Opinion ID: 390180
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: alleged arbitrary and capricious decisions

Text: 86 Petitioners contend that a number of the findings which constitute the very core of the Administrator's analysis violate one or more of the decisionmaking requirements of the Act. While arguing that each of these violations is sufficient ground for remand of the regulations to EPA, LIA maintains that cumulatively they paint a picture of an agency that had prejudged the result from the very outset and was bent on adhering to its original proposal no matter what the evidence showed, the very converse of the fair and impartial rulemaking to which litigants    are entitled. 82
87 LIA contends that the Administrator's choice of an air lead/blood lead ratio of 1:2 as the appropriate ratio for calculating the lead standards was arbitrary and capricious. LIA's claim is largely based on its disagreement with the Administrator's interpretation of the results of three studies that have examined the relationship between air lead exposure and blood lead levels. It argues that the Administrator's analysis of these studies is inconsistent and designed solely to support his decision to arrive at an air quality standard of 1.5 ug Pb/m 3. 83 In addition, LIA contends that the Administrator erred by calculating the air lead/blood lead ratio on the basis of studies involving both adults and children, when the standards are designed to protect children. LIA maintains that the Administrator would have arrived at a ratio of 1:1.3, had he focused solely on the studies involving children. 88 We do not agree that the Administrator's selection of an air lead/blood lead ratio of 1:2 was arbitrary or capricious. The Criteria Document reported that air lead/blood lead ratios for the whole population, adults as well as children, range between 1:1 and 1:2, with children at the upper end of the range or even slightly above it. CD 12-38, JA 1325. And the range of ratios for children reported by the studies that were reviewed in the Criteria Document was 1:1.2 to 1:2.3, CD 12-25 (Table 12-28), JA 1312 (Table 12-28). 84 The Administrator's choice of a ratio of 1:2 for purposes of calculating the lead standards is consistent with each of these findings. Moreover, the Administrator calculated that each of three particularly relevant and well-documented studies that were reviewed by the Criteria Document suggested an air lead/blood lead ratio close to 1:2. 43 Fed.Reg. 46250, 46254, JA 2954, 2956. 85 Finally, the Administrator's choice of a ratio of 1:2 was endorsed by several experts who participated in the rulemaking proceedings. 86 Indeed, the issue of the proper relationship between air lead exposure and blood lead levels was extensively discussed in the comments on the initial drafts of the Criteria Document, with several experts severely criticizing the suggestions in early drafts that the appropriate ratio is 1:1. 87 Given all the evidence in the record which supports the Administrator's choice of a ratio of 1:2, we would be exceeding the scope of our reviewing function if we were to agree with LIA's suggestion that the Administrator's decision was either arbitrary or capricious. 88
89 LIA next argues that the Administrator contravened the decisionmaking requirements of Section 307(d), 42 U.S.C. § 7607(d), by failing to explain the reasons for a change in the method he used in calculating the lead standards between the proposed and the final standards. 89 LIA correctly points out that the final standard was based on an adverse health effects threshold of 30 ug Pb/dl, whereas the proposed standards had been based on a threshold of 15 ug Pb/dl. It notes that one reason why both the proposed and the final standards nevertheless arrived at an air quality standard of 1.5 ug Pb/m 3 was that the Administrator employed different statistical procedures in determining the target mean population blood level for the two standards. 90 While intimating that the change in methods was not unrelated to EPA's desire to arrive at a final standard of 1.5 ug Pb/m 3, LIA contends that the Administrator did not explain the reasons for this change in method as required by the Act. LIA further argues that the Administrator failed to reconcile his adoption of the statistical procedure used in calculating the final standard with his earlier suggestion (in the proposed standards) that this method may overestimate the degree to which the population mean should be below the threshold blood lead level. 42 Fed.Reg. 63079, JA 1483. LIA maintains that the Administrator should either have corrected for the use of such an overprotective procedure or explained the reasons why he chose not to do so. 90 We find LIA's contentions to be without substantial merit. In evaluating the significance of these claims, we cannot help noticing that in spite of the misgivings the Administrator had expressed about the lognormal statistical procedure, both LIA and its experts endorsed the use of this procedure in their comments on the proposed standards, and in fact used it to calculate the alternative standards that they recommended. 91 LIA's newly discovered objection to the use of this procedure thus really seems directed at the result it produced, rather than the mere fact that the Administrator used it. 92 Be that as it may, we are satisfied that the Administrator complied with the requirements of Section 307(d). At the time he issued the proposed standards the Administrator informed the public that use of lognormal statistical procedures was an alternative approach to the method he had employed in calculating the proposed standards, and he candidly explained that he had some reservations about the procedure. 42 Fed.Reg. 63079, JA 1483. A fair reading of the Administrator's discussion of the issue in the final regulations suggests that the comments on the proposed standards, including the comments submitted by LIA and its experts, persuaded him to reexamine his analysis, and to conclude that his earlier misgivings about the lognormal procedure were exaggerated. 43 Fed.Reg. 46252-46253, JA 2954-2955. And we are satisfied that it is possible to discern the reasons why the Administrator decided to adopt this procedure from his discussion. Id. 93 Accordingly, we must conclude that his discussion of the alternative methods and the reasons for the change in his approach were more than adequate to comply with the requirements of Section 307(d). 91 Finally, we have uncovered nothing in the record that indicates that the procedure is unreliable, or that the Administrator's decision to use it was unreasonable. Moreover, so far as we can tell, at no time during the course of the rulemaking proceedings did LIA raise any objections to, or even express any reservations about, the lognormal statistical procedure, this in spite of the misgivings the Administrator expressed in the proposed standards. 94 LIA did not even mention this issue in the petition it filed with EPA for reconsideration and stay of the lead standards. In these circumstances, remanding the regulations to EPA is totally unwarranted. LIA would do well to remember the Supreme Court's admonition that administrative proceedings should not be a game or a forum to engage in unjustified obstructionism by making (no reference to an issue) and then, after failing to    bring the matter to the agency's attention, seeking to have that agency determination vacated on the ground that the agency failed to consider (the matter)    . Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 435 U.S. 519, 553-554, 98 S.Ct. 1197, 1217, 55 L.Ed.2d 460 (1978).
