Opinion ID: 1318039
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: CTDEP's Failure to Address Mitigation Measures

Text: Finally, CTDEP should have investigated the possibility of imposing conditions requiring the remediation of impacted areas in the dredged and plowed sections. Record evidence makes repeated references to the use of remediation plans as conditions to certificate approval. ( See, e.g., Conn. Siting Council, Cross-Sound Cable Co., LLC, Application for a Certificate of Envtl. Compatibility and Public Need, Findings of Fact at 22 (Jan. 3, 2002).) The record also contains evidence indicating that proper remediation measures might encourage shellfishing interests to harvest within the anchor corridor. ( See, e.g., Williams Test., Hr'g Tr. 98:6-12, 19-20 (stating that fishing around anchor holes would be possible with buoys and a buffer zone near the holes).) Other mitigation measures include notification of impending construction, removal of shellfish from the work area, reseeding of beds in the work area at Islander East's expense, and provision of pipeline surveys. ( See Islander East Pipeline Project, Response to Request for Additional Information, Impacts Analysis Report at 36 (2003).) Although its failure to address possible mitigation measures in itself does not render CTDEP's conclusions arbitrary and capricious, based on this record, CTDEP should have addressed the possibility of conditioning approval on remediation of anchor strikes and topographical irregularities, and the possibility of providing surveys to shellfishing interests that would allow for renewed harvesting within the anchor corridor. III. Conclusion While there may have been a reasoned approach that CTDEP could have taken to justify its conclusion based on the evidence available on the record, CTDEP's inconsistent treatment of the evidence continues to suggest that its denial of certification for the proposed pipeline may have been a foregone conclusion. As we indicated in Islander East I, [a]ny effort by the CTDEP to pursue a `strategy' to justify a foreordained opposition to the pipeline would be incompatible with a reviewing agency's mandate to use its expertise to come to a reasoned decision supported by substantial evidence. 482 F.3d at 105. The fact that the agency's decision would have been the same regardless of the errors on the record is insufficient to show that the 2006 Denial was not arbitrary and capricious, or that the errors noted by the majority were harmless. In addition, the majority gives significant credit to CTDEP for its inclusion of more voluminous information in the 2006 Denial, stating that the panel reached its decision in Islander East I largely because of the paucity of findings made by the CTDEP in the original determination. Maj. Op., ante at 151. Our review is not relative with respect to the CTDEP's prior findings reviewed in Islander East I, and the majority's determination that CTDEP issued more detailed analysis in the 2006 Denial does not indicate that the agency's conclusion is not still arbitrary and capricious. Although a lack of record evidence may certainly indicate a lack of support for an agency's findings, the converse is not necessarily true. It is insufficient for an agency to provide voluminous information in support of its conclusion where such information is erroneous, dismissed by the agency without adequate explanation, or fails to fully explain the agency's decision. I do not wish to provide such an incentive here. While the 2006 Denial provides a lengthy explanation of the reasoning that led CTDEP to deny Islander East's WQC, the inconsistencies in the reasoning, CTDEP's failure to consider relevant evidence on the record, and the manifest errors in the evidence relied upon by CTDEP, leave me with no choice but to conclude that the 2006 Denial is arbitrary and capricious.