Natural Resources Defense Council v. POET Biorefining
Sep 02, 2014OUTCOME: Trial court decision affirmed
Indiana Supreme Court 49S02-1405-MI-313 Agencies at both the state and federal level are tasked with promulgating, interpreting, and enforcing specific regulations pertaining to their particular are ... a of expertise. Because of the agencies’ degree of expertise, courts exercise significant deference in reviewing those interpretations. Here, Indiana’s environmental agency revised its interpretation of a regulatory term and that interpretation was challenged and subjected to judicial review. But in light of the deference we show to such an agency assessment of its own regulations, we find the new interpretation reasonable—and because no more formal revision process was required, we affirm the trial court.