NMELC Files for Summary Judgment on HRI Discharge Permit
It’s up to a Judge to decide.
The final documents were filed in the case of Hydro Resources Inc. (HRI) expired discharge permit.
The NMED’s regulations state that a discharge permit must be renewed within five years if an operation is actively discharging or seven years if no discharges are occurring. The regulations are clear that in “no event” may permits be granted for more than seven years. HRI’s permit expired in 1996 and we argue that the company must go through the extensive process of applying for a new permit.
But the NMED has interpreted the law as saying that if a company submits its renewal application on time, its current permit will be held – almost as if time has stopped – until the NMED has approved or denied it. In other words, until NMED decides – be it in a year or a thousand years – the permit is valid and will stay valid indefinitely.
Our clients, ENDAUM, disagree. So the NMELC has filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment that the NMED has no authority to accept HRI’s application as a discharge permit renewal and t that the NMED has no authority to allow HRI to conduct discharges at Section 8 until they have made a determination to grant HRI’s discharge permit application.
The NMELC has requested a hearing and is awaiting response.