ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Supreme Court of Alaska (2024)
Madison Detweiler
In City of Valdez v. Regul. Comm’n of Alaska, 548 P.3d 1067 (Alaska 2024), reh’g denied (May 31, 2024), the supreme court held that interested parties must exhaust all reasonably available administrative remedies before seeking judicial review of a Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) decision that (1) denied a request for disclosure of confidential information or (2) approved the transfer of a certificate. (Id. at 1082). In 2019, BP announced the sale of its Alaska oil and gas assets and sought approval from the RCA to transfer its certificate to operate its pipelines to Harvest Alaska. (Id. at 1073). During this process, Harvest Alaska filed financial statements, the purchase and sale agreement, and other operational information, all of which it requested remain confidential. (Id. at 1073–74). The City of Valdez (Valdez) filed written comments asking that this information not be confidential and participated in a public hearing where it opposed the confidentiality. (Id. at 1074). In March 2020, the RCA issued Order 6 which concluded that the financial statements were required to be confidential. (Id.). Valdez appealed Order 6 in April 2020, but, meanwhile, the RCA proceedings concerning the certificate transfer continued with the RCA requesting more confidential information from BP and Harvest. (Id. at 1074–75). Valdez did not take any further important actions in the RCA’s administrative proceedings after Order 6 was issued. (Id. at 1075). In December 2020, the RCA issued Order 17 which approved the certificate transfer. (Id.). Valdez appealed this decision as well, and the superior court, after consolidating the Order 6 and Order 17 appeals, dismissed the appeal. (Id. at 1076). On appeal, the supreme court (1) reversed the superior court’s dismissal of Valdez’s Order 6 appeal, and (2) affirmed the dismissal of Valdez’s Order 17 appeal. (Id. at 1086). The supreme court reasoned that there was a judicially recognized exhaustion requirement in RCA proceedings that sought the disclosure of confidential information or opposed the transfer of a certificate. (Id. at 1082). With respect to Order 6, the court reasoned that Valdez exhausted all reasonably available administrative remedies by participating in the relevant proceedings before the RCA and making its position clear on record. (Id. at 1082–83). With respect to Order 17, the court reasoned that Valdez’s actual intent was to gain access to the confidential documents in Order 6, not to oppose Order 17’s transfer, and to oppose the transfer and exhaust all available administrative remedies, Valdez needed to petition to intervene and file a protest against the certificate transfer, neither of which it did. (Id. at 1084). Affirming the lower court’s decision in part and reversing the lower court’s in part, the supreme court held that interested parties must exhaust all reasonably available administrative remedies before seeking judicial review of a Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) decision that (1) denied a request for disclosure of confidential information or (2) approved the transfer of a certificate. (Id. at 1082).