92 Both LIA and St. Joe argue that the Administrator acted arbitrarily and capriciously by refusing to exclude lead particles that are insoluble, or non-respirable because of their size, from the ambient air quality standards, despite the fact that this issue was brought to his attention. LIA points out that the Criteria Document suggests that particle size and solubility may affect absorption of lead emissions through the lungs. 95 Petitioners conclude from this that the Administrator should have excluded insoluble and non-respirable particles from the standards, arguing that his failure to do so is particularly unfair to stationary emission sources because a significant portion of lead emissions from such sources are of this nature. St. Joe maintains that exclusion of these particles from the standards would minimize the adverse economic impact that the lead standards will have on the industry. And LIA argues that the Administrator's response to its comments on this issue ignored the question of solubility, thereby violating the requirement that he respond to significant comments and criticisms. 96 93 The Administrator offers a number of justifications for his decision not to exclude insoluble particles from the lead standards. First, the Administration dismisses LIA's suggestion that he was required to respond to the claim that certain lead particles are insoluble, pointing out that very little evidence was presented to support this claim and that such evidence as there was focused on high level occupational exposures and was therefore of little relevance to the task of setting air quality standards for the whole population. 97 He further notes that studies discussed in the Criteria Document indicate that non-industry-employed populations living in the vicinity of smelters show high blood lead levels and severe health impairment, 98 and he argues that these revelations refute the suggestion that a significant portion of emissions from such sources is insoluble and cannot be absorbed into the blood. Finally, EPA contends that even if the Administrator erred in not explaining why he rejected the suggestion that he exclude insoluble particles from the standard, this was at most a harmless procedural error which is not ground for remand of the lead standards. 94 The Administrator also offers several justifications for his decision not to exclude from the lead standards particles which are supposedly non-respirable because they are too large. He begins by noting that these larger particles those that are over one micron in size constitute only a very small percentage of overall airborne lead, 99 and that the data available on particle size retention in the lungs and subsequent absorption into the bloodstream is very limited. 100 Next, he points out that studies discussed in the Criteria Document and other evidence in the record indicate that these larger particles are also retained in the lungs and subsequently absorbed into the blood, although to a lesser degree than are smaller particles. 101 As such, some percentage of these larger particles are in fact respirable. In addition, the Administrator notes that the Criteria Document indicates that some portion of these larger particles are cleared from the throat and lungs, swallowed, and subsequently absorbed into the blood through the intestines. 102 95 These facts alone, the Administrator argues, are sufficient to sustain the decision not to distinguish between respirable and non-respirable particles. But he also points out that one other consideration played a role in the decision and provides further support for it. The Administrator explains that in areas with high concentrations of airborne lead, such as near lead smelters or major highways, much of the lead settles on the ground and may eventually become a source of human lead exposure through ingestion of lead-contaminated food or, particularly in children, placing hands and other contaminated objects in the mouth. 43 Fed.Reg. 46251, JA 2953. While acknowledging that some allowance was made for the contribution of non-air sources to blood lead levels in calculating the lead standards, the Administrator stresses that the 12 ug Pb/dl estimate is merely a minimum national average which does not reflect the true non-air contribution to blood lead levels near major emission sources. 103 The Administrator argues that for this reason, as well as the others previously stated, the decision not to exclude non-respirable particles was based on firm evidence that these particles do in fact contribute to blood lead levels. 96 We find that the Administrator's decision not to exclude insoluble particles from the lead standards was neither arbitrary nor capricious. The only information in the record on the issue of insolubility that petitioners are able to point to is a two-page discussion in St. Joe's comments on the proposed standards, 104 and even this discussion does not suggest that lead emissions from smelters or other industrial sources are insoluble. The Criteria Document merely states that the exposure of lead miners may depend to some extent on the solubility of the lead from the ores. CD 7-13, JA 1183. 105 Given the paucity of the information presented on this question, there was nothing arbitrary or capricious about the Administrator's decision to include such particles in the lead standards. Furthermore, LIA's contention that the Administrator was required to respond to its suggestion that insoluble particles should be excluded from the standards borders on the ludicrous. Section 307(d)(6)(B) only requires the Administrator to respond to significant comments. LIA's unsupported claim simply did not rise to the level of a comment which required a response from the Administrator. 97 We also conclude that the Administrator's decision not to exclude non-respirable particles from the lead standards was reasonable and supported by the record. The Criteria Document and other evidence in the record provide an adequate basis for his determination that some portion of these non-respirable particles are eventually absorbed into the bloodstream, and we agree with the Administrator that this fact alone is sufficient to demonstrate that his decision was neither arbitrary nor capricious. 