Appellants Energize Vermont, Inc. and several individuals challenge the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB)’s affirmance of a permit issued by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), approving an operational-phase stormwater management plan for appellee Green Mountain Power (GMP). The only issue maintained on appeal to this Court is the narrow one of whether ANR complied with certain requirements of its own Vermont Stormwater Management Manual (VSMM) in granting the operational-phase permit. Because we are not persuaded that ANR’s interpretation of the VSMM is irrational or unreasonable in relation to its intended purpose, we affirm.
This case is resolved by the standard of review that applies in appeals from the PSB sitting in its appellate capacity. This is the first appeal from another agency heard by the PSB pursuant to 10 V.S.A. § 8506. In appeals from the PSB’s decisions made within its original jurisdiction, we accept as true all of the PSB]’s findings that are not clearly erroneous, and, in reviewing the PSB’s conclusions, we defer to its particular expertise and informed judgment. This case, however, concerns an appeal from the PSB within its appellate capacity and not within its original jurisdiction.
Where there is an intermediate appeal from an administrative body, this Court reviews the case under the same standard as applied in the intermediate appeal. Travia’s Inc. v. Dep’t of Taxes, 2013 VT 62, ¶ 12, ___ Vt. ___, 86 A.3d 394. In the intermediate appeal the PSB gives substantial deference to ANR’s interpretation of its own regulations— “Absent a clear and convincing showing to the contrary, decisions made within the expertise of such agencies are presumed correct, valid and reasonable.” This deferential standard remains on appeal, even after the PSB holds a de novo hearing on the matter. Appellants therefore bear the burden here of showing that ANR’s interpretation is “wholly irrational and unreasonable in relation to its intended purpose.”
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