Source: https://m.openjurist.org/619/f2d/1368
Timestamp: 2020-02-27 18:17:42
Document Index: 238877217

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4332', '§ 102', '§ 4332', 'art 231', 'art 23', '§ 102', '§ 4332']

619 F2d 1368 Environmental Defense Fund Inc v. Andrus | OpenJurist
619 F. 2d 1368 - Environmental Defense Fund Inc v. Andrus
619 F2d 1368 Environmental Defense Fund Inc v. Andrus
619 F.2d 1368
14 ERC 1181, 14 ERC 1444, 10 Envtl.
L. Rep. 20,252
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND, INC.; Colorado Open Space
Council, Inc.; and Friends of the Earth, Inc.,
Cecil D. ANDRUS, as Secretary of the United States
Department of the Interior; Peter A. Rutledge, as Area Oil
Shale Supervisor, United States Geological Survey; Dale R.
Andrus, as Director, Colorado State Office, United States
Bureau of Land Management; Gulf Oil Corporation; Standard
Oil Company (Indiana); Ashland Oil Inc.; and Occidental Oil
Shale, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
No. 78-1809.
Some general background is helpful in placing the contentions before us in proper perspective. The issues before the District Court were presented under Sec. 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C), 1970, and implementing regulations and guidelines. The complaint, filed December 6, 1977, sought an order: compelling defendants to comply with NEPA, the implementing regulations and guidelines; to enjoin and restrain the federal defendants from approving detailed development plans (DDPs) prepared and submitted by defendant lessees in lieu of an environmental impact statement (EIS) which Environmental Defense contends must be prepared and circulated by Secretary; to enjoin granting certain rights-of-way by Secretary to Tracts C-a and C-b (covering tracts of land situate entirely in Colorado) until the required EIS is completed and evaluated; and restraining any further activities on the subject leases by defendant lessees until the EIS is prepared, evaluated and approved.
The first and most painstaking, comprehensive of the seven steps, that of preparation of the EIS, was pursued by the Secretary with meticulous care following preparation and circulation of the three volume "Draft Environmental Statement for the Proposed Prototype Oil Shale Leasing Program". Numerous public hearings, invitations for comments and input preceded publication by the Secretary of this six (6) volume "Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Prototype Oil Shale Leasing Program" on August 30, 1973. Recognizing that § 102(2)(C), (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C)) is at the heart of NEPA, the Secretary undertook a comprehensive study of the environmental effects of the proposed project and various alternatives which included a point-by-point analysis of the public comments submitted at the various public hearings held on the draft EIS. The first three volumes of the final EIS consist of 1,669 pages; the fourth volume, 265 pages containing analysis of public comments on the draft environmental impact statements; and the fifth and sixth volumes, respectively, contain 202 letters received relating to the draft EIS and a transcript of the hearings held on the draft EIS. The final EIS considered in detail the possible environmental consequences anticipated from the development of the six specific tracts of land to be leased, two each in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The EIS also considered the differing environmental impacts which might result from either surface or underground mining of oil shale, as well as from either surface or underground a/k/a in situ retorting of oil shale. In addition, the EIS considered the environmental effects of roads and power lines, which would have to be constructed in order to develop oil shale, on these particular tracts.
(a) The Lessee shall file with the Mining Supervisor on or before the third Anniversary Date a detailed development plan. This plan shall include: (1) a schedule of the planning, exploratory, development, production, processing, and reclamation operations and all other activities to be conducted under this lease; (2) a detailed description pursuant to 30 CFR Part 231 and 43 CFR Part 23 of the procedures to be followed to assure that the development plan, and lease operations thereunder, will meet and conform to the environmental criteria and controls incorporated in the lease; and (3) a requirement that the Lessee use all due diligence in the orderly development of the Lease Deposits, and, in particular, to attain, at as early a time as is consistent with compliance with all the provisions of this lease, production at a rate at least equal to the rate on which minimum royalty is computed under section 7(e)(1).
