State v. Superior Oil, Inc.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

We are asked in this appeal to determine the constitutionality of the Water Quality Control Act of 1977, which requires that the district attorney general or the grand jury obtain permission from either the Water Quality Control Board or the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Environment before a warrant, presentment, or indictment may be issued for violation of the Act. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the Act. Because the Act infringes upon the prosecutorial discretion of the district attorney general and circumscribes the independence of…