Middle Niobrara Natural Res. Dist. v. Dep't of Natural Res. & Neb. Pub. Power Dist. (In re Application A-18503)

286 Neb. 611

838 N.W.2d 242

In re Application A–18503, Water Division 2–D.Middle Niobrara Natural Resources District et al., appellants,

v.Department of Natural Resources and Nebraska Public Power District, appellees.

No. S–12–1166.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

Filed October 4, 2013.

Appeal from the Department of Natural Resources. Affirmed.

Donald G. Blankenau, Thomas R. Wilmoth, and Vanessa A. Silke, of Blankenau, Wilmoth & Jarecke, L.L.P., for appellants.

Jon Bruning, Attorney General, Justin D. Lavene, and Blake E. Johnson for appellee Department of Natural Resources.

Stephen D. Mossman and Patricia L. Vannoy, of Mattson, Ricketts, Davies, Stewart & Calkins, for appellee Nebraska Public Power District.

Heavican, C.J., Wright, Connolly, Stephan, McCormack, Miller–Lerman, and Cassel,JJ.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Administrative Law: Appeal and Error. In an appeal from a Department of Natural Resources order, an appellate court reviews whether the director's factual determinations are supported by competent and relevant evidence and are not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.

2. Administrative Law: Appeal and Error. In an appeal from a Department of Natural Resources order, an appellate court independently reviews questions of law decided by the director.

3. Jurisdiction: Judgments. A jurisdictional issue that does not involve a factual dispute presents a question of law.

4. Standing: Jurisdiction: Parties. Standing is a jurisdictional component of a party's case because only a party who has standing may invoke the jurisdiction of a court.

5. Actions: Parties: Standing. A party has standing to invoke a court's jurisdiction if it has a legal or equitable right, title, or interest in the subject matter of the controversy.

6. Actions: Parties: Standing. A party must have standing before a court can exercise jurisdiction, and either a party or the court can raise a question of standing at any time during the proceeding.

7. Standing. Under the doctrine of standing, a court may decline to determine merits of a legal claim because the party advancing it is not properly situated to be entitled to its judicial determination. The focus is on the party, not the claim itself.

8. Standing: Jurisdiction: Claims: Parties. Standing requires that a litigant have such a personal stake in the outcome of a controversy as to warrant invocation of a court's jurisdiction and justify exercise of the court's remedial powers on the litigant's behalf. Thus, generally, a litigant must assert the litigant's own rights and interests, and cannot rest a claim on the legal rights or interests of third parties.

9. Actions: Standing: Complaints: Justiciable Issues: Proof. To establish standing, a litigant must first clearly demonstrate that it has suffered an injury in fact. That injury must be concrete in both a qualitative and a temporal sense. The complainant must allege an injury to itself that is distinct and palpable, as opposed to merely abstract, and the alleged harm must be actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. Second, the litigant must show that the injury can be fairly traced to the challenged action and is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision.

Heavican, C.J.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) filed with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) an application to appropriate additional surface water from the Niobrara River. As relevant to this appeal, Middle Niobrara Natural Resources District and Lower Niobrara Natural Resources District (collectively NRD's) and Thomas Higgins each filed amended objections to the application. We note that during the pendency of this appeal, a fourth party who also held existing and pending water appropriations is now deceased and thus dismissed from this action. We therefore will refer only to the remaining three appellants. The DNR dismissed all objections sua sponte. The NRD's and Higgins appeal those dismissals. We affirm.

II. BACKGROUND

NPPD filed application A–18503 with the DNR on or about April 16, 2007. The application requested the appropriation of an additional 425 cubic feet per second (cfs) of natural flow from the Niobrara River to add to the 2,035 cfs already appropriated to NPPD in order to fulfill the entire capacity of the hydropower units at NPPD's hydropower facility, Spencer Dam. Notice of NPPD's application was published on March 15, 2012.

The NRD's and Higgins each filed objections to NPPD's application. The NRD's are political subdivisions of the State of Nebraska, charged with managing ground water within the borders of their districts; Higgins is the owner of real property in the Niobrara River Basin and, in relation to NPPD, holds senior existing and pending Niobrara River surface water appropriations.

