Court Opinion

ID: 9460041
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:38:41.887889+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:26.679669
License: Public Domain

LAY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
This court’s approval of the FHWA’s delegation of the preparation of a preliminary environmental impact statement (EIS) to the sponsoring state agency not only violates the spirit and purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq., but the Congressional command as well. As the majority decision acknowledges, the Department of Transportation’s regulations now provide that the preliminary EIS is to be prepared by the sponsoring state agency, and it is to be approved or disapproved by the FHWA and then circulated to appropriate interested agencies for comment; thereafter, the final EIS with all comments is to be reviewed by the FHWA, which will modify it as necessary or when appropriate adopt it as its own. Although administrative interpretation of a statute is entitled to great deference, the ultimate question as to . whether an agency procedure violates NEPA is one of law and must be resolved by this court. The agency cannot be its own self-arbiter of whether it exceeds its delegated power. See, e. g., Social Security Board v. Nierotko, 327 U.S. 358, 369, 66 S.Ct. 637, 90 L.Ed. 718 (1946); United States v. New England Coal & Coke Co., 318 F.2d 138, 143 (1st Cir. 1963); cf. Committee to Stop Route 7 v. Volpe, 346 F.Supp. 731 (D.Conn. 1972).
Section 102(2) (C) of NEPA, 42 U.S. C. § 4332(2) (C), specifically provides that a detailed EIS must be prepared by “the responsible Federal official" and that this statement “shall accompany the proposal through the existing agency review processes.” I fail to see how this explicit language of NEPA can be read to mean that information-gathering and preparation of the statement may be delegated to a state agency with a vital interest in the outcome of the investigation. NEPA does not set up the responsible federal agency as a review board of the contemplated state action, simply making suggestions here, modifying there, with the idea of either giving ultimate approval or rejection to the plan. On the contrary, the Act is explicit that it is the federal agency concerned with *856major federal action which must prepare the environmental impact study and develop alternatives to the proposed action.
The majority’s construction of the Act is in derogation of the statutory scheme. NEPA requires that prior to preparing an EIS, the responsible federal official consult with and obtain comments from any federal agency “which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved.” Thereafter, the responsible federal officer is to take the preliminary EIS, along with the comments and views of “Federal, State and local agencies,” and submit these combined views “through the existing agency review processes.”
This express statutory procedure thus contemplates a preliminary EIS by the responsible federal official to be submitted along with the state agency’s comments and views. This is a far cry from simply reviewing a state highway department’s study. It requires affirmative and initial federal action. As has been recognized, there exists a fundamental difference between the responsibility for fact-gathering and making an independent objective appraisal of environmental impact as opposed to reviewing the self-serving declarations of a biased study by a state agency. Greene County Planning Board v. Federal Power Commission, 455 F.2d 412, 420 (2d Cir. 1972); Comment, The 'Preparation of Environmental Impact Statements by State Highway Commissions, 58 Iowa L. Rev. 1268, 1270 (1973).1 Despite this difference, the majority opinion finds that there was substantial compliance with NEPA since the FHWA did not merely “rubber stamp” the state report but in fact required additional information to be added to the final statement. This overlooks the necessity and importance of federal preparation of the EIS early in the decisionmaking process. There exists no real prophylactic, late in the game, to overcome the possibility of a state’s biased presentation of environmental factors.
*857In Greene County, supra at 420, this problem was exposed by Judge Kaufman, who observed:
The Federal Power Commission has abdicated a significant part of its responsibility by substituting the statement of PASNY for its own. The Commission appears to be content to collate the comments of other federal agencies, its own staff and the inter-venors and once again to act as an umpire. The danger of this procedure, and one obvious shortcoming, is the potential, if not likelihood, that-the applicamt’s statement will be based upon self-serving assumptions. -X -X- -X-
Moreover, although decisions like Scenic Hudson I have greatly expanded the concept of standing to challenge administrative action, interve-nors generally have limited resources, both in terms of money and technical expertise, and thus may not be able to provide an effective analysis of environmental factors. It was in part for this reason that Congress has compelled agencies to seek the aid of all available expertise and formulate their own position early in the review process, (emphasis added).
Moreover, the Second Circuit emphasized the need for the federal agency to formulate its own EIS early in the agency review process. Otherwise, “alternatives might be lost as the applicant’s statement tended to produce a status quo syndrome.” Greene County, supra at 421.
Circuit Judge Oakes, sitting by special assignment on the district court in Vermont, faced the identical issue before us. He rejected any attempt to circumvent initial federal responsibility in Conservation Society of Southern Vermont, Inc. v. Secretary, 362 F.Supp. 627 (D. Vt.1973). He observed:
In Vermont, at least, the Vermont Highway Department has the duty, as testified to by Speaker of the House Kennedy and by Commissioner of Highways Gray, to follow legislative mandate in regard to proposed highway construction, and the construction here contemplated was legislatively mandated in 1968. Thus, it is impossible for the Vermont Highway Department not to be an advocate of legislatively mandated construction and still act consistently with its duty as a state agency. This being true, delegation of the preparation of an EIS to the VHD raises the danger that the EIS will reflect “self-serving assumptions” and brings the case directly within Greene County.
-X- * -X- * * *
It is true that the VHD will receive in the ordinary course of events primary system money for Vermont highways whether the particular highway here proposed is built or not but this is immaterial; the VHD will want to see that money spent where the Vermont legislature wants it spent, and to that extent the VHD is necessarily an advocate of the particular project.
Id. at 631.
Judge Kaufman, in Greene County, supra at 419, of 455 F.2d, quoting from Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission, 354 F.2d 608, 620 (2 Cir. 1965), cert, denied sub nom., Consolidated Edison Co. v. Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference, 384 U.S. 941, 86 S.Ct. 1462, 16 L.Ed.2d 540 (1966), aptly described the role of the federal agency under NEPA:
In this case, as in many others, the Commission has claimed to be the representative of the public interest. This role does not permit it to act as an umpire blandly calling balls and strikes for adversaries appearing before it; the right of the public must receive active and affirmative protection at the hands of the Commission.
The purpose and spirit of NEPA in requiring an EIS on all major federal proposals commands a qualitative objective evaluation of any adverse environmental effects the plan may have. Such a study requires an independent investí-*858gation, free from the biased views of an interested party. If Congress had intended the federal agency to sit as a board of review it could have simply said so. It did not. It made clear that the federal agency has an affirmative obligation to make a detailed investigation and study. This cannot be accomplished by a hindsight review of facts gathered by an interested party.
. I would reverse and require the FHWA to independently investigate and prepare its own detailed EIS in conformity with the requirements of NEPA.

