Eastern Oregon Mining Ass'n v. Department of Environmental Quality

This case returns to us on remand from the Supreme Court. The first issue on remand is whether we will exercise our discretion under ORS 14.175 to decide the otherwise moot issues presented by this case. As discussed below, we decide to exercise our discretion to reach only petitioners’ first assignment of error. With respect to the merits of that assignment, we determine, based on our decision in a prior related case, that the trial court did not err in concluding that respondent Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) had the delegated authority under section 402 of the Clean Water Act1…