State v. Crown Zellerbach Corp.

602 P.2d 1172, 92 Wash. 2d 894, 10 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20259, 1979 Wash. LEXIS 1458
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1979
Docket45353
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 602 P.2d 1172 (State v. Crown Zellerbach Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Crown Zellerbach Corp., 602 P.2d 1172, 92 Wash. 2d 894, 10 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20259, 1979 Wash. LEXIS 1458 (Wash. 1979).

Opinions

Williams, J.

The State of Washington appeals from an order entered by the trial court dismissing a criminal information filed against respondent Crown Zellerbach Corporation. The information was filed as a result of respondent's alleged noncompliance with conditions contained in a permit for a hydraulic project issued by the Department of Fisheries and Department of Game pursuant to RCW 75.20.100.1 We reverse.

[897]*897On June 22, 1976, a Department of Game hydraulic investigator met informally with representatives of Crown Zellerbach, a representative from the Department of Natural Resources, and a contract logger to discuss and review proposed logging at a Crown Zellerbach logging site on timberland owned by respondent on Williams Creek in Pacific County. At this meeting, the Department of Game representative informed respondent's representatives that a hydraulic project approval permit would be required from the Departments of Fisheries and Game for that portion of the proposed logging operation where logs were to be brought across the creek or removed from the creek itself.

Following this meeting, a Department of Game hydraulic investigator drafted the provisions of a hydraulic project approval permit dated June 28, 1976. Its provisions encompassed the measures discussed at the meeting, which were considered to be necessary to protect fish habitat in Williams Creek, and were designed in view of the work to be performed, the logging equipment to be used, and the nature of the terrain at the logging site. The drafting of such provisions is performed by various representatives and inspectors within the state.

The permit provisions were reviewed and approved on or about June 30, 1976, by a person designated by the director of the Department of Fisheries and a person designated by the director of the Department of Game to perform such functions. The appropriate employees of respondent [898]*898received the permit and understood the purpose of its provisions prior to the commencement of the logging operation.

The hydraulic project approval permit was processed by employees of the Departments of Fisheries and Game who exercised independent discretion as to the general, special, and technical provisions necessary to insure the proper protection of fish life. In order to facilitate the processing of approximately 3,000 permit applications that are received by the Departments of Fisheries and Game annually, the directors of those departments have by policy agreed to employ standardized language to the extent possible for the general, technical, and special provisions of the hydraulic project permits.

The standard provisions were adopted by policy of the directors of the Departments of Fisheries and Game after public hearings in December 1971 to serve as a guide to the departments' hydraulic investigators and biologists. The special and technical provisions are tailored with the intent to fit the particular project and fish resource needs. The appropriate standardized technical provisions, with minor variation, generally remain the same for hydraulic projects. Standardized special provisions frequently are altered or new ones are written, as in the instant case, to fit a particular project. None of the provisions have been formally adopted and promulgated by either department as regulations under the Washington Administrative Code.

Subsequent to the issuance of the permit, timber was removed from the site by respondent and its contract logger. After completion of the project, representatives from the departments investigated the site. Thereafter, the prosecuting attorney for Pacific County filed an amended information based on alleged noncompliance with the permit's conditions.

The trial court granted respondent's motion to dismiss on the grounds that RCW 75.20.100 constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power, and the conditions contained in the permit were not properly adopted [899]*899and promulgated by the departments. We reverse on both grounds.

Respondent first contends that RCW 75.20.100 makes no delegation of authority which allows the departments to impose requirements or conditions on permits. It argues that no such grant is created by that portion of the statute which declares it a gross misdemeanor to fail to follow or carry out any of the requirements or conditions which are made a part of a hydraulic permit.

The statute clearly authorizes employees of the Departments of Fisheries and Game to sign on behalf of the departments written approvals of plans and specifications of proposed hydraulic projects. Even if the grant of authority to impose conditions on such permits is not expressly stated, we find that it is implied.

In State ex rel. Puget Sound Navigation Co. v. Department of Transp., 33 Wn.2d 448, 206 P.2d 456 (1949), this court recognized that the power to disapprove necessarily implies the power to condition an approval. In that case, the authority of the Department of Transportation to control rates under Rem. Supp. 1941, § 10424 was recognized. Accordingly, the court held that the power vested in the department to refuse to allow a new tariff filed by a common carrier to become effective necessarily implies the power to allow the tariff to become immediately effective pursuant to reasonable conditions or limitations. This approach is consistent with that taken by the United States Supreme Court when it interpreted an act of Congress giving the Secretary of War the authority to approve construction of any obstruction for a navigable waterway. Southern Pac. Co. v. Olympian Dredging Co., 260 U.S. 205, 67 L. Ed. 213, 43 S. Ct. 26 (1922). The court stated, at page 208: "The power to approve implies the power to disapprove and the power to disapprove necessarily includes the lesser power to condition an approval." We find this reasoning to be applicable to the statute in question.

[900]*900We therefore hold that the departments have been delegated the authority to impose requirements or conditions on permits.

Respondent next contends that the statute does not meet the criteria for lawful delegation as set forth in Barry & Barry, Inc. v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 81 Wn.2d 155, 500 P.2d 540 (1972). The delegation of legislative power is justified: (1) when it can be shown that the legislature has provided standards which in general terms define what is to be done and the administrative body which is to do it, and (2) when procedural safeguards exist to control arbitrary administrative action and abuse of discretionary power. See also Polygon Corp. v. Seattle, 90 Wn.2d 59, 578 P.2d 1309 (1978), and Lindsay v. Seattle, 86 Wn.2d 698,

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Bluebook (online)
602 P.2d 1172, 92 Wash. 2d 894, 10 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20259, 1979 Wash. LEXIS 1458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-crown-zellerbach-corp-wash-1979.