Court Opinion

ID: 8909273
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 02:25:14.328091+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:08:24.109301
License: Public Domain

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the majority’s opinion, but wish to add my views concerning the right of the Port to comment on environmental impact statements. In this case the Port’s environmental interest seems remote and therefore it may have no right to comment, but we should avoid any conclusion that the right to comment is limited to those agencies which are concerned with a broad spectrum of environmental issues. If responsibility for a particular subject that may have environmental consequences in some cases has been allocated to a state agency, that entity is entitled to comment when its area of control and expertise is affected by a federal project. This is so even if the agency’s principal jurisdiction and responsibilities do not concern environmental problems. The Port of Astoria routinely comments in EIS drafts for projects of direct concern to it, and I do not think this opinion should be understood to deny its right to comment in an appropriate case.