106 As we have previously said, our task is at an end once we have ascertained that the agency has given reasoned consideration to all the material facts and issues, Greater Boston Television Corp. v. FCC, supra, 444 F.2d at 851, and that its decision is supported by the record. In this case we are satisfied that the Administrator's decision meets both tests. 107 VIII. PROCEDURAL OBJECTIONS 98 LIA also raises a variety of procedural objections to the lead standards rulemaking which, in its view, mandate remand of the lead standards to EPA. A. The Needleman Study 99 LIA argues that EPA erred by relying on a study submitted after the close of the public comment period without first allowing interested parties an opportunity to comment on it. The Needleman Study 108 examined the relationship between lead exposure measured by lead concentration in teeth and the psychological performance of young children. The study was first mentioned by Dr. Needleman when he referred briefly to a study he had conducted but had not yet published which, he said, indicated that children who have a mean blood lead level in the past of 35 micrograms per deciliter are significantly impaired on a large number of psychological outcomes when compared to children who had a mean level in the past of 24 micrograms, a 10 microgram difference   . JA 1626. The study itself was not submitted to EPA until June 7, 1978, after the close of the public comment period, and it was placed in the public docket on August 17, 1978. 100 LIA acknowledges that the Administrator did not mention the study in the preamble to the lead standards, but it nevertheless argues that EPA clearly relied on the study in formulating the final standards. In support of this allegation LIA notes that the preamble refers to the possibility that nervous system damage may occur in children even without overt symptoms of lead poisoning and the possibility that lead exposure resulting in blood lead levels previously considered safe may in fact influence the neurological development and learning abilities of the young child. 43 Fed.Reg. 46246, 46255, JA 2948, 2957. Both these statements, LIA claims, are paraphrases of Dr. Neddleman's findings. In addition, LIA points to a number of internal agency memoranda which purportedly show that the agency placed increasing reliance on the supposed low level neurological effects of lead exposure to justify the standard after it received the study. 109 101 EPA disclaims any reliance on the Needleman study in the formulation of the lead standards, pointing out that its conclusions about the effects of low level blood lead concentrations on the central nervous system and psychological performance were based on other evidence in the record. In addition, EPA notes that the lead standards were not in fact based on protecting children from neurological disorders at blood lead levels of 25-30 ug Pb/dl, which is what the Needleman study found, and points out that the only neurological effects that played a role in the Administrator's analysis were the central nervous system deficits which occur at blood lead levels of 50-60 ug Pb/dl. EPA also contends that none of the intra-agency discussions of the Needleman study to which LIA refers suggests that it was being relied on in the formulation of the standards. 110 Finally, EPA argues that soliciting comments on the Needleman study was unnecessary because comments on the study would not have changed the standard since the standard was not based on the study. 111 We agree. 102 In our view, LIA has not adduced any evidence to substantiate its claim that the Administrator relied on the Needleman study in formulating the lead air quality standards. We have already found that the Administrator's conclusions about the health effects of lead exposure including the statements in the preamble to which LIA refers are amply supported by the evidence in the record. Accordingly, we have no reason to reject the Administrator's disclaimer of reliance on the Needleman study. B. Cross-Examination 103 LIA's next procedural challenge stems from the denial of its request for an opportunity to cross-examine the medical and scientific witnesses who testified in support of the then-proposed standards at the public hearings on the lead standards. Acknowledging that the Act does not provide for cross-examination, LIA argues that this case presents a situation in which constitutional constraints or extremely compelling circumstances, see Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., supra, 435 U.S. at 543, 98 S.Ct. at 1211, justify imposition of additional procedures on an agency by a reviewing court. In support of this claim LIA first alleges that EPA failed to submit the scientific issues raised by the lead standards for review by the Independent Scientific Review Committee as required by statute, 112 thereby foreclos(ing) an independent, objective and unbiased review of the crucial medical and scientific data(.) 113 LIA further notes that this court has intimated that in some situations cross-examination of live witnesses on a subject of critical importance which could not be adequately ventilated under the general procedures may be appropriate even though not required by statute. International Harvester Corp. v. Ruckelshaus, 478 F.2d 615, 631 (D.C.Cir.1973). Finally, LIA contends that EPA itself demonstrated that it recognized the desirability of cross-examination on these issues by allowing intensive and at times hostile cross-examination of experts who testified against the proposed standards. 114 LIA argues that EPA offended fundamental notions of fairness implicit in due process, Home Box Office, Inc. v. FCC, 567 F.2d 9, 56 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 829, 98 S.Ct. 111, 54 L.Ed.2d 89 (1977), by refusing to permit similar cross-examination of experts who testified in favor of the standards. 