Thus, at the heart of NEPA is § 102(2)(C) and its mandate that, under specified circumstances, federal agencies must prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. Accordingly, it is through the preparation of the statement that the objective and thorough evaluation of the environmental impact of the proposed project is to be accomplished. The thrust of NEPA is that all pertinent environmental data be gathered in one place, i. e., the "statement", there constituting a discussion of all relative environmental impacts of a proposed course or alternative courses of action which reflects that the agency has given all pertinent environmental matters a "hard look" and has made a "good faith, objective, and reasonable presentation of the subject areas mandated by NEPA . . ." Manygoats v. Kleppe, 558 F.2d 556, 560 (10th Cir. 1977). The discussion of environmental effects of all alternatives need not be exhaustive, but it must be such that sufficient information is contained therein to permit a "rule of reason" designation of alternatives beyond the primary proposal. In the last analysis, the test the agencies must meet in dealing with the environmental aspects of proposed action is anchored to the "rule of reason" which, broadly stated in Manygoats, supra, may be said to be this: If the environmental aspects of proposed actions are easily identifiable, they should be related in such detail that the consequences of the action are apparent. If, however, the effects cannot be readily ascertained and if the alternatives are deemed remote and only speculative possibilities, detailed discussion of environmental effects is not contemplated under NEPA. This is in keeping with the "rule of reason" employed in Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Morton, 148 U.S.App.D.C. 5, 458 F.2d 827 (D.C.Cir.1972):
NEPA does not require that every implementing action be set forth in the EIS in absolute detail. If such be required, it seems obvious that a prototype program such as that involved in the instant case would be hopelessly ensnarled and stymied. Such is not intended. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519, 98 S.Ct. 1197, 55 L.Ed.2d 460 (1978).
In Save Our Invaluable Land (Soil), Inc. v. Needham, 542 F.2d 539 (10th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 945, 97 S.Ct. 1580, 51 L.Ed.2d 792 (1977), we said:
Judicial review of an EIS is limited to a consideration of the following: (1) does the EIS discuss all of the five procedural requirements listed in 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C); (2) does the EIS constitute a good faith compliance with the demands of NEPA; and (3) does the statement contain a reasonable discussion of the subject matter involved in the five respective areas? Sierra Club v. Stamm, 507 F.2d 788 (10th Cir. 1974) and National Helium Corporation v. Morton, 486 F.2d 995 (10th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 993, 94 S.Ct. 2405, 40 L.Ed.2d 772 . . . (1973). Thus, in a real sense, an EIS is to be tested by the concepts of "good faith" and a "reasonable" discussion of the five mandated areas of subject matter. Perfection is not the test . . . Nor should the courts in evaluating an EIS engage in hindsight judgment by way of second guessing. (Emphasis supplied).
In Manygoats, supra, this Court was concerned with an action seeking to restrain the performance of an agreement whereby the Navajo Tribe granted to Exxon Corporation the right to explore for, and mine, uranium on Tribal lands. The Secretary of the Interior approved the agreements following the preparation of an EIS pertaining to an agreement by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which the Secretary also approved. The challenge was, of course, to the sufficiency of the EIS. In affirming the District Court, we held that the EIS was a comprehensive, good faith, objective and reasonable presentation of the subject areas mandated by NEPA. Having noted the ongoing objective of the agreement involving exploration, mining and milling, this Court looked with favor on the adequacy of the EIS which, just as in the case at bar, provided that no operations could be conducted except under "a detailed plan of operation" to be approved by the Secretary. In addition, it was there provided that operations were to be suspended if, in the opinion of the Secretary, they threatened "immediate, serious or irreparable damage to the environment". We there stated:An EIS is required only in the event of proposed federal action and must be tailored to that action. See Kleppe v. Sierra Club, 427 U.S. 390, 96 S.Ct. 2718, 2726-2727, 49 L.Ed.2d 576 . . . The kind of impact statement depends on the kind of federal action. Aberdeen & Rockfish R. Co. v. SCRAP, 422 U.S. 289, 322, 95 S.Ct. 2336, 45 L.Ed.2d 191 . . . In the instant case the federal action is the approval of the Navajo-Exxon agreement relating to the prospecting permit and lease. We are concerned first with discovery and second with production of uranium . . . The agreement spells out continuing federal control over exploration and detailed federal controls over mining and milling with specific directions pertaining to environmental consequences.
