Schneider v. Water Resources Dept.

Pursuant to Gafur v. Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center, 344 Or 525, 185 P3d 446 (2008), the courts will give deference to the plausible interpretations of a statute by a government agency, so long as that interpretation is not inconsistent with “the wording of the rule, its context, or any other source of law.”

The Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) denied Petitioner’s application to acquire a monitoring-well endorsement for his well constructor’s license. OWRD denied the application on the basis that Petitioner lacked the requisite experience, or equivalent experience, as required by ORS 537.747. On appeal, Petitioner cited significant experience in water-well drilling and argued that OWRD erroneously denied his application because that experience fulfilled the “equivalent experience” requirement of the statute. Conversely, Petitioner argued that OWRD construed the statute as requiring experience specific to monitoring-well drilling. Pursuant to Gafur v. Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center, 344 Or 525, 185 P3d 446 (2008), the courts will give deference to the plausible interpretations of a statute by a government agency, so long as that interpretation is not inconsistent with “the wording of the rule, its context, or any other source of law.” The Court held that OWRD was correct in its interpretation of the applicable statute and administrative rules and that Petitioner’s offer of equivalent experience was deficient in fulfilling the requirements for his sought endorsement. Affirmed.