Title: In re Clyde River Hydroelectric Project

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

In re Clyde River Hydroelectric Project (2004-101); 179 Vt. 606; 895 A.2d 736

2006 VT 11

[Filed 17-Jan-2006]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                 2006 VT 11

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2004-101

                             FEBRUARY TERM, 2005

  In re Appeal of Clyde River	       }	APPEALED FROM:
  Hydroelectric Project	             }
                                     }
       	                         }	Water Resources Board
                                     }	
  	                               }
                                     }	DOCKET NO. WQ-02-08(A) & (B)

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶  1.  This appeal arises from the issuance of a water quality
  certification by the Vermont Water Resources Board for operation of the
  Clyde River Hydroelectric Project in northern Vermont.  The Vermont Natural
  Resources Council and the Northeast Kingdom Chapter of Trout Unlimited
  (appellants) contend the Board's decision: (1) violates provisions of the
  Vermont Water Quality Standards; (2) is unsupported by the evidence; and
  (3) contravenes the Public Trust Doctrine and the Common Benefits Clause of
  the Vermont Constitution.  We affirm.

       ¶  2.  In support of its request to the Federal Energy Regulatory
  Commission (FERC) for relicensure of the Clyde River Hydroelectric Project,
  applicant Citizens Communications Company  submitted a water quality
  certification application to the Agency of Natural Resources. See 10 V.S.A.
  § 1004 (designating the Agency of Natural Resources as the State's
  certifying agency for purposes of § 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act).  
  The Agency granted the certification, which was then appealed to the Board
  for de novo review. The Board received extensive pre-filed testimony,
  conducted a site visit, and held an evidentiary hearing over several days
  in April 2003.  In July 2003, the Board issued a written decision, granting
  the certification with certain added conditions.  In response to
  appellants' subsequent motion to alter, the Board amended its decision but
  otherwise denied the motion.  This appeal followed.  

                                     I.
   
       ¶  3.  To better understand and evaluate the underlying facts and
  claims on appeal, a brief preliminary review of the regulatory backdrop is
  useful. Vermont's Water Quality Standards (hereafter "Standards") were
  enacted under the authority of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33
  U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387, commonly known as the Clean Water Act (Act), to
  implement the Act's principal goal of "restor[ing] and maintain[ing] the
  chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters," id. §
  1251(a), including the attainment of "water quality which provides for the
  protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife."  Id. §
  1251(a)(2).  The Act permits each state, subject to federal approval, to
  adopt comprehensive water quality standards establishing designated uses
  and water quality criteria for all navigable intrastate waters. Id. §§
  1311(b)(1)(C), 1313(c)(2)(A); P.U.D. No. 1 of Jefferson County v. Wash.
  Dep't of Ecology,