Opinion ID: 274953
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing by public interest.

Text: 34 Although concepts of standing, judicial reviewability and justiciable controversy are intermingled in the area of administrative review, our analyses compels reversal under any or all of these jurisdictional bases. Appellees' brief well demonstrates isolated statements and cases dealing with agency review are not all simply reconciled. 8 However, distinguishing factors become readily apparent in review of the myriad of cases. 35 The Rural Electrification Administration's powers are all exercised by the Administrator under the supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture. 7 U.S.C. § 901. The Administrator, in §§ 902 and 904, is authorized and empowered to make loans for the development of rural areas deficient in rural electrification. Under the same or similar statutory authority appellees readily recognize that the interest of the economic competitor is not sufficient standing to challenge the authority or discretion of the Administrator to make loans. Alabama Power Company v. Ickes, 302 U.S. 464, 58 S.Ct. 300, 82 L.Ed. 374; Tennessee Electric Power Co. v. T. V. A., 306 U. S. 118, 59 S.Ct. 366, 83 L.Ed. 543; Duke Power Co. v. Greenwood, 302 U.S. 485, 58 S.Ct. 306, 82 L.Ed. 381; Kansas City Power & Light Co. v. McKay, 96 U.S. App.D.C. 273, 225 F.2d 924, cert. den. 350 U.S. 884, 76 S.Ct. 137, 100 L.Ed. 780; Rural Electrification Administration v. Central Louisiana Electric Co., 5 Cir., 354 F.2d 859; Alabama Power Co. v. Alabama Electric Coop., Inc., M.D.Ala.N.D., 1965, 249 F.Supp. 855. Nor did passage of the Administrative Procedure Act create legal rights which otherwise did not exist. 9 36 The Supreme Court has long recognized that an enforceable right must be more than a common concern for obedience to law. Singer & Sons v. Union Pac. R. R. Co., 311 U.S. 295 at 304, 61 S.Ct. 254 at 258, 85 L.Ed. 198. Nor is standing given to the appellees as representing the public interest analogous to F. C. C. v. Sanders Brothers Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470, 60 S.Ct. 693, 84 L.Ed. 869. Some interpretations of Sanders make the area confusing and more complicated. See e. g., American President Lines v. Federal Maritime Board, D.C.D.C., 112 F.Supp. 346. 10 The theory of Sanders is extended in Associated Industries of New York State v. Ickes, 2 Cir., 134 F.2d 694, which allows review of any administrative order when the public interest is being represented by any person aggrieved, acting as a private Attorney General. Of course, the concern of the public is involved when a regulatory charter is being granted or denied by some administrative agency. Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. v. F. C. C., 316 U.S. 4, 62 S.Ct. 875, 86 L.Ed. 1229. Thus, when an existing licensee offers to prove that the economic effect of another station would be detrimental to the public interest the court will review. See Carroll Broadcasting Co. v. F. C. C., 103 U.S.App.D.C. 346, 258 F.2d 440, 443, followed recently in Southwestern Operating Co. v. F. C. C., 1965, 122 U.S.App.D.C. 137, 351 F.2d 834. See also Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. v. F. P. C., 83 U.S.App.D.C. 297, 169 F.2d 881 [existing natural gas supplier has standing to challenge certification of competitor]. Cf. Webster Groves Trust Co. v. Saxon, 8 Cir., Dec. 14, 1966, 370 F.2d 381. Any claim of representation of public interest by appellees herein is found in their abbreviated reliance on Western Pac. Calif. R. R. v. Southern Pac. R. R., 284 U.S. 47, 52 S.Ct. 56, 76 L.Ed. 160, and Texas & Pac. Ry. v. Gulf C. & S. F. Ry., 270 U.S. 266, 46 S.Ct. 263, 70 L.Ed. 578. However, the agency conduct in those cases is too remote from the instant facts. The decisions in Alabama Power and T. V. A., both decided subsequent to the Western Pac. and Texas & Pac. cases deny that standing is derivative from public interest in federally supported programs involving public utilities. 37