Title: Brod v. Agency of Natural Resources

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Brod v. Agency of Natural Resources (2006-032)

2007 VT 87

[Filed 24-Aug-2007]


       NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to motions for reargument under
  V.R.A.P. 40 as well as formal revision before publication in the Vermont
  Reports.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
  Vermont Supreme Court, 109 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05609-0801 of
  any errors in order that corrections may be made before this opinion goes
  to press.


                                 2007 VT 87

                                No. 2006-032


  Ernest Brod and Residents Concerned            Supreme Court
  About Omya
                                                 On Appeal from
       v.                                        Washington Superior Court


  Agency of Natural Resources                    February Term, 2007


  Helen M. Toor, J.
    
  David K. Mears, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, South
    Royalton, for  Plaintiffs-Appellants.

  William H. Sorrell, Attorney General, and Bridget C. Asay and Holly A.
    Harris, Assistant Attorneys General, Montpelier, for Defendant-Appellee.


  PRESENT:  Dooley, Johnson, Skoglund and Burgess, JJ., and 
            Davenport, Supr. J.,  Specially Assigned

       ¶  1.  BURGESS, J.  Plaintiffs Ernest Brod and Residents Concerned
  About Omya appeal a superior court order dismissing their complaint
  challenging the validity of a now defunct administrative rule adopted by
  defendant Agency of Natural Resources (ANR).  Plaintiffs' complaint alleged
  that the rule resulted in waste from a neighboring mining operation
  polluting the environment.   The trial court dismissed plaintiffs' action
  for lack of standing.  We affirm.
   
       ¶  2.  Plaintiffs "must demonstrate standing for a court to have
  jurisdiction over a petition for declaratory relief."  Parker v. Town of
  Milton, 169 Vt. 74, 77,