Hillis v. Department of Ecology

Guy, J

The Washington State Department of Ecology asks this Court to reverse a trial court order which orders it to immediately investigate the plaintiffs’ applications to appropriate public groundwater. Ecology also challenges the order because it effectively forbids Ecology from conducting assessments of the state’s watersheds and because it invalidates certain policy and priority decisions made by that agency. We reverse the order in part and affirm it in part.

Facts

Larry and Veralene Hillis (Hillis) plan to build a residential development on 97 acres of land in Kittitas County. The initial…