PURSUANT TO ECL 23-2711, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION DID NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ISSUE A MINING PERMIT BECAUSE THE TOWN LAW PROHIBITED MINING (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, over an extensive dissent, determined the mining permit issued by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) must be annulled pursuant to Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) 23-2711 because the local law prohibiting mining. The permit purported to allow the expansion of an existing mining operation:

ECL 23-2703 (3) provides that, in the event that an application for a permit is received from an applicant whose mine falls within an area described in the statute, the agency may not process the application if the local zoning laws prohibit same. ECL 23-2703 (3) is not vague or ambiguous; it is concise and clear. Contrary to all other permit applications received by DEC, an application received from an area protected under ECL 23-2703 (3) must be put on hold until the status of the local laws is determined … . There is no qualification on what type of permit applications must be put on hold; rather, by its certain language, the statute applies to all applications. … . …

ECL 23-2703 (3) clearly recognizes that the local laws of the municipality are determinative as to whether an application can be processed. Here, where it is unchallenged that the Town’s laws prohibit zoning [SIC mining?], DEC cannot process the application, let alone issue the permit. It cannot do by fiat what is prohibited under the law. Therefore, the act of issuing the permits here, in contravention of ECL 23-2703 (3), was arbitrary and capricious. Matter of Town of Southampton v New York State Dept. of Envtl. Conservation, 2021 NY Slip Op 03351, Third Dept 5-27-21