As noted above, the objections and requests for hearings were dismissed sua sponte by the DNR. In the DNR's order of dismissal, the director concluded that the objectors lacked standing. In particular, the NRD's did not

allege any legal right, title, or interest in the subject water of the Niobrara River. In addition, their allegations of harm are based upon mere conjecture that granting A–18503 with its April 11, 2007, priority will cause a portion of the basin to be declared fully appropriated sometime in the future.

The director concluded that Higgins' pending application did not confer standing because no legal right existed with a pending application. The director further found that even if those applications were granted and perfected, they, along with Higgins' existing appropriations, would be senior and upstream of A–18503. As such, the director did not find Higgins' allegations of harm credible. The director also noted that any allegation of harm by hypothetical taxation by a natural resources district was speculative and not distinguishable from harm caused to any other landowner within the natural resources district. Finally, the director noted the allegation that granting A–18503 was against the public interest was a conclusion of law and not an allegation of fact.

The NRD's and Higgins appealed.

III. ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The appellants assign as error, restated and renumbered, that the director (1) erred in concluding that the NRD's lacked a legally cognizable interest to confer standing to object, (2) erred in concluding that Higgins would not be adversely affected in a manner sufficient to confer standing to object, (3) applied an improper standard of review, and (4) failed to consider the impact of granting the application on the public interest.

IV. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In an appeal from a DNR order, we review whether the director's factual determinations are supported by competent and relevant evidence and are not arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.¹ But we independently review questions of law decided by the director.²

A jurisdictional issue that does not involve a factual dispute presents a question of law.³ Standing is a jurisdictional component of a party's case because only a party who has standing may invoke the jurisdiction of a court.⁴

V. ANALYSIS

1. Standing

The primary issue on appeal in this case is whether the DNR was correct in concluding that the appellants lacked standing. A party has standing to invoke a court's jurisdiction if it has a legal or equitable right, title, or interest in the subject matter of the controversy.⁵ A party must have standing before a court can exercise jurisdiction, and either a party or the court can raise a question of standing at any time during the proceeding.⁶

Under the doctrine of standing, a court may decline to determine merits of a legal claim because the party advancing it is not properly situated to be entitled to its judicial determination. The focus is on the party, not the claim itself.⁷ And standing requires that a litigant have such a personal stake in the outcome of a controversy as to warrant invocation of a court's jurisdiction and justify exercise of the court's remedial powers on the litigant's behalf.⁸ Thus, generally, a litigant must assert the litigant's own rights and interests, and cannot rest a claim on the legal rights or interests of third parties.⁹

Specifically, a litigant first must clearly demonstrate that it has suffered an injury in fact.¹⁰ That injury must be concrete in both a qualitative and a temporal sense. The complainant must allege an injury to itself that is distinct and palpable, as opposed to merely abstract, and the alleged harm must be actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.¹¹ Second, the litigant must show that the injury can be fairly traced to the challenged action and is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision.¹²

(a) NRD's

The appellants first assign the DNR erred in finding that the NRD's lacked standing. In its order, the DNR concluded that the NRD's lacked standing because they failed to allege any legal right, title, or interest in the subject water of the Niobrara River and, further, that their allegations were based upon mere conjecture that the granting of the application would cause a portion of the Niobrara River Basin to be declared fully appropriated in the future.

The NRD's cite to the Nebraska Ground Water Management and Protection Act ¹³ and this court's opinion in Middle Niobrara NRD v. Department of Nat. Resources¹⁴ to support the assertion that they have standing because they are responsible for the management of ground water that is hydrologically connected to the Niobrara River and its tributaries. The NRD's contend that “[i]n a very real sense, the Districts manage much of the very same waters NPPD will appropriate by A–18503, but at a different time and location.” ¹⁵ The NRD's argue that A–18503 is connected to prior and ongoing proceedings concerning the Niobrara River and Spencer Dam and that it is foreseeable that diverting still more water for the Spencer Dam will increase the likelihood that the Niobrara River will be designated as fully appropriated. In...