Sierra Club v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Waste Control Specialists

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 14, 2015
Docket03-11-00102-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Sierra Club v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Waste Control Specialists (Sierra Club v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Waste Control Specialists) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sierra Club v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Waste Control Specialists, (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

ACCEPTED 03-11-00102-CV 3775257 THIRD COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 1/14/2015 11:11:20 PM JEFFREY D. KYLE CLERK No. 03-11-00102-CV

IN THE THIRD COURT OF APPEALS FILED IN 3rd COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS AUSTIN, TEXAS 1/14/2015 11:11:20 PM JEFFREY D. KYLE Sierra Club, Clerk Appellant

v.

TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND WASTE CONTROL SPECIALISTS, Appellees

On appeal from the 201st Judicial District Court Travis County, Texas Cause No. D-1-GN-08-003021

APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING EN BANC

Marisa Perales State Bar No. 24002750

FREDERICK, PERALES, ALLMON & ROCKWELL, P.C. 707 Rio Grande, Suite 200 Austin, Texas 78701 Telephone (512) 469-6000 Facsimile (512) 482-9346 marisa@lf-lawfirm.com

COUNSEL FOR SIERRA CLUB January 14, 2015 TO THE HONORABLE JUSTICES OF THE THIRD COURT OF APPEALS:

Appellant Sierra Club submits this motion for rehearing en banc.1 See Tex. R.

App. P. 49.5 & 49.7. In support, Sierra Club respectfully offers the following:

I. Summary of Argument

Although the Court modified its original opinion in this case to address some of

the citation errors, the Court’s modified opinion continues to raise concerns

regarding the standard of review to be applied to an agency decision denying a

request for a contested case hearing, particularly when no opportunity to develop

an evidentiary record has been afforded the hearing requestor.

In affirming the Commission’s decision in this case,2 the Court employed a

substantial evidence standard of review, looking to the record for some information

1 Because this Court’s decision and analysis in this case is similar to the one reached in Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. Sierra Club, No. 03-12-00335-CV (Tex. App.— Austin, Apr. 18, 2014, no pet. h.) (the “low-level radioactive waste case), and the potential impact of the two decisions is similar, the arguments presented in this Motion for Rehearing En Banc are similar to the ones presented in Sierra Club’s Motion for Rehearing En Banc, filed on this same day, in the low-level radioactive waste case. 2 The Court states that this “facility” has been and is the subject of numerous lawsuits and cites a number of causes for support. But this by-product disposal facility is actually not the subject of numerous lawsuits. The cases out of the El Paso Court of Appeals this this Court cites, In re Sierra Club, 420 S.W.3d 153 (Tex. App.—El Paso Nov. 28, 2012, orig. proceeding); Sierra Club v. Andrews County, 418 S.W.3d 711 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2013, pet. filed); and In re Sierra Club, No. 08-12-00282-CV, 2012 WL 5949789 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2012, orig. proceeding, mem. op.), involved a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) suit against Sierra Club by Andrews County and others. By their lawsuit, the plaintiffs complained about Sierra Club’s legal challenges to the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, not this by- product disposal facility. Andrews County has a financial interest in the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility and accused Sierra Club of interfering with its ability to maximize profits from the facility. Andrews County does not have the same financial interest in the by-product disposal facility. Similarly, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. Sierra Club, No. 03- 2 that supports the agency’s decision and granting significant deference to that

decision. In doing so, the Court has essentially decided that constitutional standing

analysis has no place in administrative law proceedings.

The Court cites to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. City of

Waco, 413 S.W.3d 409 (Tex. 2013), and Texas Commission on Environmental

Quality v. Bosque River Coalition, 413 S.W.3d 403 (Tex. 2013) in support of this

proposition. But the Court reads too much into those decisions. Those decisions

did not do away with constitutional standing law, as explained more fully below;

nor did they adopt a substantial evidence standard of review, when no opportunity

to develop the evidence has been provided.

The inevitable result of this Court’s decision, if it is not revised, is that virtually

no hearing requestor will ever qualify as an affected person, under the Court’s new

analysis.

II. This Court’s decision allows TCEQ to deny standing to almost any hearing requestor, based on information presented by TCEQ’s staff and the permit applicant, and hearing requestors are left with no meaningful legal recourse.

12-00335-CV; Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. Sierra Club, No. 03-12-00625- CV, 2014 WL 902513 (Tex. App.—Austin Mar. 7, 2014, no pet. h.); and In re Sierra Club, No. 03-12-00712-CV, 2012 WL 6554812 (Tex. App.—Austin 2012, orig. proceeding, mem. op.), concern TCEQ’s decision to grant WCS a license and the authorization to construct and operate the low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities, not the by-product facility.

3 In reaching its decision affirming TCEQ’s denial of Sierra Club’s hearing

request, this Court conducted a substantial evidence review of the administrative

record. The Court explained that the information contained in the administrative

record and available to the commissioners—i.e., the Executive Director’s response

to hearing requests, WCS’s application, and the environmental analysis—provides

a reasonable basis for TCEQ’s decision. Slip op. at 14. But see, e.g., 30 Tex.

Admin. Code § 55.211(b) (listing the information—response to comments,

requests for reconsideration, and requests for contested case hearing—TCEQ may

consider in evaluating hearing requests for certain applications). The Court further

reasoned that the record includes “evidence” that WCS’s application met the

statutory requirements for a by-product disposal license, and that the operation of

the facility within the parameters of the draft license is not likely to contaminate

the groundwater, soils, surface water, or air in the vicinity of the disposal site. Slip

op. at 15. Thus, the Court concluded that a reasonable basis exists supporting

TCEQ’s determination that Sierra Club’s members were not likely to be impacted

by the facility and therefore were not affected persons.3 Id.

3 An example of why the information included in the responses to hearing requests should not be considered evidence appears in this Court’s list of the “evidence” in the record supporting TCEQ’s decision. The Court explains that there was evidence that neither Ms. Gardner nor Ms. Williams “work[s] or spend[s] any substantial time in or around the [proposed] facility.” Slip Op. at 14 (internal quotations omitted). In fact, there is no “evidence” in the record that proves this proposition. It is difficult to imagine what evidence might prove this “negative” proposition, when neither Ms. Gardner nor Ms. Williams offered testimony or was cross- examined. The quoted statement that neither works nor spends time in or around the proposed 4 This Court’s analysis—searching the record for some basis to support the

agency’s denial of a hearing request—creates an insurmountable burden for

hearing requestors seeking status as affected persons entitled to a contested case

hearing.

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Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife
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Davidson v. Great National Life Insurance
737 S.W.2d 312 (Texas Supreme Court, 1987)
City of Waco v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
346 S.W.3d 781 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality v. City of Waco
413 S.W.3d 409 (Texas Supreme Court, 2013)
in Re: Sierra Club
420 S.W.3d 153 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)

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