Opinion ID: 331837
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of the Procedural Standard.

Text: 36 NEPA requires that an EIS be prepared in 'every recommendation or report on . . . major Federal actions' and that the statement 'shall accompany the proposal through existing agency review processes.' 42 U.S. § 4332(2)(C). These requirements further the purpose of the Act to require officials to consider environmental issues in determining whether the actions they contemplate should be undertaken. An ex post facto justification generally is not an acceptable substitute, as 'NEPA . . . does not authorize defendants to meet their responsibilities by locking the barn door after the horses are stolen.' Lathan v. Volpe, 350 F.Supp. 262, 266 (W.D.Wash.1972), aff'd in part and rev'd in part, 455 F.2d 1111 (9th Cir. 1971); see 40 C.F.R. § 1500.7(a); Conservation Society of Southern Vermont, Inc. v. Sec'y of Transportation, 508 F.2d 927 (2d Cir. 1974). That the filing of an EIS should precede rather than follow federal agency action has been consistently recognized by the courts. 4 37 In this respect the EIS covering the 770 acres is not adequate. It did not 'accompany' the submission by the Secretary. This inadequacy is not excused by the existence of the lower court decision in Davis v. Morton which held approvals by the Secretary of leases of Indian land not to be 'major federal action.' Reliance on that decision in the face of the comprehensive language of the statute fails to elicit the sympathy which acceptance of the defendants' proffered excuse would require. 5 Nor does failure to accept the excuse constitute retroactive application of NEPA. All the significant actions in this case occurred subsequent to January 1, 1970, the effective date of NEPA. 6 38 Nonetheless the defendants insist that the EIS pertaining to the mining plan covering operations for five years on 770 acres of leased land is all that is required because numerous authorities recognize that under proper circumstances an EIS need not be prepared covering an entire project when an adequate EIS covering a discrete phase or segment thereof has been prepared. 7 This is such an instance, the defendants assert. Therefore, continue the defendants, the only issue is whether the EIS before us is adequate with respect to the mining plan to which it was addressed. 39 We disagree. While it is true that each mining plan prepared for tracts within the leased area is to a significant degree an independent project which requires a separate EIS with respect to each, it is no less true that the breadth and scope of the possible projects made possible by the Secretary's approval of the leases require the type of comprehensive study that NEPA mandates adequately to inform the Secretary of the possible environmental consequences of his approval. Westmoreland's massive capital investment and extended contractual commitments present a situation in which 'it would be irrational, or at least unwise, to undertake the first phase if subsequent phases were not also undertaken.' Trout Unlimited, supra, 509 F.2d at 1285. 8 However, even were this not true, it cannot be denied that the environmental consequences of several strip mining projects extending over twenty years or more within a tract of 30,876.45 acres will be significantly different from those which will accompany Westmoreland's activities on a single tract of 770 acres. 40 Under the circumstances of this case we, therefore, hold that an EIS must be prepared for the entire project contemplated by the leases which the Secretary approved in June, 1972. We also hold that each specific mining plan functionally equivalent to the 770-acre plan for which an EIS has been prepared must be accompanied by an adequate EIS. Our position is supported by numerous authorities. 9 D. Adequacy of EIS Covering 770 Acres for Approval of 41 Five Year Mining Plan. 42 Implicit in our determination that an EIS must be prepared in conjunction with each separate and distinct mining plan is the holding that any approval thereof by a federal agency constitutes 'major federal action.' The magnitude of the undertakings embraced within the five year 770 acre plan before us convinces us beyond any doubt that approval by a federal agency of a substantially equivalent plan is 'major federal action.' 43 This conclusion requires that we examined the EIS prepared by the BIA to determine its adequacy. The appellants assert that it is deficient in six respects, viz. in its treatment of reclamation, ground water supply, water pollution, air quality, alternatives, and cost-benefit analysis. 44 Appellants characterize destruction of the land as the 'most important single environmental impact' of the project and argue that in its discussion of reclamation, the EIS is lacking in data and is insufficiently analytical. We disagree. While we would have preferred a somewhat more detailed and better organized treatment of the proposed reclamation plans and although parts of the discussion are couched in the 'conclusory form' we consider less than optimal, 10 we cannot say that the EIS is inadequate in this regard. Nor are we dislodged from this position because of the conflict in expert testimony concerning reclamation procedures and prospects at trial. As was said in Life of the Land v. Brinegar, 485 F.2d 460, 472 (9th Cir. 1973), 'disagreement among experts will not serve to invalidate an EIS.' 45 Appellants' attack upon the treatment of ground water supply and water pollution highlights the fact that the EIS concedes that certain environmental effects are not known. This does not necessarily undermine the adequacy of the statement. This court has explained: 46 Neither § 102(2)(B) or (C) (42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(B) or (C)) can be read as a requirement that complete information concerning the environmental impact of a project must be obtained before action may be taken. If we were to impose a requirement that an impact statement can never be prepared until all relevant environmental effects were known, it is doubtful that any project could ever be initiated. 47 Jicarilla Apache Tribe of Indians v. Morton, 471 F.2d 1275, 1280 (9th Cir. 1973). We conclude that the treatment of ground water supply and water pollution in the EIS is adequate, as is its discussion of air quality, also attacked by appellants. 48 We also decide that the EIS adequately deals with the subject of alternatives. See Trout Unlimited, supra, 509 F.2d at 1285--86. The EIS describes three basic alternatives--approval of the mining plan, modification of the present plan, and rejection of the plan--with subtopics where appropriate. For example, with respect to the 'rejection' alternative, there are listed two courses of action which might ensue, i.e., an agency determination that coal mining could not be permitted anywhere on the leased area, or submission of a new mining plan by Westmoreland. In connection with the former, the EIS discusses (1) alternate sources of tribe income, (2) alternate supplies of coal, (3) non-coal energy alternatives, and (4) other alternatives. In connection with the latter, the statement discusses site, mining method, coal use, and transportation alternatives. The process of fractionating alternatives need not be pursued to the brink of triviality. 49 Finally, appellants characterize the EIS as inadequate for want of a cost-benefit analysis. In Trout we held that the absence of a numerically expressed cost-benefit analysis was not fatal. Trout Unlimited, supra, 509 F.2d at 1286. It is also not fatal here and for the same reasons. Throughout the EIS is recognition and discussion of the various advantages and detrimental effects of the project. The failure to affix numerical weights to each of these does not make the EIS inadequate in this case. We conclude, in sum, that although the EIS could be 'improved by hindsight,' it has satisfied the intent of the statute. National Forest Preservation Group v. Butz, 485 F.2d 408, 412 (9th Cir. 1973). 50