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Show CHAPTER SIXTEEN Administrative Procedures TO CARRY OUT statutory policies applicable to public lands, it is necessary to have administrative rules and regulations that set forth clearly the manner in which interested members of the public may have their points of view taken into consideration. Similarly, it is essential that those who come in contact with government agencies, seeking rights or privileges that are provided for by Congress, have confidence that they will be dealt with fairly. The rules and regulations that comprise administrative procedures are frequently a citizen's only contact with his government. Nevertheless, this Commission heard from members of its Advisory Council, from Governors' Representatives, and from many of the witnesses who testified at its public hearings that opportunities for public participation were inadequate, and that many citizens had no confidence in being treated fairly by the public land management agencies of the United States Government. This circumstance alone underscores the significance of the subject matter of this chapter. The general pattern of legislation providing for public and private rights and privileges to the public lands and their resources has been for Congress to state general policies and to delegate to the Federal land managing agencies broad discretion to implement the statutory policies. The procedural mechanisms by which administrative implementation is carried out take two forms: (1) rulemaking, or the development and promulgation of substantive and procedural regulations designed to announce the standards under which a statute will be administered; and (2) cedures for the Commission confirmed the existence adjudication, or the application of statutes and regulations to particular factual situations on a case-by-case basis to determine whether applicants are entitled to the various rights or privileges provided for by law. The study report prepared on Administrative Procedures for the Commission 1 confirmed the existence 1 University of Virginia, Administrative Procedures and the Public Lands. PLLRC Study Report, 1969. of serious procedural problems related by witnesses at the Commission's public meetings and in recommendations from members of the Advisory Council and the Governors' Representatives. It is obvious that procedures should not only assure efficient and expeditious implementation of the statutory programs, but should embody proper regard for traditional due process concepts of fairness and equity between the Government and its citizens. Further, we consider it essential to avoid a piecemeal approach to procedural problems and have made our recommendations within a unitary framework which recognizes the close interrelationship among the rule-making, adjudication, and judicial oversight functions. Need for Rules and Regulations Recommendation 108: Congress should require public land management agencies to utilize rulemaking to the fullest extent possible in interpreting statutes and exercising delegated discretion, and should provide legislative restrictions to insure compliance with this goal. The lack of specific and meaningful guidelines in most of the public land laws is a significant contributing factor underlying many procedural complaints. Elsewhere in this report we have recommended more specific statutory guidelines as essential to improved public land management. We recognize, however, that as a practical matter detailed rules often cannot or should not be written into statutes, so that varying degrees of discretion must necessarily be delegated to the administrative agencies. This delegated discretionary authority should be exercised to the maximum extent possible through regulations promulgated for the guidance of the public in a timely manner, rather than on a case-by-case decisional basis. Agencies should be required to state in their regulations: (a) any administrative interpretations of statutory language, and (b) the standards under which statutory rights are to be administered and 251 |
