Opinion ID: 2604579
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The need for a substantive districting decision

Text: DNR's actions implicate concerns similar to those raised in Thane Neighborhood Ass'n v. City & Borough of Juneau, 922 P.2d 901 (Alaska 1996). In Thane Neighborhood, the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission (Commission) used a phased approach in approving a large mine permit. First, the Commission withheld approval of certain parts of the project pending further information and approved the remainder of the project. Second, the Commission approved the permit but required further information on certain matters. Third, the Commission imposed a condition that the permittee obtain necessary permits from other agencies. Thane Neighborhood, 922 P.2d at 905. We concluded that the Commission should not have granted the mine permit while excepting major portions of the project. Id. at 909. Phasing was disfavored because (1) it can result in disregard of the cumulative potential environmental impacts of a project, and (2) permit conditions may not serve as a substitute for an initial prepermitting analysis that can be conducted with reasonably obtainable information. Id. at 908 (citing Kuitsarak Corp. v. Swope, 870 P.2d 387, 396 n. 27 & 30 (Alaska 1994); Trustees for Alaska v. State, Dep't of Natural Resources, 851 P.2d 1340, 1344, 1346 (Alaska 1993); Trustees for Alaska v. Gorsuch, 835 P.2d 1239, 1246 (Alaska 1992)). The reasoning of Thane Neighborhood applies to this case. DNR identified five districts in Southcentral Alaska and six in Southeast Alaska. In contravention of AS 38.05.855, it made no other district identifications and no site identifications. In addition, it used existing DNR area plans to delineate the districts, rather than develop a plan specific to aquatic farming. DNR pursued no other steps in the farmsite identification process, leaving all remaining determinations to the permitting stage. Such action effectively merged the provisions of AS 38.05.855, which were then merged with AS 38.05.856's rules for evaluating permit applications. The statutes mandate identification of districts pursuant to subsection 855(a) and a subsequent determination of appropriate site locations under subsections 855(b)-(d) and 856(e). Because sites are a subset of districts, siting decisions can be made only once the district is identified. In short, DNR collapsed the identification and permit processes. As with phasing, such combination of the statutes precludes any analysis of the overall impact on the affected areas; it limits in-depth consideration of possible negative consequences to the evaluation individual permit applications. The result is that cumulative potential environmental and economic impacts cannot be weighed. See Gorsuch, 835 P.2d at 1246 (DNR may not ignore cumulative effects of mining and related support facilities by unreasonably restricting its jurisdiction or by permitting facilities separately.... If DNR determines that the cumulative impact is problematic, the problems must be resolved before the initial permit is approved.). We construe AS 38.05.855 as requiring DNR to make discrete decisions about the appropriateness of aquatic farming in certain areas before considering any individual permit applications. While the enabling legislation seeks to promote aquatic farming, [5] it also protects other important interests by placing statutory limits on development. To comply with the statute, DNR must identify districts and then consider, pursuant to agency consultations, preliminary findings, notice, hearings, and final written findings, what sites within those districts can be developed for aquatic farming. AS 38.05.855(c)-(d). Only once DNR examines the needs of the communities and the state, identifies districts and sites based on those needs, and imposes appropriate restrictions can the agency consider issuing individual permits pursuant to AS 38.05.856. Alaska Statute 38.05.856(e) states that the commissioner shall adopt regulations ... [that provide] for the consideration of ... whether the proposed use of a site is compatible with the traditional and existing use of the area in which the site is located. Logically, such regulations can be implemented only after sites have been identified. [6] In Trustees for Alaska v. State, Department of Natural Resources, while examining a state decision to issue oil and gas leases for compliance with coastal management regulations, we emphasized the dangers of limiting environmental impact review to the individual permitting stage: [D]eferring a careful and detailed look at particularized geophysical hazards to later stages of the development process, as DNR evidently intends, entails certain practical risks. First ... [it] means that particularized geophysical hazards will be considered on a lease-site-by-lease-site basis. This may tend to mask appreciation of any cumulative environmental threat that would otherwise be apparent if DNR began with a detailed and comprehensive identification of those hazards. Second, ... the more segmented an assessment of environmental hazards, the greater the risk that prior permits will compel DNR to approve later, environmentally unsound permits. 851 P.2d at 1344. Both concerns are raised by DNR's implementation of the aquatic farm legislation. Restricting the review and investigation process to individual applications precludes cumulative impact analysis. In addition, because allocation of aquatic farming sites [is to] be made with full consideration of established and ongoing activities in an area, DNR's segmented process, by only considering the past use of the relevant limited area, would have resulted in a tendency toward reissuance. Ch. 145 § b(2), SLA 1988.