Calvert Cliffs' Coordinating Committee, Inc. v. United States Atomic Energy Commission

449 F.2d 1109 (1971)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

NEPA is cast in terms of a general mandate and broad delegation of authority to new and old administrative agencies. Section 101(b), imposes an explicit duty on federal officials, the Act provides that 'it is the continuing responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy,' to avoid environmental degradation, preserve 'historic, cultural, and natural' resources, and promote 'the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without * * * undesirable and unintended consequences.' NEPA makes environmental protection a part of the mandate of every federal agency and department. The greatest importance of NEPA is to require D and other agencies to consider environmental issues just as they consider other matters within their mandates. Agencies must 'identify and develop methods and procedures * * * which will ensure that presently unquantified environmental amenities and values may be given appropriate consideration in decisionmaking along with economic and technical considerations.' 'Environmental amenities' will often be in conflict with 'economic and technical considerations.' The language in section 102 is intended to assure that all agencies of the Federal Government shall comply with the directives set out in said section 'to the fullest extent possible' under their statutory authorizations and that no agency shall utilize an excessively narrow construction of its existing statutory authorizations to avoid compliance.' In response, D created a policy that would require all those seeking to build a nuclear power plant to submit reports that assess environmental impact. D would then take that report and create a detailed statement as per NEPA. As part of the process of approval the environmental reports so prepared would accompany the request through the review process. No one was required to review anything about any environmental issues unless someone in the proceeding raised an objection. P sued D, claiming that this procedure violated NEPA.