104 As LIA itself acknowledges, it faces an extremely heavy burden in its attempt to persuade this court to impose on EPA a procedure that is not required by statute. The Supreme Court's decision in the Vermont Yankee case makes it absolutely clear that courts must be extremely reticent about going beyond the procedures established by Congress and requiring agencies to provide additional procedures in rulemaking proceedings. Judicial restraint in this matter is all the more important where, as here, Congress considered and deliberately decided against a particular procedure. Section 307(d)(5), 42 U.S.C. § 7607(d)(5), which governs the procedure at public hearings, was added by the 1977 Amendments to the Act. The House bill did in fact require an opportunity for cross-examination during public hearings, but the Senate bill did not. The Conference Committee adopted the House bill but deleted the cross-examination provision, substituting in its place a requirement that the hearing record remain open for 30 days after the close of the hearings in order to permit parties to submit rebuttal and supplemental information. See H.R.Rep.No.95-564, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 177-178 (Conference Report) (1977). We may not ignore Congress' judgment that the crucial issues in these standard-setting proceedings can be adequately ventilated without providing an opportunity for cross-examination. 105 But even assuming for purposes of argument that we could, in appropriate circumstances, require EPA to permit cross-examination on certain issues, LIA does not even come close to sustaining its burden of demonstrating that this is a proper case for imposition of this requirement. First, as we will show later, there simply is no truth to LIA's claim that there was no independent and objective review of the medical and other scientific issues raised by the task of setting air quality standards for lead. 115 Second, we fail to see what significant additional information cross-examination would have uncovered. LIA participated in every stage of the lead standards rulemaking. 116 It had ample opportunity to submit testimony and other evidence from its experts supporting its views about the health effects of lead exposure, and it did. Moreover, the statutory scheme enacted by Congress provided it with an opportunity to submit rebuttal information after the hearings on the proposed standards. In these circumstances LIA was afforded a meaningful opportunity to be heard and to controvert the evidence. Fairness demands no more. Ethyl Corp. v. EPA, supra, 541 F.2d at 54 n.124. 106 Indeed, the bankruptcy of LIA's claim of procedural deprivation is revealed by its attempt to mischaracterize the proceedings at the public hearings on the proposed standards by claiming that its witnesses were subjected to intensive and hostile cross-examination. The procedure for the hearings was spelled out at the beginning of the hearings by the EPA official who presided over the hearings. Each participant presented a statement, and thereafter members of the panel (which included non-EPA experts) were allowed to ask clarifying questions. 117 Moreover, the proceedings were very informal, the witnesses did not testify under oath, the formal rules of evidence did not apply, and most of the discussion between the participants was conducted on a first-name basis. A review of the transcript of the hearing shows that panel members did ask questions after the comments by experts who supported the proposed standards as well as after the statements by experts who testified against the standards. 118 It is this exchange of ideas among peers that LIA, by a strange process of metamorphosis, transforms into intensive and at times hostile cross-examination. Having ourselves reviewed the transcript of the public hearings we do not agree with LIA's characterization of what transpired. 107 Finally, LIA's attempt to cloak its cross-examination claim in constitutional garb by invoking due process is to no avail. While the Supreme Court noted in Vermont Yankee that constitutional constraints may justify imposition of additional procedures in a rulemaking when an agency is making a quasi-judicial determination, 119 the Court in that case rejected the suggestion that due process could require additional procedures such as an opportunity for cross-examination in a pure rulemaking proceeding, such as was involved in the instant case. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., supra, 435 U.S. at 542 & n.16, 98 S.Ct. at 1211. Accordingly, we must abide by the Supreme Court's admonition that we may not stray beyond the judicial province to explore the procedural format or to impose upon the agency (our) own notion of which procedures are 'best' or most likely to further some vague, undefined public good. Id. at 549, 98 S.Ct. at 1214. 120 EPA's hearing procedures complied with the Act's requirements. Nothing more was required. C. Independent Scientific Review Committee 108 One of the changes made by the 1977 Amendments to the Clean Air Act was the establishment of an Independent Scientific Review Committee (ISRC), to be appointed by the Administrator. This Committee was to complete a review of criteria documents and air quality standards by January 1, 1980, and thereafter at five-year intervals, and recommend appropriate changes to the Administrator. Section 109(d)(2), 42 U.S.C. § 7409(d)(2). LIA argues that the Administrator contravened the Act by failing to submit the Lead Criteria Document and the lead standards to the ISRC for review in spite of the fact that Congress created the Committee in order to provide an opportunity for objective evaluation of the scientific issues raised by the task of setting air quality standards. 109 The Administrator chartered the ISRC as a subcommittee of EPA's Science Advisory Board on January 18, 1978. By then EPA had already submitted three drafts of the Lead Criteria Document for review by the Lead Subcommittee of its Science Advisory Board and the public, the Subcommittee had substantially approved the third draft, and EPA, after considering the Subcommittee's comments, had released the final Lead Criteria Document. We agree with the Administrator that in these circumstances there was little to gain from seeking further review of the Criteria Document by the newly established ISRC. The Science Advisory Board's Lead Subcommittee was entirely composed of independent non-EPA experts, and its review of the various drafts of the Criteria Document was extremely thorough. 121 In addition, nothing in Section 109(d) required the Administrator to resubmit the Lead Criteria Document to the new committee. Accordingly, we reject LIA's claim that the Administrator violated the statute by not doing so. 110
111 LIA argues that the lead standards must be invalidated because of the participation of EPA Assistant Administrator David Hawkins in the rulemaking proceedings. Hawkins is head of EPA's Office of Air, Noise, and Radiation. In that capacity he supervised development of the lead (and other) air quality standards and formally recommended adoption of the 1.5 ug Pb/m 3 standard to the Administrator. 122 Before he joined EPA Hawkins was a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC). 123 LIA alleges that while at NRDC Hawkins was very much involved in the lead standard issue as an attorney for NRDC, and in this capacity represented NRDC on the lead standard issue    before Congress and the National Air Quality Advisory Committee   . 124 And it contends that because of this prior involvement Hawkins should have been disqualified from participating in the lead standards rulemaking proceedings under the well-established rule that a government official may not participate in a matter in which he earlier participated in a representative or investigative capacity either within or without the agency. 125 Citing this court's decision in Amos Treat & Co. v. SEC, 306 F.2d 260 (D.C.Cir.1962), 126 LIA argues that Hawkins' participation in the rulemaking proceedings violated its right to due process. In addition, LIA contends that Hawkins' participation deprived the lead standards proceedings of the appearance of fairness which this court in the Amos Treat case described as essential to the administrative process. The only appropriate remedy, in LIA's view, is for this court to vacate and remand the lead standards to EPA for further consideration without the participation of Assistant Administrator Hawkins. 112 Petitioner's objection to Hawkins' participation in the lead standards rulemaking faces a threshold obstacle which LIA must surmount before we can consider the merits of its claim. Section 307(d)(7)(B) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7607(d)(7)(B), provides that (o)nly an objection to a rule or procedure which was raised with reasonable specificity during the period for public comment (including any public hearing) may be raised during judicial review. Exceptions to this requirement are permitted if the objection concerns an issue that was of central relevance to the outcome of the rule, and if it was impracticable to raise the objection during the comment period or if the grounds for the objection only arose after the comment period had expired. Id. LIA did not raise the issue of Hawkins' disqualification until after the final regulations had been promulgated. It first brought the matter to the Administrator's attention on December 8, 1978, two months after the final regulations were published in the Federal Register, when it raised the issue in its Petition for Reconsideration and Stay of the order adopting the final lead air quality standards. 127 113 LIA presents a number of arguments in support of its view that its failure to present its objections to Hawkins' participation during the public comment period as required by statute should not preclude this court from considering the merits of the claim. First, it denies it was aware of any grounds for Hawkins' disqualification until November 27, 1978, when a newspaper reported that Hawkins was recusing himself from participating in an EPA decision concerning listing of arsenic as a hazardous pollutant under Section 112 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7412. 128 Noting that the general rule governing disqualification requires such claims to be raised as soon as practicable after a party has reasonable cause to believe that grounds for disqualification exist, Marcus v. Director, Office of Wkrs' Comp. Programs, 548 F.2d 1044, 1051 (D.C.Cir.1976), LIA argues that its conduct satisfied this test since its Petition for Reconsideration was filed two weeks after the newspaper report was published. In addition, it suggests that its challenge to Hawkins' participation falls within the statutory exemption for objections that arose after the public comment period. Second, LIA contends that the issues raised by Hawkins' participation in the proceedings are of sufficient importance to invoke this court's inherent jurisdiction and responsibility to decide whether there occurred here such an inroad upon the integrity of the decisional function of the independent agency as to require the court sua sponte to set aside the whole or any part of the regulations. American Public Gas Ass'n v. 114 1 (30) Taking petitioner's last argument first, we find LIA simply wrong in suggesting that Section 307(d)(9)(B), in allowing the court to set aside agency actions which violate constitutional rights, somehow releases it from the obligation to present its constitutional claims to the Agency in timely fashion, as specified by the Act. By the very terms of the statute Section 307(d)(7)(B)'s timeliness requirement applies to all objections, not just nonconstitutional challenges. Moreover, LIA's interpretation of the statute would give parties to Clean Air Act proceedings a powerful weapon for delaying and sandbagging Agency action. They could simply refrain from presenting their constitutional objections to the Agency's action until after the Agency had announced its final decision, then raise the issue before the reviewing court and obtain a reversal of the Agency's decision, and thereby compel the Agency to institute new proceedings. It is difficult to believe that a Congress that has expressed concern about the need for expeditious attainment of the goals of the Clean Air Act 130 would give parties affected by regulations issued under the Act such a potent weapon for delaying Agency action. Furthermore, LIA seriously misconstrues the decision in Porter v. Califano, supra, if it interprets it as suggesting that a litigant may present his constitutional objection to a reviewing court after failing to bring it to the Agency's attention in timely fashion. The Fifth Circuit's statement that the intent of Congress    was that courts should make an independent assessment of a citizen's claim of constitutional right when reviewing agency decision-making, 592 F.2d at 780, merely acknowledges that a reviewing court owes no deference to the agency's pronouncement on a constitutional question. It in no way suggests that a litigant who neglected to present his constitutional claim to the administrative agency in timely fashion may not be precluded from raising it before the reviewing court. 131 Accordingly, LIA's objection to Assistant Administrator Hawkins' participation in the lead standards rulemaking is properly before this court only if one of petitioner's other two arguments succeeds in preserving the challenge. 115 1 In connection with LIA's claim that it first had cause to believe Hawkins should have been disqualified after the final regulations had been published, it is important to note that LIA appears to advance two theories in support of its view that Hawkins' participation in the rulemaking was improper. Both theories are founded on a suggestion that Hawkins may have been biased. First, LIA invokes the doctrine of conflict of interest, pointing out that NRDC was responsible for the litigation which forced the Administrator to list lead as a Section 108 pollutant, and that NRDC was a participant in the lead standards rulemaking. 132 Under this theory the mere fact of Hawkins' past position with NRDC a participant in the proceedings would allegedly justify the inference of bias. Second, LIA makes much of the allegation that Hawkins himself had been very much involved in the lead standards issue while he was employed at NRDC and had represented NRDC in the matter. While it is possible to construe this claim as further support for LIA's conflict of interest charge, it also seems to suggest that LIA believes Hawkins' prior involvement with the lead standards raises a prejudgment question. Bias theoretically could be demonstrated under this theory by pointing to specific conduct on Hawkins' part that reveals he had made up his mind about the specific factual and legal issues raised by the standard-setting exercise before the rulemaking proceedings began. Although LIA makes little attempt to distinguish these theories, we believe they deserve separate consideration, and we conclude that only on the prejudgment claim can LIA surmount the threshold procedural barrier. 116 Accepting LIA's claim that Hawkins played a major role in EPA's decisionmaking, and assuming for the moment that LIA's allegation of conflict of interest can be sustained, we are unable to perceive any basis for LIA's suggestion that it could not have raised this issue with the Administrator during the public comment period. We must presume that LIA knew that NRDC was responsible for the litigation which led to the listing of lead as a Section 108 pollutant, if only because the preamble to the proposed lead standards specifically noted this fact. 133 Nor can LIA claim ignorance about Hawkins' involvement in the lead standards rulemaking at EPA. He was a member of the EPA panel that received testimony at the public hearings on the proposed standards, and he was specifically introduced as the Assistant Administrator for Air and Waste Management. 134 Representatives of LIA, including its counsel, were present at these hearings. Finally, it is reasonable to assume that LIA or any other group that was involved in Clean Air Act dealings with EPA knew that Hawkins had been employed by NRDC before he came to EPA. Thus LIA either knew or should have know about whatever possible conflict of interest problem may have been posed by Hawkins' participation in these proceedings before the comment period expired. Yet at no time during the two years that this rulemaking took place did LIA object to, or even ask any questions about, Hawkins' participation. If LIA really believed that Hawkins' participation raised a conflict of interest question, it would have raised the issue at the time. 135 Of course, it may be that LIA made a conscious tactical decision not to raise this question until after the rulemaking was completed, hoping to persuade the reviewing court to remand the standards to EPA and thereby delay the rulemaking. In any event, since LIA failed to present its conflict of interest claim to EPA in timely fashion, the statute precludes it from raising this issue before this court, and so we need not address the merits of LIA's conflict of interest theory. 136 117 To the extent that LIA's objection to Hawkins' participation in the lead standards rulemaking rests on a prejudgment theory, LIA's claim that it only became aware of the grounds for his disqualification after the final regulations were adopted is slightly more plausible. Thus, while even this claim is difficult to believe, 137 we have examined the merits of LIA's prejudgment argument. We conclude that in the circumstances presented by this case Hawkins' disqualification from the lead standards rulemaking is unwarranted. 