Many courts have held, in accord with Manygoats, supra, that if an EIS prepared for a whole program contains a reasonable, good faith discussion of each of the five NEPA requirements applicable to future actions contemplated in order to implement the program, that no separate or supplemental EIS will be required for each future component action, unless a significant change occurs in the interval. Save Our Sycamore v. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, 576 F.2d 573 (5th Cir. 1978) (per curiam); Sierra Club v. Morton, 510 F.2d 813 (5th Cir. 1975); East 63rd Street Association v. Coleman, 414 F.Supp. 1318 (S.D.N.Y.), aff'd, 538 F.2d 309 (2d Cir. 1976); Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. TVA, 367 F.Supp. 122, supplemented, 367 F.Supp. 128 (E.D.Tenn.1973), aff'd, 502 F.2d 852 (6th Cir. 1974); Minnesota Public Interest Research Group v. Butz, 498 F.2d 1314 (8th Cir. 1974) (en banc) subsequent decision, 541 F.2d 1292 (8th Cir. 1976) (en banc), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 922, 97 S.Ct. 935, 50 L.Ed.2d 340 (1977).
In Kleppe v. Sierra Club, 427 U.S. 390, 96 S.Ct. 2718, 49 L.Ed.2d 576 (1976), the Supreme Court reversed an opinion which held that NEPA required the Secretary of the Interior to prepare an EIS on the entire Northern Great Plains region before allowing further development of federal coal reserves. The Secretary there, just as here, was responsible for issuing leases, approving mining plans, granting rights-of-way, and taking other necessary action. The Secretary undertook the same degree of preliminary investigation assessments in providing an analytical and informational framework for policy and planning decisions by formulating certain "scenarios" showing the probable consequences for the area's environment and culture from the various possible techniques and levels of resource development. The Supreme Court impliedly approved the procedure employed by the Secretary in the case at bar and in footnote 21 pertinently observed:
427 U.S. at p. 410 n. 21, 96 S.Ct. at p. 2730 n. 21.
And the Supreme Court there recognized that the Secretary's determination that where action is proposed ". . . involving coal development such as issuing several coal leases or approving mining plans in the same region, such actions will be covered by a single EIS rather than by multiple statements " (Kleppe v. Sierra Club, supra, at pp. 410-411, 96 S.Ct. at pp. 2730-2731) was not an abuse of discretion or arbitrary decision-making violative of NEPA.
In the course of oral arguments, counsel for Environmental Defense acknowledged that the 1973 EIS did not confine the exploration, development activities on the subject leases under the Prototype Program to a fixed, special method and that changes in technology may indicate or dictate alterations in methodology. Even so, Environmental Defense forcefully argues that the applicable statutes, regulations and case law distinguish between EISs on overall plans (as it identifies the 1973 EIS) and individual action (site specific) taken pursuant to those plans. In summary, Environmental Defense contends that the District Court erred in granting Secretary's motion for Summary Judgment in that: ". . . when a programmatic EIS is cited as justification for failure to prepare an EIS on an individual project within NEPA's scope, the adequacy of the programmatic statement must be tested as applied to the actions challenged, not as applied to the program as a whole. Id. (Natural Resource Defense Council, Inc. v. Administrator, Energy Research and Development Administration, 451 F.Supp. 1245 (D.C.1978)) at 1259-60; NRDC v. Morton, 388 F.Supp. at 835 ('(P)laintiffs do not quarrel with the content of the programmatic EIS, . . . (but) instead contend that . . . even if an excellent programmatic EIS (it) is insufficient standing alone.') Thus, all of defendants' make-weight arguments extolling the programmatic coverage of the 1973 EIS are simply irrelevant. The issue is whether the site-specific EIS analyses of these projects, which all parties concede are required, have in fact been done. And, as plaintiffs conclusively demonstrated, the required analyses are simply not to be found in defendants' massive programmatic EIS. Pls'. Br. at 30-44." (Reply Brief of Appellants, p. 14).
The District Court deferred to technical determinations found by Secretary's array of experts involving highly technical matter. Such refusal to substitute the Court's judgment for that of the agency is in keeping with this rationale advanced in Federal Power Commission v. Florida Power and Light Co., 404 U.S. 453, 92 S.Ct. 637, 30 L.Ed.2d 600 (1972):
404 U.S. at p. 463, 92 S.Ct. at p. 644.
The District Court recognized, just as do we, that the Prototype Oil Shale Leasing Program is an on-going undertaking which requires careful "monitoring" assigned to the AOSS and specifically incorporated in the lease agreements. (Section 10(a)(c) and (d); Joint Appendix, pp. 176, 177). It, thus, appears that significant safeguards have been built into the Program to protect against those significant environmental impacts not identified or anticipated in the 1973 EIS.