Oscoda Chapter of PBB Action Committee, Inc. v. Department of Natural Resources

The issue before the Court is whether to grant plaintiffs’ application for leave to appeal the denial of a temporary restraining order by the Oscoda County circuit judge. Specifically, plaintiffs sought to block the burial, in a pit lined with 20 feet of clay, of animals whose level of polybrominated biphenyl (hereinafter PBB) exceeded the 20 parts per billion standard provided in 1977 PA 77, the PBB act.1

The PBB act, in providing that the Director of the Department of Natural Resources "shall * * * bury or dispose” of PBB-contaminated cattle, empowers him to decide whether to dispose of the…