Opinion ID: 658298
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Status of Policy Statements

Text: 9 Policy statements are exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment requirements, see 5 U.S.C. Sec. 553(b), and hence may take effect without the rigors--and presumed advantages--of that process. The price to the agency is that the policy is subject to complete attack before it is finally applied in future cases. Pacific Gas, 506 F.2d at 39; Panhandle Producers & Royalty Owners Ass'n v. Economic Regulatory Admin., 822 F.2d 1105, 1111 (D.C.Cir.1987). Sooner or later the agency must meet its obligation to respond to criticisms. American Mining Congress v. Mine Safety & Health Admin., 995 F.2d 1106, 1111 (D.C.Cir.1993). 10 This does not mean that policy statements have no effect. Although the agency must respond to challenges and be ready to consider the underlying validity of the policy itself, Pacific Gas, 506 F.2d at 39; see also Panhandle, 822 F.2d at 1110; Guardian Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. FSLIC, 589 F.2d 658, 666 (D.C.Cir.1978), it need not repeat itself incessantly. When a party attacks a policy on grounds that the agency already has dispatched in prior proceedings, the agency can simply refer to those proceedings if their reasoning remains applicable and adequately refutes the challenge. But the agency must always stand ready to hear new argument and to reexamine the basic propositions undergirding the policy. McLouth Steel Products Corp. v. Thomas, 838 F.2d 1317, 1321 (D.C.Cir.1988); see also FCC v. WNCN Listeners Guild, 450 U.S. 582, 603, 101 S.Ct. 1266, 1278, 67 L.Ed.2d 521 (1981). 11