Opinion ID: 394177
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Conflict with Federal Purposes and Objectives

Text: 84 Even though we conclude that Congress did not intend to preempt state regulations of the type at issue here, the regulations would nonetheless be preempted if they actually conflicted with federal law. As noted above, a conflict would arise if compliance with both federal and state regulations were impossible, Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142-43, 83 S.Ct. 1210, 1217-18, 10 L.Ed.2d 248 (1963), or if the state regulations stood as an obstacle to achievement of congressional objectives, Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67, 61 S.Ct. 399, 404, 85 L.Ed. 581 (1941). Compliance with both federal and California laws is possible in the present case, but the utilities contend that the California laws impermissibly interfere with a federal goal of promoting nuclear power. 85 The utilities argue that the introductory sections of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, §§ 1-3, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2011-2013 (1976), establish a Congressional policy to promote the private development of nuclear power plants. These provisions do express Congress's intent to encourage private industry to enter the nuclear field. E. g., § 3(d), 42 U.S.C. § 2013. They also express Congress's intent that the development of nuclear power be directed so as to promote world peace, improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free competition in private enterprise. § 1, 42 U.S.C. § 2011. In these objectives we do not find an intent to promote nuclear power at all costs. 86 The Supreme Court has cautioned that (i)n expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy. Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 18, 101 S.Ct. 1531, 1540, 67 L.Ed.2d 694 (1981) (quoting United States v. Heirs of Boisdore, 49 U.S. (8 How.) 113, 122, 12 L.Ed. 1009 (1849)). Viewing the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as a whole, we find that Congress struck a balance between state and federal power to regulate. 36 Inherent in the states' regulatory authority is the power to keep nuclear plants from being built, if the plants are inconsistent with the states' power needs, or environmental or other interests. Encompassed in the state's power to enforce zoning laws is the power to deny land use to a nuclear plant. A part of the state's power to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity is the power to deny certification for an unnecessary or uneconomic nuclear plant. These state powers, recognized by sections 271 and 274(k), are inconsistent with a congressional goal of promoting nuclear power at all costs. 87 In any event, legislation since the passage of the 1954 Act evidences a change in congressional outlook. The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5801-5891 (1976), restructured the federal regulation of nuclear power by transferring the AEC's regulatory functions to the NRC and its promotional functions to the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). 37 ERDA WAS DIRECTED TO DEVeloP ALL SOURCES OF ENErgy, including nuclear, but only consistent with warranted priorities. 42 U.S.C. § 5801(b). The report accompanying the Reorganization Act explains that this provision was inserted in response to deep concerns regarding the possibility of a pro-nuclear bias in ERDA. S.Rep.No.93-980, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in (1974) U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 5470, 5476; see id. at 5489. ERDA was expected to place greater relative emphasis on nonnuclear energy. Id. at 5480. Congress also passed the Federal Nonnuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5901-5917 (1976), directing ERDA to develop a comprehensive nonnuclear energy research, development, and demonstration program. 42 U.S.C. § 5905(b)(1). 88 Congress's balanced approach to nuclear power development is further demonstrated by several acts explicitly permitting states to regulate nuclear plants. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, § 122, 42 U.S.C. § 7422 (Supp. III 1979), give states the authority to regulate radioactive air emissions from nuclear plants. States may, if they wish, establish emission standards more stringent than those imposed by the NRC. 42 U.S.C. § 7416; H.R.Conf.Rep.No.95-564, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 143, reprinted in (1977) U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 1502, 1523-24. 38 Congress recognized that state emission standards might prove burdensome for utilities intending to construct nuclear plants, but concluded that (t)he costs of protecting the public health ... must be considered a cost of doing business for the nuclear power industry. H.R.Rep.No.95-294, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 43, reprinted in (1977) U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 1077, 1121. The NRC has agreed that a state could, under the authority of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, prevent nuclear plants from being built at all. E. g., Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Indian Point Station, Unit No. 2), ALAB-453, 7 N.R.C. 31, 34 & n.13 (1978). Finally, the NRC Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1980, Pub.L.No.96-295, 94 Stat. 780 (1980), recognizes the states' authority to set nuclear plant siting and land use requirements more stringent than those of the NRC. Id. § 108(f). The Authorization Act also makes issuance of an NRC operating license contingent upon state adoption of plans for responding to nuclear emergencies. Id. § 109(a). In light of these demonstrated congressional concerns, we cannot conclude that the California laws at issue here present an obstacle to congressional goals. 39 89 The Supreme Court has held that federal regulation should not be deemed preemptive of state regulatory power in the absence of persuasive reasons either that the nature of the regulated subject matter permits no other conclusion, or that Congress has unmistakably so ordained. De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351, 356, 96 S.Ct. 933, 937, 47 L.Ed.2d 43 (1976) (quoting Florida Lime, 373 U.S. at 142, 83 S.Ct. at 1217). Here, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the other federal statutes we have discussed establish a careful balance between the regulatory responsibilities of the federal government and the states. Congress has not unmistakably ... ordained a goal of promoting nuclear power, but has instead regarded nuclear power as one option which the states may choose. 90 In Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519, 558, 98 S.Ct. 1197, 1219, 55 L.Ed.2d 460 (1978), the Supreme Court noted that (t)ime may prove wrong the decision to develop nuclear energy, but it is Congress or the States within their appropriate agencies which must eventually make that judgment. California has made a judgment only that, for the moment, there should be a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear plants. Because California's moratorium provision and the three-site requirement do not fall within the area reserved to the NRC's regulatory authority under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and because they do not impede congressional goals, we hold that they are not preempted. 91 The grant of summary judgment in Nos. 79-3365 and 79-3382 (the PLF case) is REVERSED, and the case is REMANDED for trial or for other proceedings consistent with this opinion. The judgment in Nos. 80-4265 and 80-4273 (the PG&E case) is REVERSED.