Preserve the Dunes, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality

Summary

The Michigan Supreme Court held that the Michigan Environmental Protection Act does not authorize a collateral challenge to the Department of Environmental Quality’s permit-eligibility determination under the Sand Dune Mining Act when the challenge is unrelated to whether the permitted conduct will pollute, impair, or destroy natural resources. The court concluded that the challenge was time-barred under either the Administrative Procedures Act or the Revised Judicature Act. It reversed the Court of Appeals and remanded for review of the trial court’s findings concerning whether TechniSand’s actual mining conduct violated the environmental protection act.

Holdings

1. MEPA does not provide a private cause of action to collaterally challenge DEQ determinations of eligibility under MCL 324.63702(1) or MCL 324.63704(2) when the challenge concerns permitting-process defects unrelated to whether the permit holder's conduct will pollute, impair, or destroy natural resources.
2. Preserve the Dunes' challenge to the DEQ's permit-eligibility decision was time-barred because it was filed nineteen months after the permit decision, exceeding both the sixty-day APA period and the twenty-one-day RJA appeal period identified by the court.
3. The case must be remanded to the Court of Appeals to review the circuit court's findings concerning whether TechniSand's actual mining conduct violated MEPA, because the Court of Appeals had not reached that issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Michigan Environmental Protection Act authorizes a collateral challenge to an agency's determination of permit eligibility under the Sand Dune Mining Act when the alleged permitting flaws are unrelated to whether the permitted conduct will pollute, impair, or destroy protected natural resources.
2. Whether Preserve the Dunes' challenge to the DEQ's 1996 permit decision was time-barred under the Administrative Procedures Act or the Revised Judicature Act.
3. Whether the Court of Appeals should review the circuit court's findings concerning whether TechniSand's actual mining conduct violated MEPA.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded