Opinion ID: 2520941
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Phasing

Text: Greenpeace similarly frames its second point on appeal exclusively as a legal issue, arguing that DGC erred as a matter of law by improperly phasing its review of the Northstar Project; specifically, Greenpeace complains that illegal phasing occurred because DGC improperly issued certain permits prematurely, thereby allowing work on the project to begin before the consistency review was completed, and because DGC also approved major aspects of Northstar's future development without sufficient information to make a reasoned ACMP consistency determination. In response, DGC and BP deny that the Northstar Project was phased, maintaining that DGC's consistency review encompassed the Northstar Project in its entirety. This response is persuasive. A short but complete answer to Greenpeace's claim of improper phasing is that the Northstar Project simply was not phased. As previously mentioned, phased ACMP review is now governed by the provisions of AS 46.40.094. DGC did not purport to conduct its consistency review under this phasing statute. To the contrary, although BP requested phased consideration, DGC ruled that Northstar did not qualify for phasing under AS 46.40.094 and expressly undertook to review the complete Northstar Project. Tacitly acknowledging this fact, Greenpeace nevertheless attempts to portray DGC's consistency review as  de facto improper phasing. But this portrayal sweeps too broadly. It attempts to mask as a simple procedural issue of law a point that actually would challenge the merits of a complex, technical, and fact-intensive administrative decision enforcing standards rooted in agency expertise and discretion. This is precisely the kind of administrative decision that we may review only under the deferential hard-look standard. Because Greenpeace restricts its appeal on this point to its contention that DGC's review amounted to improper phasing as a matter of law, it is enough for present purposes to reject this claim as unfounded. We decline to reach the broader issue that Greenpeace failed to preserve: whether DGC's consistency determination could withstand deferential scrutiny under the hard-look standard of review.