Opinion ID: 1173053
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: substantial evidence to support the commission's order

Text: The Commission ordered Gulf to refrain from using the proposed southern road based on the conclusion that Gulf had failed to prove an absence of reasonable alternatives:    Before a permit would be granted for a route that would cause surface damage such as the southern route, the owner must prove to this Commission that there is no reasonable alternative. Gulf has failed to meet this burden of proof. Gulf contends that no substantial evidence exists in the record to support the Commission's conclusion and that the Commission's action is arbitrary and capricious. We note at the outset that Gulf, as an applicant for a permit to drill, bore the burden of proving to the Commission that its drilling operations would conform to the requirements of law. See Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company v. Public Service Commission of Wyoming, Wyo., 334 P.2d 519 (1959). Specifically, Gulf had to establish that its proposed activities would not cause the unreasonable surface damage prohibited by Rule 326, supra. Gulf recognizes the environmental degradation inherent in the southern road but argues that the uncontradicted evidence establishes the absence of any reasonable alternative to this harm. We do not agree. Our obligations in reviewing an administrative action following a hearing are well settled. We are bound to uphold an agency's decision which is supported by substantial evidence contained in the entire record. Section 16-3-114(c)(ii)(E), W.S. 1977; [12] Mountain Fuel Supply v. Wyoming Public Service Commission, Wyo., 662 P.2d 878, 882 (1983); Wyoming State Department of Education v. Barber, Wyo., 649 P.2d 681, 689 (1982). We have defined substantial evidence to mean such evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Board of Trustees, Laramie County School District No. 1 v. Spiegel, Wyo., 549 P.2d 1161 (1976). Such evidence may be less than the weight of all the evidence, although it is more than a scintilla or suspicion of a fact. Board of Trustees, Laramie County School District No. 1 v. Spiegel, supra, 549 P.2d at 1178. If substantial evidence supports a finding, the agency, in light of the expertise and experience of its members, appropriately determines the ultimate weight assigned to such evidence. Mountain Fuel Supply v. Wyoming Public Service Commission, supra, 662 P.2d at 883. The record in the instant case establishes that WOGCC considered various alternatives to the proposed southern route, including helicopter mobilization, a northern access road, the North Piney Creek route, and directional drilling. The Commission concluded that Gulf had not ruled out the feasibility of either helicopter access or the northern road. At the hearing, the area drilling superintendent for Gulf testified that in his opinion access by helicopter was totally unfeasible in view of the problems encountered in drilling an earlier well in the vicinity. However, no evidence was presented as to the cost of helicopter mobilization, the nature and amount of equipment that would need to be moved, or the number of trips with explosives that would occur. The Commission received into evidence the environmental assessment of the drilling project, prepared by the Bureau of Land Management with assistance from the Forest Service. This document addresses helicopter mobilization at length and concludes that the method appears technically feasible, although more expensive than conventional means of access. Gulf officials testified as to two problems presented by use of the northern access route, an alternative which required extending a road used by Gulf to reach an existing well on private property in the area. First, Gulf representatives had promised the landowner, Burns Industries, not to extend the road into the national forest, as part of the consideration for access across the property. This concession by Gulf was apparently due to the owner's concern that the Forest Service would subsequently condemn the Gulf road and allow public access through the property to the national forest. The environmental assessment and accompanying maps indicate that use of the northern route would require upgrading an existing road on private property to the national forest boundary and two miles beyond: A feasible alternative to the southern route would be to extend this access road [from the existing well to the proposed well]. This would involve upgrading approximately 2 miles of existing road on private surface with realignments where existing road grades make it unfeasible to upgrade. The access route would then enter the Big Horn National Forest    and require that 2 miles of road [be] upgraded and 2.5 miles of new road construction. This existing access road is also known as the Kearney [L]ake Road. Environmental Assessment, supra. This evidence before the Commission establishes the existence of a right-of-way across the Burns Industries property to the national forest and suggests the futility of any agreement between Gulf and the landowner not to construct such a road. A second obstacle to using the northern route, according to Gulf, was the fact that the projected road traversed federal land included in the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation program (RARE II). Gulf expressed concern that the Forest Service had closed this area to road construction. The Commission took notice of The Final Environmental Statement, Roadless Area Review and Evaluation, published in January, 1979, by the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. This document describes the allocation of land included in the RARE II study to wilderness, further planning, or nonwilderness areas. The RARE II land at issue in the instant case is designated as nonwilderness, open to mineral development. The environmental assessment depicts the affected RARE II land as a further planning area, but notes that mineral exploration is consistent with this designation as long as Gulf complies with the stipulations in its federal lease. Neither federal report confirms Gulf's contention that inclusion of an area in the RARE II program precludes road construction in that area. Although Gulf representatives testified as to the impossibility of reaching the proposed drill site by either helicopter mobilization or the northern route, federal reports before the Commission indicate the feasibility of these means of access. We conclude, therefore, that substantial evidence in the record supports the Commission's finding that Gulf failed to prove the absence of reasonable alternatives to the objectionable southern access road. We will not set aside the Commission's order based on that legally valid finding. The order of the Commission granting permission to drill, provided Gulf not use its proposed southern access route, is affirmed.