Court Opinion

ID: 9582345
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:25:32.864159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:41.009658
License: Public Domain

Justice Lacy,
with whom Justice Compton joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the majority’s holding that, even though Code § 32.1-182 contains no specific compliance deadline, the State Board of Health was required to adopt regulations insuring that the safety and public health costs associated with abandoned landfills be borne by the person abandoning the landfill.1 The majority’s application of the “mischief rule,” however, simply does not support the remedy imposed — invalidation of the landfill operation permit issued by the Commissioner of Health to King Land Corporation. Neither the language nor the history of the statutes supports a conclusion that the continuing authority of the Commissioner of Health to issue a permit to operate a landfill was contingent on adoption of the regulations in issue.
The majority states that “[a]ny construction of the statute which would authorize the issuance of landfill permits without proof of financial responsibility subverts [the] legislative purpose.” The majority then finds that the General Assembly intended the § 32.1-182 regulations to be effective around October 1, 1981, and that after that date the Commissioner of Health lost his au*106thority to issue permits under § 32.1-180 until such regulations were adopted. Any other construction, according to the majority, would not “suppress the mischief and advance the remedy.”
The majority, however, takes a very limited view of the “mischief’ the General Assembly sought to remedy in 1979 when it enacted § 32.1-182 as part of Title 32.1. The stated purpose of the legislation reflects a comprehensive treatment of environmental and public health issues.2 The “mischief’ envisioned extended well beyond abandonment of landfills. Prior to the enactment of Title 32.1, regulation of solid waste disposal was wholly contained in two sections of the Code. See Code §§ 32-9.1 and 32-9.2 (Cum. Supp. 1978). No state-issued permits were required to operate landfills; rather, each county and city had to submit its plan for disposal of solid waste to the Department for approval. The legislature’s purpose in 1979, when enacting Title 32.1 and specifically Chapter 6, Article 3, Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, was to put a comprehensive new regulatory scheme in place which would deal with the many varied elements of waste management, not just abandonment of landfills.
By terminating the Commissioner’s licensing authority based on its limited definition of legislative purpose, the majority creates as much “mischief’ as it seeks to remedy. Under its reasoning, valid permits could not be issued after October 1, 1981, thereby disrupting a multi-pronged regulatory scheme and withdrawing state control over an area clearly sought to be regulated by the 1979 legislation.3
The majority further justifies its “remedy” by finding a legislative purpose or intent to require that the financial responsibility *107for abandoned landfills be tied to the application or initial grant of the landfill operation permit. No such connection can be found in the words of the applicable sections. To the contrary, the General Assembly gave the Board a wide range of alternative approaches:
Such regulations may include bonding requirements, the creation of a trust fund to be maintained within the State Health Department, self-insurance, other forms of commercial insurance, or such other mechanism as the Board may deem appropriate.
Code § 32.1-182(B). This language does not mandate that an application for a landfill permit contain assurances of financial responsibility in the event of abandonment; nor does it condition the granting of the permit on such assurance. The creation of a trust fund, for example, presumably could require annual contributions of periodic assessments at times totally unrelated to the initial permit. As logical as it might be to have the requisite financial assurances incorporated in the initial licensing process, the General Assembly did not require this approach. The language of the statute not only belies the connection between the permit and the regulations, but reflects the legislative intent to give the Board complete discretion in how the regulations would insure the requisite financial responsibility. I cannot join in the majority’s conclusion that the authority to issue landfill permits under § 32.1-180 was revoked for failure to adopt regulations under § 32.1-182 based on a finding of legislative intent so at odds with the sections themselves.
Recognizing the sweeping changes contained in new Title 32.1 and that adjustments in lead times would be required, the General Assembly provided a number of different but specific time frames and transitional provisions. The financial responsibility regulations were specifically barred from being effective until October 1, 1981, a full two years after the title itself became effective. Specific time frames also were set out for the promulgation of draft regulations in this area. Conditional permits which provided for transition of dumps into sanitary landfills were provided with a June 30, 1983, cut-off date. Code § 32.1-180. In light of the careful consideration and legislative expression of these specific dates, the failure of the General Assembly to include any reference whatsoever to removing the authority to issue permits because the *108Board failed to adopt financial responsibility regulations further supports a legislative intent not to tie the two functions together.
The result reached by the majority, in my opinion, will be cited for the proposition that an agency’s failure, or perceived failure, to comply with a legislative directive, puts its continuing operating authority in jeopardy. In my view, King Land complied with state regulations and obtained a valid permit from the State Health Commissioner to operate its landfill in King and Queen County,4 Because the General Assembly did not condition the State Board of Health’s authority to issue landfill permits on the promulgation of financial responsibility regulations, I would not invalidate King Land’s permit.

 See also King Land Corporation v. Board of Supervisors of King and Queen County, 4 Va. App. 597, 605-08, 359 S.E.2d 823, 827-29 (1987) (J. Benton, dissenting).

 Code § 32.1-2 states:
The General Assembly finds that the protection, improvement and preservation of the public health and of the environment are essential to the general welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth. For this reason, the State Board of Health and the State Health Commissioner, assisted by the State Department of Health, shall administer and provide a comprehensive program of 'preventive, curative, restorative and environmental health services, educate the citizenry in health and environmental matters, develop and implement health resource plans, collect and preserve vital records and health statistics, assist in research, and abate hazards and nuisances to the health and to the environment, both emergency and otherwise, thereby improving the quality of life in the Commonwealth.

 The majority’s holding apparently would also invalidate the 73 permits issued between October 1, 1981, and December 31, 1985, possibly subjecting those operators to civil penalties. Code § 32.1-186.

 If the permit was not invalidated by the majority’s action and King Land proceeded to operate its landfill, it would now be subject to the supervision and regulations of the Department of Waste Management. See Code § 10.1-1400 et seq.