Opinion ID: 852986
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Interim Process

Text: Even if IDEM has statutory authority to regulate the waters at issue, the issue remains whether the interim process is lawfully imposed. It is well established that administrative agencies may make reasonable rules and regulations to apply and enforce legislative enactments. Ind. Dep't of Envtl. Mgmt. v. AMAX, Inc., 529 N.E.2d 1209, 1212 (Ind.App.1988); Podgor v. Ind. Univ. 178 Ind.App. 245, 250, 381 N.E.2d 1274, 1278 (1978). But IDEM may regulate by a new rule only if the proper rulemaking procedures have been followed. Thus, in establishing rules, the agency must comply with the Indiana Administrative Orders and Procedures Act, Indiana Code chapter 4-22-2, which includes provisions for public hearings and review by executive branch officials. By contrast, agency actions that result in resolutions or directives that relate solely to internal policy, procedure, or organization, and do not have the effect of law, are not subject to the same requirements. I.C. § 4-22-2-13(c)(1) (1998); AMAX, Inc., 529 N.E.2d at 1212. The validity of the interim regulatory process turns on whether it constituted a new rule when IDEM applied the NPDES permit process to waters of the state previously, but no longer, subject to the federal Section 404 program. IDEM does not assert that it followed rulemaking procedures in announcing the interim process. Rather it contends that requiring state NPDES permits for dredge and fill after SWANCC is not a new rule at all and is therefore not subject to the statutory requirements for adopting new rules. A rule is defined by Indiana Code section 4-22-2-3 as: [T]he whole or any part of an agency statement of general applicability that: (1) [H]as or is designed to have the effect of law; and (2) [I]mplements, interprets, or prescribes: (A) Law or policy; or (B) The organization, procedure, or practice requirements of an agency.