Source: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/551/06-340/dissent.html
Timestamp: 2013-12-07 19:34:30
Document Index: 413575359

Matched Legal Cases: ['§402', '§7', '§402', '§7', '§402', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§402', '§402', '§7']

National Assn. of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife - 06-340 (2007) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
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National Assn. of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife - 06-340 (2007)
(Justice Alito)	Dissent	(Justice Stevens)	Dissent
When faced with competing statutory mandates, it is our duty to give full effect to both if at all possible. See, e.g., Morton v. Mancari, 417 U. S. 535, 551 (1974) (“[W]hen two statutes are capable of co-existence, it is the duty of the courts, absent a clearly expressed congressional intention to the contrary, to regard each as effective”). The Court fails at this task. Its opinion unsuccessfully tries to reconcile the CWA and ESA by relying on a federal regulation, 50 CFR §402.03 (2006), which it reads as limiting the reach of §7(a)(2) to only discretionary federal actions, see ante, at 17–19. Not only is this reading inconsistent with the text and history of §402.03, but it is fundamentally inconsistent with the ESA itself.
In the celebrated “snail darter” case, TVA v. Hill, 437 U. S. 153 (1978), we held that the ESA “reveals a conscious decision by Congress to give endangered species priority over the ‘primary missions’ of federal agencies,” id., at 185. Consistent with that intent, Chief Justice Burger’s exceptionally thorough and admirable opinion explained that §7 “admits of no exception.” Id., at 173. Creating precisely such an exception by exempting nondiscretionary federal actions from the ESA’s coverage, the Court whittles away at Congress’ comprehensive effort to protect endangered species from the risk of extinction and fails to give the Act its intended effect. After first giving Hill the attention it deserves, I will comment further on the irrelevance of §402.03 to these cases and offer other available ways to give effect to both CWA and the ESA. Having done so, I conclude by explaining why these cases should be remanded to the EPA for further proceedings.
In answering Hill’s first question, we did not discuss implied repeals. On the contrary, that portion of the opinion contained our definitive interpretation of the ESA, in which we concluded that “the language, history, and structure of the [ESA] indicates beyond doubt that Congress intended endangered species to be afforded the highest of priorities.” 437 U. S., at 174; see also id., at 177 (“ ‘The dominant theme pervading all Congressional discussion of the proposed [ESA] was the overriding need to devote whatever effort and resources were necessary to avoid further diminution of national and worldwide wildlife resources’ ” (quoting Coggins, Conserving Wildlife Resources: An Overview of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 51 N. D. L. Rev. 315, 321 (1975) (emphasis added in Hill))). With respect to §7 in particular, our opinion could not have been any clearer. We plainly held that it “admits of no exception.” 437 U. S., at 173 (emphasis added).[Footnote 1]
Our opinion in Hill explained at length why §7 imposed obligations on “all federal agencies” to ensure that “actions authorized, funded, or carried out by them do not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered species.” 437 U. S., at 173 (emphasis deleted; internal quotation marks omitted). Not a word in the opinion stated or suggested that §7 obligations are inapplicable to mandatory agency actions that would threaten the eradication of an endangered species. Nor did the opinion describe the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) attempted completion of the Tellico Dam as a discretionary act. How could it? After all, if the Secretary of the Interior had not declared the snail darter an endangered species whose critical habitat would be destroyed by operation of the Tellico Dam, the TVA surely would have been obligated to spend the additional funds that Congress appropriated to complete the project.[Footnote 2] Unconcerned with whether an agency action was mandatory or discretionary, we simply held that §7 of the ESA
“reveals an explicit congressional decision to require agencies to afford first priority to the declared national policy of saving endangered species. The pointed omission of the type of qualifying language previously included in endangered species legislation reveals a conscious decision by Congress to give endangered species priority over the ‘primary missions’ of federal agencies. ” Id., at 185 (emphasis added).[Footnote 3]
Nothing in the proceedings that led to the promulgation of the regulation suggests any reason for limiting the pre-existing understanding of the scope of §7’s coverage. EPA codified the current version of §402.03 in 1986 as part of a general redrafting of ESA regulations. In the 1983 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the proposed version of §402.03 stated that “§7 and the requirements of this Part apply to all actions in which there is Federal involvement or control.” 48 Fed. Reg. 29999 (1983). Without any explanation, the final rule inserted the word “discretionary” before “Federal involvement or control.” 51 Fed. Reg. 19958 (1986).[Footnote 4] Clearly, if the Secretary of the Interior meant to limit t