Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy v. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

644 N.W.2d 457, 2002 Minn. LEXIS 354, 2002 WL 1038794
Supreme Court of Minnesota·Decided May 23, 2002·No. C6-01-96·Published·Cited by 67 cases

Opinions

OPINION

GILBERT, Justice.

Respondent Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) brought a declaratory judgment action in district court seeking an order requiring the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 116D.04, subd. 2(a) (2000), on Appellant Boise Cascade Corporation’s proposed Efficiency Improvement Project.1 Appellant Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), as the responsible governmental unit (RGU), concluded that the proposed project did not have the potential for significant environmental effects and therefore an EIS was not required. The district court granted summary judgment to the MPCA, holding there was substantial evidence in the record to support the MPCA’s decision not to require an EIS. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the district court and remanded to the MPCA for the preparation of an EIS. We reverse the court of appeals.

Boise Cascade operates an integrated pulp and paper mill on the Rainy River in International Falls, Minnesota. The mill manufactures a variety of coated and un-coated fine paper products. Wood for the mill is supplied from Boise Cascade’s tim-berlands in Minnesota, public and private timberlands, and residues from local sawmills. Boise Cascade supplies 72 percent of the wood for the mill and purchases the remainder on the outside market in the form of pulp. Currently, the mill consumes approximately 600,000 cords2 of wood per year.

Because the mill is not completely integrated and must purchase part of its pulp requirements, Boise Cascade has proposed an efficiency improvement project to make the mill less dependent on pulp purchased on the outside market. The improvements would increase the mill’s maximum wood consumption by up to 100,000 cords per year, bringing the total consumption to approximately 700,000 cords per year. This wood is expected to be harvested from an area within a 150-mile radius of International Falls, but some may come from farther away.

The MPCA was required by law to complete an environmental assessment [460] worksheet (EAW)3 for the proposed improvement project.4 Because some issues surrounding the project involved management of the state’s forest resources, the MPCA requested the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to assist in preparation of the EAW. The legislature has designated the DNR as the appropriate agency to monitor and evaluate the trends, conditions, and other governmental interagency information under the Sustainable Forest Resources Act (SFRA). See Minn.Stat. §§ 89A.01, subds. 4, 6 (2000); 89A.07, subd. 1 (2000); 89A.09, subd. 1 (2000).

The DNR noted that the proposed project represents a maximum 2.5 percent increase in statewide harvest levels. The timber procurement area consists of approximately 11,400,000 acres of timberland and the project will increase timber harvests by an estimated range of 2,500— 6,000 acres in this base disbursed across the 150-mile wide procurement zone.

The DNR also assisted by contributing to the part of the EAW that addressed environmental impacts related to the increase in timber harvesting. The DNR relied in part upon the timber harvest and forest management guidelines promulgated by the Minnesota Forest Resources Council (MFRC) under the SFRA. In the DNR’s analysis of the potential environmental impacts, it also relied upon the 1994 Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Timber Harvesting and Forest Management (Forestry GEIS).5 The Forestry GEIS was prepared at the request of the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to examine the effect that expanded timber harvesting might have on the environment. Here, the EQB determined that the Forestry GEIS remained adequate for use in the analysis of Boise Cascade’s project.

The EAW was completed and distributed for public comment on February 19, 1999. A comment and response period followed, during which the MPCA and the DNR received comments from the MCEA and others regarding the need for an EIS and specifically responded to those comments. See Minn.Stat. § 116D.04, subd. 2a(b) (2000). At the completion of'this comment period, the MPCA concluded that the proposed project did not have the potential for significant environmental ef[461] fects and that preparation of an-EIS was not required.6 See Minn.Stat. § 116D.04, subd. 2b(2). The MPCA made several important findings and conclusions in support of its decision, including the following:

[C]5. The MPCA finds that the potential environmental effects of the project are subject to mitigation by ongoing public regulatory authority.
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[D]4. The MPCA finds that the environmental effects of the project can be anticipated and controlled as a result of the previous environmental review, previous environmental studies, and permitting processes undertaken by the MPCA and other public agencies or the project proposer, including other EISs.
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CONCLUSIONS
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2. Areas where the potential for significant environmental effects may have existed have been identified and appropriate mitigative measures have been incorporated into the project design and proposed permits. The project is expected to comply with all MPCA standards.
3. An Environmental Impact Statement is not required on the proposed Boise Cascade Efficiency Improvement Project.

The MCEA then initiated an action in district court against the MPCA for declaratory and injunctive relief, challenging the MPCA’s decision not to require an EIS under Minn.Stat. § 116D.04, subd. 10 (2000). Boise Cascade intervened and was joined as a party defendant. The MCEA argued that the MPCA unlawfully relied upon (1) the Forestry GEIS as a substitute for project-specific review and (2) unimplemented and outdated mitigation measures, including the ongoing implementation of programmatic mitigation under the SFRA.

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Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy v. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 644 N.W.2d 457, 2002 Minn. LEXIS 354, 2002 WL 1038794 (Mich. 2002).

644 N.W.2d 457 (Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy v. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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