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Try CasePortal for FreeJ. Lawrence-Berrey finds that the lower court properly in part ruled in favor of a series of local governments and districts who sued the Department of Ecology over changes to the regulation of nitrogen discharges. The local entities claim that the department violated the rulemaking process when it adopted the new rules based on two documents produced by the department, and the lower court found in their favor. At the heart of the dispute is the question of whether three key "rules" that were changed are even rules at all under the Administrative Procedure Act. While two of the challenged rules cannot be considered as such, the third one does meet the definition under the APA. This means that certain new permit-related requirements are unlawful, and if the department would like to act on them further, they must go through the proper rulemaking procedures. Affirmed in part.