Curis Resources Ltd. (CUV.TO) announced the dismissal of a lawsuit brought forward by certain parties against Curis and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality or ADEQ challenging the validity of regulations governing individual Aquifer Protection Permits or "APPs".
The ruling, authored by Judge Arthur Anderson of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona, dismissed the case with prejudice, effectively acting as a judgment on the merits in favor of Curis and ADEQ.
The lawsuit against ADEQ was filed by Southwest Value Partners Inc. of San Diego, California, Johnson Utilities Inc. of Queen Creek, Arizona, and other plaintiffs, who sought to prevent ADEQ from issuing an APP to Curis for the project. The lawsuit alleged that ADEQ exceeded its statutory authority by creating a rule governing individual aquifer protection permits of limited duration, known as Temporary APPs.
Curis joined the lawsuit and filed a motion to dismiss with prejudice on the grounds that state law granted ADEQ the authority to create the regulation.
The court agreed with Curis, finding that the regulation governing Temporary APPs "constitutes a valid exercise of ADEQ's rulemaking authority." The dismissal with prejudice will prevent the plaintiffs from challenging the validity of the Temporary APP program in any administrative appeal of the Curis permit.
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