Future applicants will have no official source to turn to for guidance. There will be no avenue to predict DOH's actions in permit application procedures. Without established written standards by rules, no one can know whether permit applications will be revised fairly and consistently and whether considerations to grant or deny a permit will serve the purpose of the statute or are unlawful. There will be no public confidence in such a system. HRS 342B-32 authorizes issuance of a permit in accordance with rules.
Rules are necessary to ensure fairness and to minimize unbridled use of discretion of an agency.
In the absence of rules governing the standards of emissions of H2S into the air, DOH was required to refuse the issuance of the ATC permit to True pursuant to HRS 342B-32. The order of the circuit court is reversed and this case is remanded for the issuance of injunctive relief ordering True to stop any action based on the ATC permit which allows construction that would emit H2S into the air, and for the issuance of an order requiring DOH to promulgate rules consistent with this opinion governing H2S emissions into the air.