Title: Delaware Department of Natural Resources, et al. v. Food & Water Watch
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 459, 2018
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: December 11, 2018

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF 
§ 
NATURAL RESOURCES AND 
§ 
No. 459, 2018 
 
 
 
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
Court Below:  Superior Court 
 
Appellee Below,  
 
§  
of the State of Delaware    
 
Appellant,  
 
 
§  
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
C.A. No. N17A-03-006 
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
FOOD & WATER WATCH, 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
Appellant Below,  
 
§ 
 
 
Appellee. 
 
 
 
§ 
 
Submitted:  September 25, 2018 
 
  Decided:  December 11, 2018 
 
Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and SEITZ, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
(1) 
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control 
(“DNREC”) filed this interlocutory appeal from the Superior Court’s August 24, 
2018 memorandum opinion in an administrative appeal from an order of the 
Delaware Environmental Appeals Board (“the Board”).1  The Board’s order of 
March 1, 2017, had dismissed an appeal filed by an environmental interest group, 
Food & Water Watch, for the group’s lack of standing to challenge a joint order 
issued by DNREC and the Delaware Department of Agriculture, approving a general 
                                          
 
1 2018 WL 4062112 (Del. Super. Ct. Aug. 24, 2018). 
2 
 
permit program establishing standards for certain poultry feeding operations.  In the 
August 24 memorandum opinion, the Superior Court reversed the Board’s order 
dismissing Food & Water Watch’s appeal and remanded the matter to the Board.2  
(2) 
On September 7, 2018, DNREC filed its application for certification of 
an interlocutory appeal from the Superior Court’s August 24, 2018 memorandum 
opinion reversing the Board’s dismissal of Food & Water Watch’s appeal.  DNREC 
conceded that its application was untimely filed under Supreme Court Rule 42(c)(i).  
Food & Water Watch opposed the application.    
(3) 
By order dated September 24, 2018, the Superior Court denied 
certification of the interlocutory appeal after finding, first, that DNREC had not 
demonstrated good cause to excuse the untimely filing of its application, and second, 
that even if the application had been timely filed, interlocutory review of the August 
24 memorandum opinion was not warranted under the criteria in Rule 42(b).3  For 
the reasons stated in the Superior Court’s order of September 24, 2018, the Court 
has determined, in its discretion, that DNREC’s application for interlocutory review 
of the August 24, 2018 memorandum opinion does not meet the requirements of 
Rule 42.  
                                          
 
2 Id. at *7. 
3 2018 WL 4613594 (Del. Super. Ct. Sept. 24, 2018).  
3 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the interlocutory 
appeal is REFUSED.     
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/  James T. Vaughn, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice