Opinion ID: 438818
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Compliance with NEPA EIS Requirements

Text: 20 The district court's review of an EIS is governed by the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 706(2)(D); agency action may be set aside if it was undertaken without observance of procedures required by law. Lathan v. Brinegar, 506 F.2d 677, 693 (9th Cir.1974) (en banc). Courts are not to flyspeck EISs. The preparation of such a statement necessarily calls for judgment, and that judgment is the agency's. But the courts can, and should, require full, fair, bona fide compliance with NEPA. Id. 21 We review the district court's conclusion that the EIS is adequate to determine whether that conclusion is based upon an erroneous legal standard or upon clearly erroneous findings of fact. Save Lake Washington v. Frank, 641 F.2d 1330, 1334 (9th Cir.1981). 22

23 NEPA, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 4321 et seq. (1976 and Supp. V 1981) and EPA regulations require the EIS to discuss the no action status quo alternative. See 40 C.F.R. 6.203(c). This alternative is the standard by which the reader may compare the other alternatives' beneficial and adverse impacts related to the applicant doing nothing. Id. The Hyperion EIS discusses the dewatering and trucking interim project, which was never implemented, as the no action alternative. Kilroy argues that it clearly should have presented the existing outfall disposal method as the no action alternative, and that this omission is fatal to the EIS. 24 While Kilroy's argument has some facial appeal, it suffers from two major flaws. First, the EIS does include some discussion of the existing outfall disposal method in its description of the interim project. The dewatering and trucking interim project requires anaerobically digested sludge in excess of dewatering capacity to be discharged to the ocean through existing outfall systems. Dewatered sludge in excess of downstream composting capacity would be trucked to sanitary landfills for disposal. Therefore, although the existing outfall disposal method was not depicted as the status quo alternative, it was discussed because the design of the interim project incorporated use of the existing system. 4 25 The second and greater flaw in Kilroy's argument is that it overlooks the relevant legal restrictions imposed on the existing outfall disposal method. Over the years, Congress has shown increasingly less tolerance for the discharge of sludge into marine waters. The strongest expression of this policy came in December 1981 when Congress amended the Clean Water Act by the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Construction Grant Amendments of 1981. H.R. 4503, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1981, p. 2629, 2656, 127 Cong.Rec. H 9515 (daily ed. Dec. 14, 1981). The amendments address the question of discharges into territorial waters 5 and provide, inter alia, that [n]o permit issued under this subsection [Sec. 301(h) ] shall authorize the discharge of sewage sludge into marine waters. Id., Sec. 22(c), 127 Cong.Rec. at H 9518, codified at 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1311(h). The Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of Conference states that under this amendment no permit issued under Section 301(h) shall authorize the discharge of sludge into marine waters from outfalls. 127 Cong.Rec. at H 9520. Thus, once the NPDES permit currently authorizing the seven mile Hyperion outfall expires, it cannot be renewed. Congress' express intent is to terminate all sludge discharge through outfalls. 26 In addition to the legislative barrier to outfall sludge disposal, the City of Los Angeles entered into a consent decree with the United States which requires the City to terminate all ocean sludge disposal no later than July 1, 1985. United States v. City of Los Angeles, (C.D.Cal. No. CV77-304-HP). The current NPDES permit is consistent with the consent decree deadline. 27 We agree that these legal barriers to the continuance of the present method of disposal do not automatically render discussion of that alternative unnecessary. In some cases an alternative may be reasonable, and therefore required by NEPA to be discussed in the EIS, even though it requires legislative action to put it into effect. See Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Morton, 458 F.2d 827, 837 (D.C.Cir.1972). But in deciding whether an alternative is reasonable, we may certainly take into account the strength and vitality of legislation that forbids it. We do not suppose Congress intended an agency to devote itself to extended discussion of the environmental impact of alternatives so remote from reality as to depend on, say, the repeal of the antitrust laws. Id; see Sierra Club v. Adams, 578 F.2d 389, 396 (D.C.Cir.1978). 28 Here Congress has made a considered and recent choice to prohibit sludge discharge through ocean outfalls. See 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1311(h). While that legislation may not be quite as impregnable as the antitrust laws, it nevertheless renders the outfall alternative substantially remote from reality. It is buttressed by a consent decree that forbids continuance of the existing outfall disposal. In the face of these obstacles, we cannot conclude that continuance of outfall disposal was a reasonable alternative that was required to be set out in the EIS. Nor would it have been accurate to depict continuance of the outfall disposal method as the no action alternative. As the district court stated in its order granting summary judgment: 29 The Water Act and the consent decree prohibit the City from disposing of sludge into the ocean from the Hyperion outfall. Even if the City took no action to develop a new disposal system--the situation the no action alternative is required to describe--the City would still be prohibited from disposal of sludge into the ocean through the Hyperion outfall and would have to use some alternative method such as the disposal of dewatered sludge into sanitary landfills. Thus, the no action alternative statement accurately describes what would occur if the City took no action toward developing a new sludge disposal project. 30 Thus the dewatering and trucking interim project with its concomitant discussion of the existing outfall was an appropriate and reasonable benchmark against which to measure the other available alternatives. The discussion was sufficient to enable the decision-makers, with public participation, to make a reasoned choice. See California v. Block, 690 F.2d 753, 761 (9th Cir.1982); Save Lake Washington v. Frank, 641 F.2d at 1334.
31 Kilroy claims that both the EIS and the district court dealt too superficially with the ocean dumping alternatives. The district court's analysis, however, properly rests on whether ocean dumping is a reasonable alternative and whether, in the context of this case, it was accorded a reasonable discussion in the EIS. See Sierra Club v. Adams, 578 F.2d at 396. The district court concluded that the extent to which the EIS should have addressed ocean disposal alternatives depended on the extent of the restrictions imposed by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. Secs. 1251 et seq., the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, 33 U.S.C. Secs. 1412 et seq., (1976 & Supp. V 1981), the NPDES permit, and the consent decree. 32 After analyzing the legal restrictions, the district court stated that while it may be reasonable to require the EIS to mention ocean disposal, it would be unreasonable and wasteful to require extensive development and discussion of such a remote alternative. We agree. See State of California v. Block, 690 F.2d at 767. In addition, the district court found that, contrary to Kilroy's claim, the EIS did discuss ocean disposal in considerable detail. 33 The district court's conclusion relied in part on prior opinions issued in earlier stages of this litigation which harmonized the Marine Protection Act and the Clean Water Act with NEPA. Although the Marine Protection Act does not completely ban deep ocean dumping, the district court's prior opinion stated: 34 [I]t would mock Congress' long-range comprehensive goal of water quality improvement to require the EPA to order the cessation of sludge disposal from deep ocean outfalls while requiring the EPA to consider, as an alternative disposal method, the dumping of this same sludge by vessel into the deep ocean at the pipe's end or at any other place on the face of the water. 35