Opinion ID: 415261
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to file an EIS

Text: 56 The parties agree that NEPA, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4332(2)(C), requires issuance of an EIS before approval of KM's overall decommissioning and stabilization plan for the West Chicago site; such a plan clearly will have a significant impact on the environment. See supra note 14. The City argues that by issuing Amendment No. 3 without an EIS and before final approval of the overall KM decommissioning plan, NRC illegally segmented the overall plan. 57 Piecemealing or segmentation allows an agency to avoid the NEPA requirement that an EIS be prepared for all major federal action with significant environmental impacts by segmenting an overall plan into smaller parts involving action with less significant environmental effects. City of Rochester v. United States Postal Serv., 541 F.2d 967, 972 (2d Cir.1976). In Kleppe v. Sierra Club, 427 U.S. 390, 96 S.Ct. 2718, 49 L.Ed.2d 576, the Supreme Court articulated the appropriate standard of review by which to evaluate an agency's decision not to issue an EIS in a context similar to this one. In Kleppe, the Department of the Interior approved several coal-related projects in the Northern Great Plains without preparing a comprehensive EIS on all the proposed projects in the region. The Court held that the agency did not act arbitrarily in refusing to prepare a comprehensive EIS on the entire region; indeed the Court said that even if a regional impact statement was due at that moment, [the Court of Appeals] would have erred in enjoining approval of the four mining plans unless it had made a finding that the impact statement covering them inadequately analyzed the environmental impacts of, and the alternatives to, their approval. Id. at 407-408 n. 16, 96 S.Ct. at 2729 n. 16. As long as the agency does not act arbitrarily in refusing to prepare an EIS, the decision lies in its discretion. Id. at 412, 96 S.Ct. at 2731. 58 In Kleppe, the agency had in fact issued an EIS on each individual mining project but had refused to issue a regional EIS. In this case, the agency decided against issuing an EIS for the component part of the plan, and in fact issued a draft EIS for the overall plan. We do not think this difference changes the analysis. The Supreme Court was concerned in Kleppe with the reasonableness of the environmental decision, whatever it might be, with respect to the region, as well as with respect to each component part of the project; it was not mandating an EIS for each component part of a plan. Therefore the Kleppe analysis still applies even though NRC decided against issuing an EIS for Amendment No. 3. If that decision was not arbitrary or capricious, it must be upheld. 18 59 This Circuit has always followed the rule that an agency's decision not to issue an EIS for an activity it claims has an insignificant impact may be reversed by a court if it is arbitrary or capricious. Assure Competitive Transp., Inc. v. United States, 635 F.2d 1301, 1308 (1980); Nucleus of Chicago Homeowners Ass'n v. Lynn, 524 F.2d 225, 229 (1975), certiorari denied, 424 U.S. 967, 96 S.Ct. 1462, 47 L.Ed.2d 734; First Nat'l Bank v. Richardson, 484 F.2d 1369, 1381 (1973). This threshold decision not to issue an EIS must be supported by a record sufficiently developed to permit judicial review. Assure Competitive Transp., supra at 1308 n. 7. Despite the fact that NRC rules do not require it to publish the results of its environmental investigation in an EIS, a negative declaration or an environmental impact appraisal, see 10 C.F.R. Sec. 51.5(d)(4), 19 there is still before us an adequate record to review. NRC explained the reasons for its determination both in the background document to Amendment No. 3 (Admin.Rec., Vol. 6, Doc. No. 4) and in its order of February 11, 1982, 15 NRC 232, 263-265. As discussed above, supra at 26-27, the decision was based on an evaluation of past activities under Amendment No. 1, onsite inspection reports, and the considered judgment, uncontradicted by any evidence offered by the City, 20 that Amendment No. 3 activities would not affect radioactivity levels in the surrounding air or water. In addition, the agency's decision to allow demolition of the buildings would not prejudice the selection of a permanent disposal plan for which a draft EIS had already issued. In deciding not to issue an EIS for Amendment No. 3, NRC took the requisite hard look at the environmental impact of its action, Kleppe, supra at 410 n. 21, 96 S.Ct. at 2730 n. 21. Based on the record before us, we cannot conclude that the Commission acted arbitrarily in deciding not to issue an EIS for Amendment No. 3.