118 First, nothing in the record indicates that Hawkins was involved with the particular issues raised in the lead standards rulemaking while he was at NRDC. In this connection it is important to spell out precisely what Hawkins' activities concerning lead were at NRDC. In the affidavit he filed with this court Hawkins affirms that he did not have any significant personal participation in NRDC's efforts to have EPA list lead as a Section 108 pollutant, including its judicial action against EPA, or any other NRDC activity that concerned lead. 138 Hawkins did represent NRDC at a meeting of the National Air Quality Advisory Committee held on November 14, 1974, when the NRDC lawyer responsible for the lead issue was unable to attend. 139 At this meeting he articulated NRDC's previously stated position that the Administrator was required to list lead as a Section 108 pollutant. 140 In addition, Hawkins testified on behalf of NRDC at a Senate Subcommittee hearing in 1975, and in his testimony referred to lead as an example of EPA's refusal to promulgate air quality standards for a pollutant even after the statutory criteria mandating a standard had been met. 141 This reference to the lead listing controversy was a small section of a prepared statement he read at the hearing, most of which dealt with the unrelated issue of possible amendments to the Act that would preempt state authority. 142 Hawkins resigned from NRDC before he joined EPA, and he never appeared in or in any way participated on NRDC's behalf in the EPA proceedings to establish air quality standards for lead. 119 This description of Hawkins' lead-related activities while at NRDC reveals two fatal deficiencies in LIA's objection to his participation in the lead standards rulemaking. First, LIA's contention that Hawkins was very much involved in the lead standards issue as an attorney for NRDC, 143 is a gross exaggeration. His articulation of NRDC's previously stated position on the lead listing controversy at two public forums hardly amounts to active involvement in this matter. Second, and more important, his testimony does not even come close to suggesting that Hawkins had prejudged the precise issues in this case because he never even adverted to them. Hawkins' statements addressed only the question whether the Act required EPA to list lead as a pollutant under Section 108, an issue that was ultimately resolved by the NRDC litigation. This question is entirely separate from the issues that were raised in the lead standards rulemaking. The former involved a narrow question of statutory interpretation whether or not the Administrator's function to list pollutants under Section 108 is mandatory once the conditions specified by the Act are satisfied. See Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Train, supra, 411 F.Supp. at 867. There were no factual issues in this controversy, since EPA conceded that it had made the factual determinations required by Section 108. Id. The lead standards rulemaking, on the other hand, was concerned with deciding the level at which air quality standards for lead should be set. While these proceedings also raised questions of statutory construction to be sure, of different provisions of the Act they primarily required decisions about policy and fact, most of which involved difficult scientific and technical questions 144 As such, the issues and administrative process involved in listing lead as a Section 108 pollutant are quite separate and different from the issues and process involved in setting ambient air quality standards for lead under Section 109. And any views that Hawkins may have held or expressed concerning the lead listing controversy provide no evidence of his having prejudged, or even having any prior involvement with, the issues that confronted him in the lead standards rulemaking. 145 120 LIA's inability to present any evidence to support a claim that Hawkins may have prejudged the precise factual and legal issues raised by the lead standards proceedings distinguishes this case from the prior involvement decisions of this and other circuits on which LIA relies. In Amos Treat & Co. v. SEC, supra, we ruled that it was improper for a member of the Commission to participate in an adjudicatory proceeding when, before he became a Commissioner, he had, as director of the Commission's Division of Corporate Finance, supervised the initiation and conduct of the investigation which resulted in the proceeding. 146 The court held that it was a violation of the notion of fair play inherent in due process for a member of an investigative or prosecuting staff (to) initiate an investigation, weigh its results, perhaps then recommend the filing of charges, and thereafter    participate in adjudicatory proceedings   . 306 F.2d at 266. And in American Cyanamid Co. v. FTC, 363 F.2d 757 (6th Cir. 1966), the Sixth Circuit disqualified Chairman Dixon of the FTC from an adjudicatory proceeding because he had previously served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of a Senate Subcommittee which had conducted an investigation into many of the same legal and factual issues that were before the Commission. Significantly, the court's decision in that case was based on the depth of the Subcommittee's investigation of the precise factual issues which were presented in the proceedings before the Commission, the very active role Mr. Dixon had played in the conduct of the investigation, and the uncontroverted evidence in the record which indicated that he had formed conclusions about the particular factual issues that were before the Commission. 147 121 In both these cases the intimate involvement of the decisionmakers in the investigation of the same factual and legal issues they were then called upon to adjudicate made it inevitable for a disinterested observer to conclude that they had in some measure adjudged the facts as well as the law    in advance of hearing (the cases). Cinderella Career & Finishing Schools, Inc. v. FTC, 425 F.2d 583, 591 (D.C.Cir.1970) (emphasis added), quoting Gilligan, Will & Co. v. SEC, 267 F.2d 461, 469 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 896, 80 S.Ct. 200, 4 L.Ed.2d 152 (1959). 