Albright, Justice, concurring
: While I concur in the judgment and result in this
case, I write separately because I believe that the conclusion reached is
supported by law other than that cited by the majority. In my judgment, syllabus
point three of Crockett v. Andrews, 153 W.Va. 714, 172 S.E.2d 384 (1970),
appearing as syllabus point two in the instant case, is not applicable to
agencies such as the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) which are subject to the provisions of the Administrative Procedures
Act (APA), West Virginia Code §§ 29A-1-1 to 29A-7-4 (Repl. Vol.1998).
Crockett involved the interpretation of rules and regulations by a
city police civil service commission, a municipal administrative agency not
governed by the provisions of the APA. See West Virginia Code §
29A-1-2(a) (1982) (defining what constitutes an agency subject to the APA).
A pertinent provision of the APA with regard to
the present case is West Virginia Code § 29A-1-2(c), which defines an
interpretive rule to mean “every rule . . . adopted by an agency independently
of any delegation of legislative power which is intended . . . to provide
information or guidance to the public regarding the agency's interpretations,
policy or opinions upon the law enforced or administered by it.” While
it is unclear whether the interpretation by DEP of West Virginia C.S.R. § 47-57-4.1 (1994), at issue in the
case before us, has even been given the dignity of an interpretive rule, it
is clear from the record that the DEP interpretation is not found in any legislatively
approved rule. Therefore, it is no more effective than a properly promulgated
interpretive rule of the agency. In such circumstances, a state agency's interpretation
may not be afforded any weight in light of the further language in West Virginia
Code § 29A-1-2(c), which reads as follows: In light of this unmistakably clear legislative
language, such an interpretation of a policy by an administrative agency may
not be used by a court or administrative agency against the interests of a
person regulated or sought to be regulated by the agency. I believe that a
new syllabus point should have been adopted by the Court in this case stating
that the longstanding interpretations by a state agency of rules it is required
to enforce _ whether stated in an interpretative rule under the APA or set
forth in a less formal expression of agency policy _ may not be afforded any
weight against a citizen or other party in a contested action of the nature
before us.
An interpretive rule may not be relied upon to impose
a civil or criminal sanction nor to regulate private conduct or the exercise
of private rights or privileges nor to confer any right or privilege provided
by law and is not admissible in any administrative or judicial proceeding
for such purpose, except where the interpretive rule established the conditions
for the exercise of discretionary power as herein provided.