Opinion ID: 393673
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: claims five and six

Text: 90 EDF also presented two claims concerning statutory mandates requiring federal defendants to evaluate and develop alternatives to recommended courses of action. EDF argued, in Claim Five, that Interior and Reclamation failed in their duty to develop alternatives to current salinity control programs as required by Section 201 of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act (CRBSCA), 43 U.S.C. § 1591. In Claim Six, EDF alleged that EPA, Interior, and Reclamation had violated Section 102(2)(E) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(E) by failing to institute alternative salinity management measures. 91 Aside from the oft-litigated requirements of NEPA Section 102(2)(C), 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C) involving the preparation and filing of an environmental impact statement (EIS), is Section 102(2)(E), 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(E), which requires the development and analysis of alternatives apart from those usually found in an EIS. Section 102(2)(E) requires all federal agencies to: 92 (E) study, develop, and describe appropriate alternatives to recommended courses of action in any proposal which involves unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of available resources. 93 Section 201(a) of the CRBSCA, 43 U.S.C. § 1591(a), contains similar requirements. The CRBSCA outlines specific duties which Interior and Reclamation must follow, and which are designed to implement the conclusions and recommendations reached at the April 1972 Water Pollution Conference of the seven basin states. CRBSCA § 201(a). 63 See also CRBSCA §§ 203(b) and 208, 43 U.S.C. §§ 1593(b) and 1598 (1976 and Supp. III 1979). The conclusions and recommendations state, inter alia, that efforts of both Reclamation and Interior: 64 94 (s)hould be considered as an open-minded and flexible program. If alternatives not yet identified prove to be more feasible, they should be included as part of the program, and if elements now included prove not to be feasible, they should be dropped. In addition, it should be recognized that there may be other programs which could reduce the river's salinity. Since present levels are greater than desirable, an effort should be made to develop additional programs that will obtain lower salinity levels. 95 The essence of EDF's two claims is its belief that on-farm management practices should be instituted as the alternative to control the salinity problems on the Colorado River. Accordingly, EDF believes that the federal defendants have not sufficiently developed and utilized on-farm methods such as irrigation scheduling and management, improved application methods, recycling irrigation runoff, reorienting field topography, and seepage reduction. This analysis and implementation of such on-farm techniques, EDF argues, is legally mandated by NEPA Section 102(2)(E) and by CRBSCA Section 201(a). 96 In Claim Five, the court correctly decided that on-farm management measures were not alternatives to Interior's and Reclamation's CRBSCA salinity control efforts, but comprised instead, an integral part of the program itself. There is evidence in the record which exhibits the defendants' interest in the development and use of on-farm measures. EDF has not established any facts which would activate the study of alternatives requirement within the CRBSCA. On-farm techniques comprise an integral segment of Interior's and Reclamation's existing salinity control program and do not, as EDF asserts, represent alternatives to such a program. The record details several instances where on-farm methods have been evaluated, including the final EIS of the program itself, 65 as well as a progress report issued subsequent to the filing of the EIS. 66 Further, Interior and Reclamation, as the record shows, have developed all alternative and supplemental methods currently mandated by the CRBSCA. 97 This same record evidence is supportive of the district court's resolution of Claim Six. Section 102(2)(E) of NEPA is inapplicable to Claim Six, because on-farm measures currently employed by EPA are not alternatives to the agency's salinity control program. Rather, the measures constitute an integral segment of the program. The district court found the existence of record evidence indicative of the fact that EPA had been studying, describing, and developing on-farm management measures for the control and abatement of salinity. In addition, EDF has failed to sufficiently identify to this court, any recommended courses of action in any proposal which would obligate EPA, Interior, or Reclamation to embark upon further study, development, or description of alternatives. EPA's approval of the basin states' salinity standards can hardly be classified as a proposal, nor can its possible disapproval and repromulgation of a deficient standard. Under the Clean Water Act, a standard proposed by EPA consists of a designated use and appropriate numeric and narrative criteria. Thus EPA would have no authority to consider on-farm alternatives. Moreover, the broad EPA salinity control program is not classifiable as a proposal for which separate alternatives would be required. We also note that Interior's and Reclamation's salinity control program cannot be classified as a proposal, even under a broad reading of Section 102(2)(E). 98 Because we find that on-farm techniques are integral segments of both programs, and we locate the existence of sufficient record evidence to indicate that significant attention to on-farm measures has been undertaken by the three defendants, we conclude that the district court's entry of judgment on these two claims was proper. 67 Our conclusion is further supported by our awareness that the applicable standard of review only permits a reviewing court to compel agency action unlawfully withheld by an agency's failure to act. APA Section 10(e)(1), 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). Since EDF has been unsuccessful in its effort to establish that either EPA, Interior, or Reclamation have failed to act, we must affirm the decision rendered below.