Court Opinion

ID: 9622427
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:17:30.758589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:16.298093
License: Public Domain

MOTION FOR REHEARING
We write to refute the claim asserted in TNRCC’s motion for rehearing that resolving this controversy under the UDJA will effect a “sea change” in appeals from administrative agencies. The City is not appealing from a specific agency action and is not challenging the validity or application of an agency rule; rather, it is asserting rights it feels it is afforded under the Texas Water Code, as implemented by certain regulations, specifically section 305.538, which incorporates federal regulation section 122.4. See 30 Tex. Admin. Code § 305.538 (1999); . 40 C.F.R. § 122.4 (2001). The only ground for dismissal asserted by TNRCC was that the controversy is hypothetical and not ripe for adjudication apart from a specific permit application.
At issue in this dispute is the effect of section 122.4© on TNRCC’s discretion to issue new permits to CAFO’s that discharge into a water segment that has been found to be impaired. The City insists this regulation obligates the TNRCC to develop load allocations and compliance schedules to improve the water quality before issuing new discharge permits. The TNRCC urges that the regulation merely limits its issuance of new permits *179to those discharges who would not worsen the status quo of the water quality.
The present controversy concerns the protection state law affords a water segment once it has found to be impaired. We find the controversy indistinguishable from the question sought to be resolved under the UDJA in Texas Department of Public Safety v. Moore, 985 S.W.2d 149 (Tex.App.—austin 1998, no pet.). The City asserts its rights to have the TNRCC follow the mandate of section 122.4(i), just as Mr. Moore asserted his right to have the Department of Public Safety apply its own promotional rules in filling vacancies. See id. at 154. Just as the Department had adversely affected Mr. Moore’s rights by not requiring competitive examinations in filling several vacancies in succession, see id., the City asserts that the TNRCC has adversely affected its rights by not adopting load allocations and compliance schedules for the Bosque River before granting new permits to discharges. The purpose of the UDJA is to clarify the nature of rights asserted under state law, as we recognized in Moore: “Moore’s interest in being treated according to statute when applying for vacant positions in the Department clearly implicates the UDJA’s purpose of clarifying rights affected by statute.” Id. Because the City is alleging that the TNRCC is granting permits without following the mandates of section 122.4(f), sovereign immunity does not bar this suit. See id. (“Because Moore’s suit under the UDJA sought a declaration that the Department acted outside its statutory authority[,]... Moore’s suit was not barred by sovereign immunity.”). The only remaining question we ask is whether this dispute is hypothetical or whether it presents a real controversy that will be resolved by he declaratory relief sought. Because we hold that the City is not seeking an advisory opinion but a declaration of what protection it is afforded under section 122.4(i), as made applicable by the TNRCC’s rules and as made mandatory by the TNRCC’s statute, we overrule the motion for rehearing. See Tex. Water CodeAnn. § 5.103(c) (WestSuupp.2002) (stating that the TNRCC’s “shall follow its own rules”) (emphasis added).9

. We acknowledge our unfortunate use of the term "impaired” to describe the water quality of Lake Waco, as complained of in the motion for rehearing. We used impaired not as a term of art under the Clean Water Act, but in its conventional sense of “diminished or damaged.” To avoid any confusion, we have substituted a new page one that says the water quality of Lake Waco “has been adversely affected.” In addition, in describing the procedural history of this lawsuit in footnote two, we included a statement concerning the doctrines of mootness and ripeness to which the TNRCC strongly objects in its motion for rehearing. We will modify the footnote as suggested by the TNRCC.