148 In contrast, Hawkins' only involvement with the lead listing controversy was his appearance as a spokesperson on a public issue at a public forum, and even this involvement appears to have been partly fortuitous. Nothing in his statements suggests that he had prejudged any of the legal questions that were presented by the lead standards rulemaking. More important, insofar as both Amos Treat and American Cyanamid require a showing that the decisionmaker had formed conclusions about the particular facts of the case, nothing in the record indicates that Hawkins had taken a position apparently inconsistent with an ability to judge the factual issues that had to be resolved in setting air quality standards for lead fairly. And there is most certainly nothing in the record which suggests that Hawkins had prejudged the issue of the level at which the air quality standards for lead should be set. Accordingly, we find no basis for requiring Hawkins' disqualification from the lead standards proceedings on prejudgment grounds. 149 122 To be sure, by publicly articulating NRDC's position that the Administrator was required to list lead as a Section 108 pollutant Hawkins may have advocated promulgation of air quality standards for lead, and such advocacy might appear to make his participation in the subsequent EPA proceeding to set the standards improper. The short answer to this view is that, according to the cases, a decisionmaker is (not) disqualified simply because he has taken a position, even in public, on a policy issue related to a dispute, in the absence of a showing that he is not 'capable of judging a particular controversy fairly on the basis of its own circumstances.'  Hortonville Joint School Dist. No. 1 v. Hortonville Education Ass'n, 426 U.S. 482, 493, 96 S.Ct. 2308, 2314, 49 L.Ed.2d 1 (1976), quoting United States v. Morgan, 313 U.S. 409, 421, 61 S.Ct. 999, 1004, 85 L.Ed. 1429 (1941). This test has been applied in deciding disqualification questions involving judges as well as administrative agency decisionmakers participating in adjudicatory proceedings. See, e.g. Laird v. Tatum, 409 U.S. 824, 831-836, 93 S.Ct. 7, 11-14, 34 L.Ed.2d 50 (memorandum of Rehnquist, J.); Antonello v. Wunsch, 500 F.2d 1260, 1262 (10th Cir. 1974); Goodpasture v. TVA, 434 F.2d 760, 765 (6th Cir. 1970); Knoll v. Socony Mobil Oil Co., 369 F.2d 425, 430 (10th Cir. 1966) (judges); FTC v. Cement Institute, 333 U.S. 683, 702-703, 68 S.Ct. 793, 804, 92 L.Ed. 1010 (1948); Carolina Environmental Study Group v. United States, 510 F.2d 796, 801 (D.C.Cir.1975); Corning Glass Works v. FTC, 509 F.2d 293, 303-304 (7th Cir. 1975); American Cyanamid Co. v. FTC, supra, 363 F.2d at 765-767 (agency decisionmakers). 123 The rule could hardly be otherwise, particularly with respect to administrative agencies which are created for the specific purpose of accomplishing certain tasks. Agency decisionmakers are appointed precisely to implement statutory programs, and so inevitably have some policy preconceptions. See Carolina Environmental Study Group v. United States, supra, 510 F.2d at 801. As Professor Davis has pointed out: 124    A Trade Commissioner should not be neutral on anti-monopoly policies, and a Securities and Exchange Commissioner should not be apathetic about the need for governmental restrictions.    125    The theoretically ideal administrator is one whose broad point of view is in general agreement with the policies he administers    . ( 150 126 To be sure, a different question may be presented if it can be shown that an agency decisionmaker has exhibited the type of single-minded commitment to a particular position that makes him or her totally incapable of giving fair consideration to the issues that are presented for decision. This is not, however, such a case. Nothing in the record suggests that Assistant Administrator Hawkins was incapable of considering the issues raised by the lead standards proceedings fairly. 127 Thus far we have examined Hawkins' participation in the lead standards proceedings under the prejudgment test that has been applied in adjudicatory proceedings. It is, however, beyond dispute that due process may impose different procedural requirements in an adjudication than are imposed in a rulemaking. United States v. Florida East Coast R. Co., 410 U.S. 224, 244-245, 93 S.Ct. 810, 820-21, 35 L.Ed.2d 223 (1973); United States v. Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp., 406 U.S. 742, 92 S.Ct. 1941, 32 L.Ed.2d 453 (1976). Our opinion in Amos Treat explained that (j)ust exactly how the concept of 'due process' is to be applied will vary with the type of proceeding involved    , Amos Treat & Co. v. SEC, supra, 306 F.2d at 263, and it discussed at length the reasons why the result in that case was mandated by the adjudicatory nature of the SEC proceedings. Id. at 263-264. See also American Cyanamid Co. v. FTC, supra, 363 F.2d at 766-767. LIA is unable to point to any cases involving rulemaking proceedings in which a court has held that a decisionmaker's prior involvement with the issues presented in the proceedings, whether within or without the agency, is sufficient ground for requiring his or her disqualification. 151 To the contrary, a division of this court recently held that Cinderella's prejudgment test does not apply to rulemaking proceedings. 152 Ass'n of Nat'l Advertisers, Inc. v. FTC, 627 F.2d 1151 (D.C.Cir.1979). Judge Tamm's opinion for the court contains an illuminating discussion of important distinctions between rulemaking and adjudication, and the consequences of these differences for standards of disqualification, which we will not repeat here. See id., 627 F.2d at 1162-1165, at 1170-1174. See also id., 627 F.2d at 1175-1181 (Leventhal, J., concurring). And under the prejudgment test for rulemaking announced in that case a clear and convincing showing of an unalterably closed mind on a matter critical to disposition of the proceeding there can be no question but that Hawkins' disqualification from the lead standards rulemaking is unwarranted. 153