Court Opinion

ID: 9426154
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:16:59.587698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:59.368042
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
dissenting in part.
I agree with Parts I, II, and III of the Court’s opinion that the cases are properly here and that the District Court had jurisdiction over appellees’ complaint. On the merits, I would, however, affirm.
This litigation presents a history of foot dragging by the ICC, as other parties to proceedings before it, including other federal agencies, have attempted to prod it into compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The “final impact statement” that the Court holds adequate presents a melange of statistics that purport to show that an increase on the transportation rates of recyclable materials will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. The Commission’s “analysis” has been thoroughly discredited by the comments of other federal agencies, including not only the Environmental Protection Agency and the Council on Environmental Quality, whose principal concerns are environmental, but also the Department of Commerce and the General Services Administration. The Commission has responded to the adverse comments by papering over the defects they identify, rather than dealing with the substance of the deficiencies.
The environmental effects at stake are described in my opinion when the case was here before. United States v. SCRAP, 412 U. S. 669, 699-714 (1973). Appellees oppose increases on the rates for recyclables because increases in transportation costs will retard the use of recy*329cled products and thereby contribute to further depletion of our natural resources. The Commission responded initially by asserting that an increase in transportation charges would have no effect upon the demand for scrap materials, and cited in support of this proposition statistics showing that during a multiyear period when freight rates were rising, prices of recyclables fluctuated widely and consumption generally increased. See Increased Freight Rates and Charges, 1972, 341 I. C. C. 288, 397-402 (1972). The fallacy of the Commission’s argument was exposed by the Council on Environmental Quality, commenting on the price of and demand for ferrous metal scrap:
“[S]crap prices are determined by a number of factors operating simultaneously, among them are the aggregate demand for steel, the price and transportation costs of iron ore, the supply of scrap, as well as the transportation cost of scrap and other factors. It would be surprising indeed, if, in light of the number of factors constantly at work in the scrap market, a close and simple relationship existed between scrap price movements and freight rate changes.
“Nor does data which shows a constantly growing consumption of scrap despite rate increases prove that freight rate decisions are inconsequential. Growth might have been materially higher or lower had . . . rate decisions been different. What is needed in each instance is a multivariate analysis to isolate the effect of transportation costs on scrap prices and the quantity consumed.” 1
Yet the Commission persisted in these assertions, and it failed to make the price sensitivity studies the Council *330recommended. See Ex parte No. 281, Increased Freight Rates and Charges, 1972, 346 I. C. C. 88, 145-149 (1973).
Appellees also argued to the Commission that the rate increases for recyclables exacerbated an existing discrimination against these materials in the rate structure. The Commission expressed doubt that any unjustified discrimination existed, arguing that any disparity was probably attributable to differing costs. But a Department of Transportation Study cited in the presentation made by the Environmental Protection Agency had concluded that ratios of revenue to cost were higher for certain recyclable commodities than for their virgin substitutes, causing the former to bear more than their “share” of the cost of service. The Commission’s own statistics supported this conclusion to some extent. Comparing the revenue-cost ratios for ferrous scrap and for iron ore, the Commission found that the scrap bore the lesser share of variable costs, but a greater share of all costs — fixed and variable — than did ore. Id., at 124. The Commission did not inquire further into this disparity.
The Court implicitly concedes the shortcomings of the Commission’s analysis, relying, as the Commission did, on the prospect that the environmental issues would receive further study in Ex parte 270, a proceeding initiated to investigate the entire freight rate structure. But NEPA commands an agency to consider environmental effects before it takes a “major federal action,” not to relegate consideration to further proceedings after action is taken, particularly where there is no assurance that a prompt conclusion will be forthcoming. When the Commission terminated its proceedings in Ex parte 281, Ex parte 270 had been in progress for more than two years. The scope of the investigation had not been fully defined at that time, and the prospect of any *331prompt illumination of the environmental issues was certainly remote. The Commission took no particular steps to expedite completion of that phase of the investigation that would embrace the environmental issues controverted in Ex parte 381. Instead, the Commission was content to put. aside these issues, offering a vague assurance that they would be taken up again in the course of what promised to be a protracted proceeding. Today, nearly two years later, we are not apprised of any conclusions as to environmental issues reached as a result of Ex parte 370; we do not even know whether a completion date is in sight. Meanwhile, environmental damage — irreversible damage — which appellees alleged with considerable supporting evidence may be continuing, with its magnitude unknown.
NEPA is more than a technical statute of administrative procedure. It is a commitment to the preservation of our natural environment. The statute’s language conveys the urgency of that task. The District Court acted responsibly when it refused to accept the Commission’s representations that a complete treatment of the environmental issues was beyond its capability and therefore should not be required. One purpose of NEPA was to force agencies to acquire expertise in environmental matters, even if attention to parochial matters in the past had not demanded this capability.2 The Court today excuses the Commission’s performance. The District Court, following the spirit of NEPA, told the Commission to do better. I would affirm its •judgment.

 Attachment to letter from Russell E. Train, Chairman of Council on Environmental Quality, to ICC, Oct. 30, 1972. App. 572.

 Section 102 (2) (A) of NEPA requires all agencies to “utilize a systematic, interdisciplinary approach which will insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decisionmaking which may have an impact on man’s environment.” 42 U. S. C. §4332 (2)(A). (Emphasis added.)