## Facts

- Massachusetts enacted the Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Act (G.L. c. 21D) to expedite development of hazardous-waste facilities while protecting public health and safety.
- The Act created the Hazardous Waste Facility Site Safety Council to make threshold “feasibility” determinations under § 7 and established a structured siting process involving local assessment committees and negotiated siting agreements, with binding arbitration if negotiations failed.
- A developer filed notices of intent on September 18, 1981, proposing hazardous-waste facilities in the Town of Warren.
- After the notices were filed, the Town adopted zoning bylaw amendments (November 21, 1981) intended to restrict or effectively bar hazardous-waste facilities.
- On December 11, 1981, the Council issued a § 7 feasibility determination finding the proposal feasible to proceed within the statutory process.
- The Town sought immediate judicial review to overturn the feasibility determination.

## Issues

1. Whether a civil action in the nature of certiorari (G.L. c. 249, § 4) permits judicial review of the Council’s feasibility determination under G.L. c. 21D, § 7.
2. Whether the Council was required to promulgate regulations under the state administrative procedure act (G.L. c. 30A, § 4) before issuing a feasibility determination.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts affirmed the denial of relief to the Town.
- The court held certiorari did not lie to review the Council’s § 7 feasibility determination.
- The court held the Council was not required to adopt regulations before making feasibility determinations.

## Legal Principles

- Certiorari under G.L. c. 249, § 4 is limited and generally unavailable where the Legislature has provided an adequate, specific route for review within a comprehensive statutory scheme.
- A § 7 feasibility determination is an intermediate step that does not itself grant a license, approve a site, or finally determine rights; it merely allows the statutory siting process to continue.
- Where a statute authorizes an agency to act and does not condition that authority on prior rulemaking, a court will not impose a categorical precondition of regulations, particularly when the statutory purpose calls for prompt administrative action.
- Case-by-case, expert determinations may be valid agency action even in the absence of generally applicable regulations, depending on statutory design and the nature of the decision being made.

## Conclusion

The court declined to allow immediate certiorari review of an intermediate feasibility finding within a specialized hazardous-waste siting framework and confirmed that the Council could issue feasibility determinations without first promulgating formal regulations, leaving challenges for later stages where the statute expressly provides review.


Town of Warren v. Hazardous Waste Facility Site Safety Council, 466 N.E.2d 102 (Mass. 1984)