Court Opinion

ID: 9466155
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:07:08.838787+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:34.909245
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The substantive burden of this case is the allocation of available gas supplies in the event of shortages. The establishment of a policy which creates the possibility of reliance on future uncertain supplies became the focal point of the dispute. The Commission entered an order which it later came to believe had created uncertainty among the industries which are competing users and who inevitably will be allocated superior and inferior positions in that competition. The prevailing interpretation was one apparently hostile to the housing industry. The Commission, acting sua sponte, with no provision for notice and comment, entered an order “clarifying” its earlier order — a “clarification” which, at the very least, could be said to permit the housing industry to believe that it would be protected in times of shortage if it continued to expand. Without the development of a record, the Commission specifically eliminated from future consideration certain previously contemplated policy outcomes. The industrial petitioner, believing quite correctly that in times of shortage it would be placed in a position inferior to residential users, seeks review of that order.
I do not believe we can justify treating the decision with all of its practical bite as a nonfinal order merely because there is potential for some later revisions. “The principle of finality in administrative law is not governed by the administrative agency’s characterization of its action, but rather by a realistic assessment of the nature and effect of the order sought to be reviewed.” Fidelity Television, Inc. v. F. C. C., 163 U.S.App.D.C. 441, 446, 502 F.2d 443, 448 (D.C. Cir. 1974) (footnote omitted). Finality is determined “in a pragmatic way.” Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 149, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967). We should not permit administrative agencies to insulate their arbitrary actions from judicial review by merely asserting the existence of an ongoing process. I do not believe it is “a realistic assessment” to conclude that an order which either encourages or permits substantial new gas user connection in times of recurring gas supply shortages would not do final and irrevocable damage to anyone who will be placed in an allocation position inferior to *335those new hookups. I would review the order on the merits.