. In a thorough note in the' Iowa Law Review, the author points up the deficiencies in the delegation procedure:
First, he writes:
Available evidence, including testimony by the prior Secretary of Transportation, John Volpe, indicates that state highway commissions do not affirmatively seek a neutral and unbiased judgment of the environmental aspects of a proposed project. These bodies tend to view environmental impact statements as mere procedural paperwork which will justify prior decisions made on the basis of traditional engineering and cost-analysis concepts.
Second, he observes:
[T]he Iowa Highway Commission’s concession of its inability to plan alternate transportation modes highlights one of the primary reasons why it is impossible for the Commission to issue an impact statement fully complying with NEPA. It is unrealistic to surmise that other means of transportation will be given an equitable evaluation by an agency which has no authority, experience, or expertise in any transportation system except highways.
And finally, it is said:
A final problem with preparation of impact statements by highway commissions is their bias towards freeways and expressways. For example, in Iowa, many primary roads are in extremely poor condition. Yet, the Iowa Highway Commission continues to spend the majority of its construction budget for freeways and expressways. The Freeway 518 — 4 impact statement does not even mention the feasibility of constructing a new modern two-lane primary road or reconstructing the existing road. The only alternatives presented are different routes for the freeway. This preference for freeways and expressways continues unabated despite a recent Iowa Poll indicating that the overwhelming majority of Iowans oppose expending more money on freeways and expressways than1 on primary roads. Additionally, freeways and expressways have been under attack in numerous locations throughout Iowa. Nonetheless, in its Freeway 518 — 4 impact statement, the Iowa Highway Commission blandly asserts that the needs of the traveling pjiblic are best served by a freeway-expressway system.
Comment, The Preparation of Environmental Impact Statements by State Highway Commissions, 58 Iowa L.Rev. 1268, 1278-1280 (1973).