Environmental — Administrative – Mootness – New Legislation – Permitted Coal Ash Lagoons

Cape Fear River Watch v. North Carolina Environmental Management Commission (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-06-0597, 14 pp.) (Sam Ervin IV, J.) (Robert Edmunds Jr., J., not participating) Appealed from Wake County Superior Court (Paul Ridgeway, J.) N.C. S. Ct.

Holding: The General Assembly’s enactment of Chapter 122 of the 2014 North Carolina Session Laws has rendered moot petitioners’ lawsuit concerning coal ash lagoons, including the superior court’s ruling that immediate action must be taken to eliminate the source of contamination. The case is also moot because the uncontradicted evidence showed that all facilities with coal ash lagoons held active National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.

We vacate the superior court’s order and remand with instructions to dismiss petitioners’ appeal from the respondent-agency’s declaratory ruling on mootness grounds.