEN and TAYLOR, JJ.

GOLDEN, Justice.

Appellants Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC) and the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council (EQC) jointly petitioned for certification of this appeal pursuant to WYO.R.APP.P. 12.09. We are asked to resolve whether the Wyoming Environmental Quality Act authorizes attorney fees against a government agency. EQC affirmed a decision by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) denying attorney fees to PRBRC.

We reverse and remand.

Appellant phrases the issue as:

[Whether] the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council ("EQC"), as a matter of law, incorrectly upheld the decision of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality ("DEQ") that found the agency had no authority to provide attorney's fees to citizen-group Powder River Basin Resource Council ("Powder River") after Powder River substantially prevailed in its administrative action against DEQ.

EQC presented four issues for review:

I. Whether the Environmental Quality Council's decision to deny the payment of attorneys fees because there were no rules to authorize payment was arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.

II. Whether the Environmental Quality Council's decision to deny payment of attorneys fees to the Powder River Basin Resource Council should be affirmed because the award of attorneys fees for the kind of proceeding in which the Powder River Basin Resource Council participated is not authorized by Wyoming statute.

III. Whether the payment of attorneys fees, absent express statutory or regulatory authority, would have resulted in the abrogation of the state's sovereign immunity.

IV. Whether the Powder River Basin Resource Council waived its claim to attorneys fees when it settled the matter and dismissed its objection to the mine permit renewal.

FACTS

In February of 1991, a nonprofit citizen-conservation organization, PRBRC, challenged a DEQ decision which renewed a permit for Thunder Basin Coal Company (TBCC) to conduct strip mining operations at its Black Thunder Mine. At issue was whether DEQ could lawfully approve this particular permit renewal without providing the notice and opportunity for public participation which the law required of significant revisions to a permit. TBCC had proposed adding a large permanent water impoundment to the original permit's reclamation plan. DEQ had approved the proposal despite the fact that final design criteria had not been established for the impoundment. EQC scheduled a contested case hearing on PRBRC's objection to DEQ's action for March 12, 1991. However, negotiations were held and, on March 11, 1991, DEQ, TBCC, and PRBRC entered into a settlement agreement. The settlement agreement required DEQ to withdraw approval of the permanent impoundment that, in concept, had previously been approved. Further, the agreement required DEQ to afford the public proper notice of all future changes to a proposed mining operation. On April 24, 1991, the Council entered an order dismissing the contested case hearing because the dispute had been settled.

In June of 1991, counsel for PRBRC petitioned DEQ to pay its attorney fees under WYO.STAT. § 35-11-437(f) (1988). DEQ's initial response to the petition was to recommend that DEQ approve payment of the attorney fees. The Wyoming Mining Association (WMA) and TBCC objected to any payment of attorney fees under the act. WMA was permitted to intervene and TBCC was permitted to continue as a party and both submitted numerous memoranda, letters, and briefs opposing payment of the attorney fees. DEQ permitted WMA and TBCC to present arguments at an informal conference on September 30, 1991. Their primary arguments were that the statute did not authorize attorney fees since, in their view, permit review proceedings were not enforcement actions and the rules did not permit attorney fees against the state.

In his conclusions of law, the DEQ director rejected contentions that the "administrative proceeding" language of WYO.STAT. § 35-11-437(f) only applied to enforcement actions. The director concluded that PRBRC's objections and subsequent settlement with all parties constituted an administrative proceeding. The director concluded, as a matter of law, that the rules did not address an award in this type of case, and it was unclear whether the statute directs a decision contrary to the rules. The director denied an award of attorney fees to PRBRC. EQC affirmed the director's decision, and this appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

PRBRC contends that the sum and substance of the DEQ director's decision which the EQC affirmed is that attorney fees were denied because agency rules were silent on the matter. We agree that the DEQ director denied attorney fees because he discerned from EQC's statement of principal reasons for adoption filed with the current rules an intent by EQC to adopt rules which restricted awards from DEQ. It was the director's specific decision that:

