Court Opinion

ID: 9550120
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:29:59.921834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:14:03.360368
License: Public Domain

Williams, J.
(dissenting) — The most important point of law in the case is whether the evidence of irreparable damage to the countryside should have been considered by the court in the light of the Environmental Protection Act of 1971. It is no longer enough in a condemnation proceeding for the administrative agency and the court to consider *662only the necessity of the public use for which the land is sought — in this case a highway. The agency and the court must also consider RCW 43.21C.020 which specifically requires:
ail agencies of the state to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of state policy, to improve and coordinate plans, functions, programs, and resources to the end that the state and its citizens may:
(a) Fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations;
(b) Assure for all people of Washington safe, healthful, productive, and esthetieally and culturally pleasing ■surroundings;
(c) Attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without degradation, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable and unintended consequences;
(d) Preserve important historic, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage;
(e) Maintain, wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity and variety of individual choice;
(f) Achieve a balance between population and resource use which will permit high standards of living and a wide sharing of life’s amenities; and
(g) Enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources.
(3) The legislature recognizes that each person has a fundamental and inalienable right to a healthful environment 'and that each person has a responsibility to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the environment.
The highway commission, as an agency of the state, must follow the imperative of the act and accept responsibility for the environment, as well as the highways. Brooks v. Volpe, 460 F.2d 1193 (9th Cir. 1972); Lathan v. Volpe, 455 F.2d 1111 (9th Cir. 1971). Accord, Morningside-Lenox Park Ass’n v. Volpe, 334 F. Supp. 132 (N.D. Ga. 1971); Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. v. Corps of Engineers of U.S. Army, 325 F. Supp. 728 (E.D. Ark. 1971). See also Calvert *663Cliffs’ Coordinating Comm., Inc. v. United States Atomic Energy Comm’n, 449 F.2d 1109 (D.C. Cir. 1971); Zabel v. Tabb, 430 F.2d 199 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 910 (1971).
The contention of the highway commission that the application of the environmental act to this case would be retroactive is fully answered in the two Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cases: Brooks v. Volpe, supra, and Lathan v. Volpe, supra.
The environmental question was fairly raised during the trial which commenced subsequent to the date the environmental act went into effect. The parties in interest were before the court. The court should not have restricted itself to the evidence concerning the public necessity for the roadway only, but should have considered also the results of the impact of the project upon the environment.
I dissent.
Petitions for rehearing denied February 22, 1973 and March 26,1973.
Review denied by Supreme Court May 1, 1973.