The argument can be made that since the rules address Environmental Quality Council actions and the statute states that awards are to be determined by the Director that either the rules do not restrict an award not addressed by the rule or that the rules are not consistent with the law and I may ignore them. This I cannot do. The intent of the Environmental Quality Council is clear as outlined in the Statement of Reasons. The rules were appropriately adopted with full public participation. I cannot and will not presume to make a decision which contradicts properly adopted rules. While I may or may not agree with some decisions of the Environmental Quality Council, unless their decision is clearly illegal on its face, I am clearly bound unless they are overturned by a higher decision making authority. In this case, while the argument can be made that the statute directs a decision contrary to the rules, I do not believe that is clear. Absent a clear statutory direction which contradicts the Environmental Quality Council's action and rules, I believe I am bound to follow the rules and Statement of Reasons.

The precise question before us is whether DEQ had the legal authority to pay PRBRC's attorney fees. 1

It is fundamental in administrative law that a silent rule is not a bar to agency action which is authorized by statute. See WYO.STAT. § 16-3-114(c) (1990) (requiring reviewing courts to compel agency action unlawfully withheld); and Jackson v. State, 786 P.2d 874, 880 (Wyo.1990) (holding that an agency may not disregard a controlling statute). Resolution of whether an award of attorney fees against DEQ is authorized is necessarily a question of statutory interpretation. This is a question of law and our standard of review for any conclusion of law is straightforward. If the conclusion of law is in accordance with law, it is affirmed and if it is not in accordance with law, it is to be corrected. Parker Land & Cattle Co. v. Wyo. Game & Fish Comm'n, 845 P.2d 1040, 1042 (Wyo.1993).

WYO.STAT. § 35-11-437(F) (1988)2 states:

Whenever an order is issued under this section, at the request of any person, a sum equal to the aggregate amount of all costs and expenses (including attorney's fees) as determined by the director to have been reasonably incurred by such person for or in connection with his participation in such proceedings, including any judicial review of agency actions, may be assessed against either party as the court or the director deems proper. This subsection shall apply to any administrative proceeding under this act as it provides for the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations in accordance with P.L. 95-87, as that law is worded on August 3, 1977.

In construing a statute, we determine whether the statutory language is clear or ambiguous. Parker, 845 P.2d at 1043. We first look to its language and if clear, we give the words their plain and ordinary meaning. Parker, 845 P.2d at 1043; Keene v. State, 812 P.2d 147, 150 (Wyo.1991). Statutory language is clear if reasonable persons are able to agree to its meaning with consistence and predictability. Parker, at 1043. In Parker we stated:

We read the text of the statute and pay attention to its internal structure and the functional relation between the parts and the whole. We make the determination as to meaning, that is, whether the statute's meaning is subject to varying interpretations. If we determine that the meaning is not subject to varying interpretations, that may end the exercise, although we may resort to extrinsic aids of interpretation, such as legislative history if available and rules of construction, to confirm the determination.

Parker, 845 P.2d at 1045. EQC contends the statute does not authorize an award against DEQ because the agency was not a party; an enforcement order was not issued; and PRBRC's objections to the mine permit renewal and its settlement agreement did not constitute an administrative proceeding.

The thrust of EQC's argument is that the "administrative proceeding" language in the statute should be narrowly applied to only those enforcement actions against a permittee which result in an order by the agency. EQC reasons that if the statute applies only in these situations, then settlement agreements would preclude attorney fees because an order was not issued. In the alternative, EQC claims that a mine permit renewal proceeding is not an enforcement action and the "parties" can necessarily only be the objector and the permittee, never the administrative...

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4 cases
  • Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Babbitt, 93-8117
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    ...Id. Second, the Wyoming Supreme Court decided plaintiff's appeal in its state court action. See Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Wyoming Envtl. Quality Council, 869 P.2d 435 (Wyo.1994). The court determined that plaintiff was eligible for attorney's fees for its work in the Black Thun......
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